asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report
| IDENTIFIABLE PUBLIC EXPENDITURE* | ||||||||
| (a) Total identifiable public expenditure per head | ||||||||
| 1973–74 | 1974–75 | 1975–76 | 1976–77 | 1977–78* | ||||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||||
| England | … | … | … | 405 | 542 | 687 | 750 | 817 |
| Scotland | … | … | … | 494 | 657 | 855 | 942 | 1,037 |
| Wales | … | … | … | 440 | 576 | 782 | 875 | 984 |
| Great Britain | … | … | … | 416 | 555 | 708 | 775 | 847 |
| Indices: England as 100 | ||||||||
| England | … | … | … | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Scotland | … | … | … | 122 | 121 | 124 | 126 | 127 |
| Wales | … | … | … | 109 | 106 | 114 | 117 | 120 |
| Great Britain | … | … | … | 103 | 102 | 103 | 103 | 104 |
| (b) Total identifiable public expenditure per head, excluding capital grants and net lending to nationalised industries. | ||||||||
| Indices: England as 100 | |||||||
| 1976–77 | 1977–78* | 1976–77 | 1977–78 | ||||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||||
| England | … | 752 | 812 | England | … | 100 | 100 |
| Scotland | … | 935 | 1,020 | Scotland | … | 124 | 126 |
| Wales | … | 836 | 899 | Wales | … | 111 | 111 |
| Great Britain | … | 774 | 837 | Great Britain | … | 103 | 103 |
| * The estimates given here of identifiable public expenditure may differ from those given in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdare on 5 February 1976, as they include the effect of subsequent changes in classification. The figures are consistent with those given in the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesend (Mr. Ovenden) on 17 January 1979[Vol. 960, cc. 781–93]; that answer also gave a full explanation of the term "identifiable expenditure". I regret that estimates on a comparable basis are not available for the years prior to 1973–74. | |||||||
| * Provisional. | |||||||
| Regional Industrial Policy Expenditure, 1977–78: Great Britain, Scotland and Wales. | |||||||
| In the 1977–78 financial year total expenditure on regional preferential assistance to industry amounted to £508 million in the assisted areas of Great Britain. The table below shows how much of this expenditure was incurred on assistance for projects in Scotland and Wales. | |||||||
| £ million | |||||||||
| Regional development grant | Selective financial assistance | Local employment acts | Regional employment premium | Other schemes | Total | Percentage of total | |||
| Scotland | … | … | 105·0 | 12·1 | 0·1 | 1·5 | 27·0 | 145·7 | 29 |
| Wales | … | … | 70·4 | 4·4 | 0·5 | 0·7 | 15·5 | 91·5 | 18 |
| Great Britain | … | … | 393·4 | 44·7 | 20·5 | 3·0 | 45·9 | 507·5 | 100 |
| In mid-1976 Scotland and Wales accounted for 22 per cent. and 11 per cent. respectively of employees (employed and unemployed) in the assisted areas but in 1977–78 received 29 per cent. and 18 per cent. respectively of total expenditure. | |||||||||
| Relative Earnings in Scotland and Wales | |||||||
| Average gross weekly earnings of full-time manual men (aged 21 and over) | |||||||
| Manufacturing and certain other industries | |||||||
| Percentage of United Kingdom | |||||||
| 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | ||||
| Scotland | … | … | … | 101·9 | 101·4 | 100·9 | 100·6 |
| Wales | … | … | … | 97·7 | 101·1 | 99·6 | 100·1 |
| Source: Department of Employment October inquiry into earnings and hours of manual workers. | |||||||
information available to the latest possible date bringing up to date the series of tables and related information given in reply to the hon. Member for Aberdare (Mr. Evans), Official Report, 5 February 1976, c. 709–17.
, pursuant to the reply given by the Minister of State [Official Report, 19 February 1979; Vol. 963, c. 34], gave the following reply:The following is the information:
Average gross weekly earnings of full-time employees
| |||||||
| All industries and services | |||||||
Percentage of Great Britain
| |||||||
| … | … | … | … | 1976
| 1977
| 1978
| |
| Men(21 and over)— | |||||||
| Scotland | … | … | … | … | 99·7 | 99·6 | 99·3 |
| Wales | … | … | … | … | 97·2 | 97·3 | 96·6 |
| Women (18 and over)— | |||||||
| Scotland | … | … | … | … | 96·5 | 95·9 | 96·8 |
| Wales | … | … | … | … | 98·5 | 98·4 | 95·6 |
Source: Department of Employment new earnings surveys. These figures exclude those whose pay for the survey pay period was affected by absence. | |||||||
| UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, SCOTLAND AND WALES | ||||||
Annual averages
| ||||||
1976
| 1977
| 1978
| ||||
| Scotland | ||||||
| Percentage unemployed | … | … | … | 7·0 | 8·3 | 8·3 |
| United Kingdom relative | … | … | … | 121 | 134 | 134 |
| Wales | ||||||
| Percentage unemployed | … | … | … | 7·4 | 8·1 | 8·5 |
| United Kingdom relative | … | … | … | 128 | 131 | 137 |
| United Kingdom | ||||||
| Percentage unemployed | … | … | … | 5·8 | 6·2 | 6·2 |
| United Kingdom relative | … | … | … | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS OF REGIONAL POLICY IN SCOTLAND AND WALES | ||||||
| The estimates by Messrs. Moore and Rhodes of employment generated by regional policy have been updated in an article by Moore, Rhodes and Tyler entitled "The Impact of Regional Policy in the Seventies", in the CES Review, No. 1, 1977. | ||||||
| Data on inter-regional movement of manufacturing industry collected by the Department of Industry is given in the table below. | ||||||
| NUMBER OF OPENINGS OF MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS | ||||||
| INTER-REGIONAL MOVES TO THE DEVELOPMENT AREAS 1945–75 | ||||||
1945–51
| 1952–59
| 1960–65
| 1966–75
| |||
| Scotland | … | … | 149 | 70 | 137 | 273 |
| Wales | … | … | 277 | 73 | 96 | 338 |
| All development areas | … | … | 702 | 270 | 479 | 1,032 |
Notes:
| ||||||
| 1. Inter-regional moves include moves with overseas origins. | ||||||
| 2. All development areas: Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Merseyside and South-West development area. | ||||||
| 3. The figures for all Development Areas 1966–75 will understate the position in comparison with the 19456–65 period because they exclude moves to those parts of Wales not designated as development area. It is estimated that this represents only about 20 to 25 moves per annum. | ||||||
| 4. It should be noted that coverage for the most recent years is incomplete because of the time-lag attached to the availability of the main sources of information. | ||||||
| 5. Whilst the number of openings has grown substantially in the most recent time period the jobs created by these openings at maturity (defined as 10 years after birth) has been in continuous decline i.e.: 19456–51, 450; 19526–59, 360; 19606–65, 275; 19666–75, 105. | ||||||
Source: Department of Industry, Record of openings and closures. | ||||||
Employment associated with North Sea oil
| ||||||
| From a survey carried out by the Scottish Economic Planning Department in mid-1978 it is provisionally estimated that the overall impact of the oil related industry on employment in Scotland was in the range 56,000–66,000 persons. | ||||||
Balance of trade: United Kingdom, Scotland and Wales
| ||||||
| The latest official estimates of GDP for Scotland and Wales for the years 1969–76 are shown in the table below. | ||||||
| £ million | |||||||||
1969
| 1970
| 1971
| 1972
| 1973
| 1974
| 1975
| 1976
| ||
| Scotland | … | 3,401 | 3,756 | 4,236 | 4,748 | 5,527 | 6,379 | 8,237 | 9,763 |
| Wales | … | 1,670 | 1,850 | 2,110 | 2,405 | 2,760 | 3,133 | 4,106 | 4,820 |
There are no official estimates of gross domestic expenditure for Scotland or for Wales to update the previous figures shown in the reply to my hon. Friend the
Member for Aberdare in the Official Report for 5 February 1976, columns 709·717. It is not therefore possible to update the estimates shown there for the Scottish and Welsh balances of trade.