5
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY No. 51 23 JAN 1974
PKK 21/5
DATE
2111124
COL. 2.39 b
VOL...867
267
239
LAST
REF
NEXT
REF
20
Written Answers
21 JANUARY 1974
stated and Parliament has made it clear in Section 1 of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.
Hong Kong
Mr. Carier asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will have an investigation made into the affairs of the Hong Kong Police.
Mr. Blaker: No. The hon. Member will, of course, know that the Governor recently appointed an independent Anti- Corruption Commission.
Mr. Carter asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when was the last cccasion that a British Minister made an official visit to Hong Kong to discuss the territory's internal affairs.
Mr. Blaker: My predecessor visited Hong Kong from 10th-15th November 1972. Since then a number of other Ministers have paid short visits to the colony for different purposes. I myself visited Hong Kong from 27th September- 1st October 1973 in my former capacity as Under-Secretary of State for Defence for the Army. As the House is aware, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister had intended to visit Hong Kong as well as China this month; but, as he informed the House on 18th December, he had to postpone the visit.-[Vol. 366, c. 1165.]
Mr. Carter asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will call for an investigation into the death of Mr. Kwan Kung who was killed in an accident involving a car on 29th July 1973 in Argyle Street, Hong Kong and the subsequent refusal of the police to prosecute the driver of the car.
Mr. Blaker: No. The accident was investigated by the Hong Kong Police, who found no evidence of any offence by the driver. The police passed all docu- ments in the case to the coroner, who de- cided that no death inquiry was necessary. The Hong Kong legal department also studied the papers and agreed with the conclusions of the coroner and the police. I will be writing to the hon. Member with further information on this case.
10 F 4
This Kells
Copy to
Cal See. Hong Kong
+pa
Pre K
Written Answers
NATIONAL FINANCE
2311.
240
Sub-Contractors' Exemption Certificates
Mr. Edward Lyons asked the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the amount of tax lost to the Inland Revenue in 1973 by unlawful of sub-contractors exemption certificates.
use
Mr. Nott: The information on which to base such an estimate is not available, but £124 million was collected in 1972-73 by deduction at source, which is more than the total estimated evasion in 1969, Those who use certificates unlawfully lay themselves open to criminal prosecution.
Public Expenditure
Mr. Bruce-Gardyne asked the Chancel- lor of the Exchequer what was the ratio of public expenditure, including transfer payments and debts interest, to gross domestic product in the financial years 1964-65, 1970-71, 1971-72, and 1972-73; and what is his latest estimate of the corresponding ratios for the current san- cial year and for 1974-75, respectively.
Mr. Tom Boardman: The ratios for past years are shown below. Those in the first column are based on public expenditure as recorded. In the second column the public expenditure figures are adjusted to make later years comparable with 1964-65 by excluding investment grants, introduced in 1967, and export and shipbuilding credits, not counted as public expenditure before 1972-73.
RATIO, PUBLIC EXPENDITURE:
PRODUCT
1964-65 1970-71
1971-72
1972-73
GROSS DOMESTIC
Per cent.
As recorded
Adjusted
L
43.8
43.8
51.4
50.2
50-3
49.4
51.0
49-8
Estimates for 1973-74 and 1974-75
would rest on a number of uncertain and arbitrary ass-nptions.
Life Assurance (Employees' Contributions)
Mr. Meacher asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the aggregate value of employees' contributions to life assurance funds in 1960, 1963, 1965, 1967.