Treasury and Work and Pensions

As I have just said, off-balance sheet debt is of great concern and I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the figure. I have already mentioned the increase in on-balance sheet debt. If we look at the current year, the Chancellor predicted public borrowing of £36 billion for the year ending this April as recently as the March Budget, which was a minor fall in the level of new public debt compared with the previous year, which stood at £37.1 billion. We have just received the figures for the first six months of this year, which show that net public sector borrowing has increased by 19 per cent. since last year, and is now £25.4 billion. That compares to a figure of £21.4 billion for the same period last year. The Government, at this stage in the year, are way off beam in their forecast of what will happen in respect of public sector borrowing this year, as a whole. To turn briefly to off-balance sheet debt, my hon. Friend mentioned a figure, but the figures before me show that £46 billion of off-balance sheet debt has resulted from private finance initiative projects, and more than 700 PFI deals have been used to fund infrastructure. I do not have a problem with that, because it is important that we use private sources of funding to improve infrastructure. However, we have to be honest about the impact that that will have on public finances, and the legacy that will result for years to come.