§ 51. Mr. WHITELEYasked the Minister of Health the approximate rate that will be required to be levied by the Durham County Council under the Local Government Bill, the total expenditure of the administrative county being £4,250,000, of which £1,500,000 is Poor Law expenditure?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe Local Government Bill provides that the new financial arrangements specified therein shall operate in full for the first time in the year 1930–31. The poundage of the rates to be levied in that year for the purposes of the County Council of Durham will depend partly upon the amounts which the council will require from rates in that year, partly upon the results of the re-valuation now proceeding under the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, and partly upon the results of the apportionments now being made under the Rating and Valuation (Apportionment) Act, 1928. Each of these three factors must be taken into account before the estimate asked for by the hon. Member can be made. No one of them is at present measurable with reasonable accuracy, and it is therefore impracticable at present to make the estimate.