§ 23. Mr. G. HALLasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury if he will give a statement showing the charge which has fallen upon the Treasury for the years 1930, 1931, 1932 and 1933, respectively, in consequence of the De-rating Act, 1928?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. Hore-Belisha)I presume the hon. Member is referring to the two Local Government Acts of 1929 under which rating relief to industrial and other property was actually given. As the cost to the Exchequer of these two Acts for the years 1930 to 1933 involves a number of figures, I will circulate a statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
| Year. | Exchequer grants to local athorities. | Discontinued grants on basis of standard year. | Road Fund Contribution.* | Net charge on Exchequer. |
| 1930 | 51,442,000 | 18,317,000 | 3,000,000 | 30,125,000 |
| 1931 | 51,442,000 | 18,317,000 | 3,000,000 | 30,125,000 |
| 1932 | 51,442,000 | 18,317,000 | 3,000,000 | 30,125,000 |
| 1933 | 51,802,000 | 18,317,000 | 3,000,000 | 30,485,000 |
| * Under Section 87 (2) of the Local Government Act and Section 54 (2) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, sums totalling approximately £601,000 a year ceased to be withheld from the issues from the Exchequer to the Road Fund and represent consequently an additional charge on the Exchequer. |
§ There are also certain additional charges on the Exchequer for the benefit of local authorities.
1112§ The weekly returns from which these figures have been obtained do not distinguish the numbers of men, women and children. These particulars can only be obtained from the annual returns as to poor relief on the 1st January and the figures are as follow:
§ Following is the statement:
§ TOTAL COST to the Exchequer of the Local Government Acts, 1929, in 1930 to 1933.
§ The total additional cost to the Exchequer of the Local Government Acts, 1929, is made up in each year of the grants to local authorities for that year less the amount on the basis of the standard year of the percentage and other grants which were discontinued when the new scheme came into operation, less also the contribution from the Road Fund (apart from its payment in respect of discontinued road grants). The figures for the financial years 1930 to 1933 (the amounts included therein for Scotland being in respect of years beginning on the 16th May) are set out below:
§ (1) The decrease in the products of a 1d. rate owing to de-rating had the effect of increasing the Exchequer liability in 1113 respect of education and housing by about £1,200,000 in each of the above years.
§ (2) The provisions of Section 114 of the Local Government Act as regards mitigation of the liability of county and county borough councils in respect of loans raised by Poor Law authorities and the corresponding provisions as regards Scotland in Section 24 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, involve an extra charge on the Exchequer, partly in the form of remission of loan charges and partly in the form of grants, of nearly £300,000 a year.