HC Deb 24 April 1963 vol 676 cc355-6

(1) A county council shall, out of any sums received by them under Part V of the Act of 1948 for the year 1963–64 or any subsequent year, pay to the council of any district in the county an amount which bears to the amount of the sums so received the same proportion as the expenditure of the district council for that year bears to the relevant local expenditure for the landward area of the county for that year.

(2) Section 101 of the Act of 1948 (which relates to the application of payments under the said Part V) shall have effect as respects the year 1963–64 and any subsequent year only in relation to so much of the sums received as mentioned therein as is not paid to district councils under the foregoing subsection.

(3) in this section— district" has the same meaning as in the Act of 1947; expenditure" in relation to a district council for any year means so much of that "council's expenditure for that year as is reckoned in calculating the relevant local expenditure for that year for the landward area of the county in which the district is situated for the purposes of section 2 of this Act; and relevant local expenditure" in relation to the landward area of a county for any year has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of the said section 2.—[Mr. Leburn.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

Mr. Leburn

I beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.

The effect is to require county councils to make certain payments to district councils from the payments which county councils receive as Part V payment from railways and electricity boards in lieu of rates. These payments to district councils will bear the same proportion to the total received by the county councils as district councils expenditure has to the county councils' relevant expenditure.

We are seeking to do what was suggested in a new Clause moved by my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeenshire, West (Mr. Hendry) in Committee upstairs. He very kindly withdrew that Clause when it was suggested that we should consult the local authority associations.

I have since consulted both the District Councils Association and the Association of County Councils. Not unnaturally, the former supports this but the representa- tives of the latter suggested that the apportionment was hardly worth making. However, they did not wish to oppose this. I hope, therefore, that we can now agree to give this Clause a Second Reading.

Mr. Hendry

There is little I need add to what my hon. Friend has said. This Clause takes the place of one suggested by me in Committee and which I withdrew. Most of us in Committee expected the result of the investigations my hon. Friend made. At the same time, I am extremely grateful to him for having redrafted the Clause and corrected the imperfections in the original version. I have great pleasure in commending this Clause.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.