HC Deb 03 April 1974 vol 871 cc1240-2
9. Mr. Molloy

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will explain the degree to which ratepayers in the London borough of Ealing can expect to benefit as a result of the Rate Support Grant Order 1974 which he has made.

Mr. Oakes

The domestic rate relief in Ealing for 1974–75 will now be 13p in the pound, instead of 7.5p in the pound as proposed by the previous Government. The corresponding increase in the estimated rate support grant is £1.4 million.

Mr. Molloy

I thank my hon. Friend for that welcome reply. It is a sensible counter-inflationary measure. Does my hon. Friend agree that inasmuch as we all acknowledge that local government is almost the core of our civilisation—it is in the town halls where the real work is done by a magnificent voluntary spirit—the whole question of local government finance is desperately in need of examination and overhaul?

Mr. Oakes

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that matter, and, with him, I acknowledge the enormous amount of work that has been done, and is being done at present, in reorganisation by local government. As to how local government finance as a whole should be reorganised, I expect that we shall have a prolonged spell in office to consider how to improve the present system.

Mr. Farr

Can the hon. Gentleman say what particular speciality there is about Ealing which halves the rate for domestic ratepayers while, at the same time, the rate of the domestic ratepayers in Leicestershire is quadrupled? Is not this a clear case of political gerrymandering?

Mr. Oakes

On the last point, clearly it is not a question of political gerrymandering. If the hon. Gentleman was present at the rate support grant debate, he will know that many of my hon. Friends were highly critical because their authorities lost and that those of many right hon. and hon. Members on the Opposition side of the House gained as a result of the fixing of 13p. Ealing has a lot of problems as a London borough, and because of that we thought it right to make the grant 13p across the board, which was a fairer method than the previous Government's allocation.

Sir G. de Freitas

When the Government review the rate support grants and finance generally, will they take account of the counties which suffer enormously from having a great financial burden as a result of overspill from cities, encouraged by successive Governments?

Mr. Oakes

This is a problem that has been raised by many of the delegations I have seen. We hope to start the rate support grant negotiations for next year as soon as possible in order to have a much more sensitive formula than the present one. I hope that that will take into account some of the difficulties to which my right hon. Friend has referred.

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