§ 16. Mr. Fairbairnasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will issue circulars to local authorities encouraging them to reduce their salary costs.
§ Mr. MillanThe importance of tightly restricting their manpower and expenditure has been emphasised to local authorities in several recent Scottish Office circulars and on other occasions.
§ Mr. FairbairnDoes the right hon. Gentleman appreciate that the justification for regionalisation was that if we had larger regions, larger salaries and more responsibility for individuals, we should need fewer individuals? In fact, we have larger salaries and more people. Does the right hon. Gentleman appreciate that that is offensive to the ordinary ratepayer who has to pay for them? Will the local authorities do what was intended under the relevant legislation?
§ Mr. MillanAs I have said on numerous occasions, the Secretary of State has drawn the attention of local authorities to his very strong view, which I know is widely shared, that there should be no substantial increases in staff. In fact, the rate support grant settlement for the forthcoming year has been made on the basis of freezing all local government expenditure. The Government are not 450 providing for additional local authority staffing.