HC Deb 25 February 1976 vol 906 cc375-6
22. Mr. Michael Morris

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to publish the Layfield Report on Local Government Finance.

26. Dr. Edmund Marshall

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has now received the report of the Layfield Committee of Inquiry into Local Government Finance.

Mr. Oakes

My right hon. Friend expects to receive the Layfield Report very shortly. It will then be published as soon as practicable, but the date of publication will depend on the size and complexity of the Report.

Mr. Morris

May we have an assurance from the Minister that the Layfield Report will be published before the district council elections in May? Or is this to be another example of inspired and engineered delay?

Mr. Oakes

I cannot give a specific undertaking but certainly the date of the district council elections does not enter into it. We shall publish the Report as soon as practical when we have received it.

Dr. Marshall

Can my hon. Friend give us an assurance that when the Report is received the Government will deal with it as urgently and expeditiously as possible, with a view to early legislative proposals being made?

Mr. Oakes

That depends on what is in the Report. We will certainly deal with the matter urgently.

Mr. Sainsbury

Can the hon. Gentleman assure us that in considering the Report he will take into account the fact that the rates are a tax burden that bears particularly hard upon elderly people and single-person households? Will he further take into account the fact that the redistribution of rate support grant this year also adversely affects areas with large concentrations of elderly people? Will the Minister take urgent action to alleviate this problem?

Mr. Oakes

I am well aware of the burden created by the rates. One of the reasons why the Layfield Committee was set up was to advise the Government on this subject. I remind the hon. Gentleman that some areas with high concentrations of old people benefited from the shift of resources in the rate support grant.