§ 3. Mr. Rathboneasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is considering cash limits on local government capital expenditure.
§ Mr. ShoreThe bulk of local authority capital expenditure is already embraced by the cash limit system in one form or another and there is very little scope for extending its coverage.
§ Mr. RathboneWhile I welcome that reassurance about the lack of scope for extending it, may I point out that there is a worry among some local authorities that the involvement of national Government in capital expenditure projects may become the case more and more, just as it has become the case in housing, where the most detailed plans have to be approved by the Department? Can the Secretary of State reassure the House that such detailed involvement in the approval 1501 of capital expenditure projects will not now become the norm?
§ Mr. ShoreA distinction has to be drawn between cash limits and the way in which we issue loan sanctions for capital projects. The hon. Gentleman may recall that in the Green Paper produced after Layfield we proposed certain changes in the system of controlling local authority capital expenditure which would in one sense at any rate have the effect of liberalising the present practices.