HC Deb 12 November 1980 vol 992 cc475-6
23. Mr. Major

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to announce the rate support grant settlement for 1981–82.

Mr. Heseltine

I shall announce the 1981–82 rate support grant settlement early in December.

Mr. Major

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that this year's settlement will not discriminate unfairly against efficient county councils such as Cambridgeshire which in recent years has accepted a vast population overspill from cities without any corresponding increases in its proportionate share of the grant?

Mr. Heseltine

I think that my hon. Friend will understand if I do not anticipate the basis of the RSG settlement, which I shall announce early in December. It is the intention that the RSG system we are now introducing should have a greater relationship with measured need as opposed to past expenditure.

Mr. Hattersley

Will the Secretary of State give the House of Commons the information about next year's rate support grant settlement that he gave to Lord Ridley shortly before the House of Lords debated the Local Government, Planning and Land (No. 2) Bill?

Mr. Heseltine

I have had no conversations with Lord Ridley.