§ 19. Mr. Beithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from the council of the borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed about the effects on it of the rate support grant settlement.
§ Mr. BeithWill the Minister explain why the council of the borough of Berwick is threatened with penalty under the rate support grant system if it does not raise its council house rents, not by £3 a week as in other areas but by £5 a week, bearing in mind that it has not been making subsidies to council house rents out of its rate funds? Why should good housekeeping be penalised, and why should the tenants in Berwick-upon-Tweed have to pay that increase?
§ Mr. KingThis issue is concerned with the sharing out of grant. It is a matter of how to distribute a fixed sum of grant. The hon. Gentleman's proposition is that more grant should go to the authorities charging lower rents than to those charging higher rents. If he thinks the matter through, he will see the logic in the distribution formula that was adopted.