Local Authorities (Expenditure)

HC Deb 22 April 1985 vol 77 cc606-7

5. Mr. Wigley

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what was the final outturn of local authorities' current and capital spending in Wales for the financial year 1984–85; and how this compares with the Government's projections.

Mr. Nicholas Edwards

Final outturns for 1984–85 will not be available until early 1986. The latest estimates indicate that current spending in the year will exceed the Government's planning total by about £30 million. The provision for capital spending looks like being exceeded by between £10 million and £20 million.

Mr. Wigley

Will the Secretary of State accept that those figures of £30 million and £10 million are relatively small in the context of local government expenditure in Wales and certainly would not have justified the draconian measures that were taken by the Government to curtail the powers of local authorities? Will he further accept that the major problem facing people in all parts of Wales is unemployment and that capital expenditure by local authorities offers a good tool to try to generate jobs? Will he go back to the Treasury to see whether further funds can be made available in terms of capital expenditure approvals for local authorities in Wales?

Mr. Edwards

I have on previous occasions pointed out that it is because of the relative constraint by local authorities in Wales on current spending that we have been able to obtain substantial additional capital provision for those authorities. That will continue to be the case, bearing in mind the relationship between the control of current spending and the amount of capital that we can make available.

Sir Anthony Meyer

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the restriction to 50 per cent. of the capital receipts that local authorities may spend is causing a disproportionate amount of resentment? Will he make representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer that this restriction should be lifted as soon as the economic situation permits?

Mr. Edwards

We debated this question at considerable length in the House recently and I have nothing to add to what I said then, except, as I say, that there has been substantial additional capital provision in Wales, where the capital provision per head of the population is nearly double that in England. The accumulated resources, if they were all spent in a single year, would cause difficulties; they will be available for spending by local authorities over the next few years.

Mr. Rowlands

Has the right hon. Gentleman seen today's Western Mail, which contains a story about a secret report which his Department has on deprivation and need in the Rhymney Valley? Will he make that report, whatever it is, available at least to the authorities concerned? Will he then decide to spend the money necessary to meet the needs and deprivation of our communities?

Mr. Edwards

The hon. Gentleman should not believe everything that he reads in the Western Mail about secret reports. That report was commissioned by the Welsh Office and carried out by UWIST. Copies of it were provided to the local authority concerned and to the local authority associations. It was part of the work carried out by the Welsh Office to enable better decisions to be taken and for the future consideration of planning allocations to take proper account of these matters. As for the state of housing in the area, it is clear that much more has been spent by the present Government than was ever spent during the last period of the Labour Administration.

Mr. Roy Hughes

Bearing in mind that there are to be 1,000 redundancies at Courtaulds, over 800 redundancies at St. John's, Maesteg and 750 redundancies at British Petroleum, what additional resources have been made available to local authorities to enable them to cope with the heavy additional welfare problems with which they will be confronted?

Mr. Edwards

The total provision for local authorities has been announced. When considering urban allocations, the urban programme, urban development grant and other specific matters that arise from time to time we shall take particular note of closures of the kind referred to by the hon. Gentleman.