§ 79. Mr. Oramasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs (1) whether he is aware of the burden which will be placed on the finances of some local authorities in the financial years 1962–63 and 1963–64 as a result of the two successive changes in his Department's calculation of transitional receipts; and what steps he proposes to take to ensure that some of this burden is borne by central Government funds;
(2) whether he is aware that £104,000 is due to be repaid by the county borough of East Ham to his Department as a result of the discrepancy in the Department's successive calculations of 134W transitional receipts; whether he is aware that this burden follows other adverse consequences of the general grant system as applicable to East Ham; and what proposals he has for ensuring that central Governments funds shall bear some portion of the burden resulting from the transitional receipts discrepancies in this case.
Dr. HillI would refer the hen. Member to my statement in reply to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for the City of Chester (Mr. Temple) on 18th December. The change in the amount to which the county borough council is entitled was for the greater part due to changes in the data supplied by the council. There were no errors in the Department's calculations, the latest of which indicates that the financial changes made by the Act of 1958 were not nearly as disadvantageous to the council as was originally believed.
As my right hon. Friend, now Chief Secretary to the Treasury, stated in reply to a Question by the hon. Member for East Ham, North (Mr. Prentice) on 17th February last, the contributions and receipts of local authorities must be based on the best information available; and there is no justification, or statutory provision, for Exchequer assistance to those authorities which have hitherto received too much.
§ Mr. Prenticeasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs (1) whether Her Majesty's Government will accept all or part of the financial responsibility for the loss to certain local authorities arising from the fact that his Department have now revised, for the second time, the transitional receipts in connection with the Local Government Act, 1958;
(2) whether he is aware that the latest revision of transitional receipts under the Local Government Act, 1958, impose a burden of over £104,000 on the ratepayers of East Ham; whether he will revise the proposal that the equivalent of a 6d. rate be paid by the borough to his Department during 1962–63 and again 1963–64; and whether Her Majesty's Government will assume all or part of the responsibility in this case.
Dr. HillAs my right hon. Friend, now Chief Secretary to the Treasury, stated in reply to a Question by the hon. 135W Member on 17th February last, the contributions and receipts of local authorities must be based on the best information available; and there is no justification, or statutory provision, for Exchequer assistance to those authorities which have hitherto received too much. The latest calculation showed that the county borough council had received £104,000 too much under the transitional scheme as compared with £75,300 too much on the second calculation a year ago. The arrangements which I announced in reply to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for the City of Chester (Mr. Temple) on 18th December for adjusting contributions for past years seems to me to be fair as between those who owe money and those entitled to it, and I do not propose to change them.