§ Mr. Michael Cocksasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what efforts have been made by his Department to inform the residents of North Somerset and South Gloucestershire in the new county of Avon that the new Bristol District Council will not have the same resources as the present Bristol City Council;
(2) what money was spent by his Department in publicising the formation and functions of the new county of Avon;
(3) how much money was spent by his Department in publicising the reorganisation of local government generally and for the county, metropolitan and county district elections, respectively.
§ Mr. Graham PageThe local authority associations and my Department have agreed that the main measures for informing the public about local government reorganisation should be undertaken locally by the individual local authority itself, backed by the resources of the local Government information office, my Department contributing a national programme of Press advertising. Under this arrangement my Department has so far spent £75,000: £38,470 at the time of the county elections; £12,660 at the time of the metropolitan district elections; and £24,370 at the time of the non-metropolitan district elections.
My Department's advertising was not specifically related to reorganisation in individual local authority areas. This is a matter for the local authorities themselves.