§ 74. Mr. Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to ensure that those local authorities which do not abide by the Government's spending rules are suitably penalised.
§ Mr. ShoreAs I have said before, there are great practical difficulties in attempting to discriminate between local authorities and to identify accurately and in a meaningful way those that are overspending. Government guidance on local authority expenditure has, therefore, always been given on a general basis with each authority being left to interpret the guidelines to its own particular circumstances.