§ Mr. Arthur Jonesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is satisfied that the safety-net element included in the rate support announcement will ensure that no local authority will lose more than 2p in the £ as a result of changes in this year's distribution compared with last year's.
§ Mr. ShoreThe safety net will ensure that no authority will lose more than 2p in the pound as a result of the replacement of the 1977–78 distribution arrangements by those for 1978–79. The comparison is not based on the share of grant which individual authorities receved in 1977–78, since this would fail to take154W account of changes over the past year in circumstances which were relevant to the 1977–78 settlement.