HC Deb 22 January 1982 vol 16 cc200-1W
Sir John Biggs-Davison

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the increase or decrease in the population of each of the shire counties and the corresponding increase or decrease in Government grant to each of them since 1974.

Mr. King

Figures for the change in population of each of the shire counties over the period June 1974 to June 1980 are set out as follows with figures for the change in rate support grants to each county over the period 1974–75 to 1981–82.

The grant figures are for the sum of rate support grants paid to county and district authorities in each year, and not to the county authorities alone. This is in order to discount the effects of different grant payment arrangements over the period. The grant figures for 1981–82 are those which I placed in the Library, pursuant to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Reading, North (Mr. Durant) on 10 December—[Vol. 14, c. 487.] Rate support grants are not distributed in proportion to total population, although this has always been an important factor. The age structure of the population and other indicators of expenditure need are taken into account together with the ability that each authority has to meet its expenditure need from its own resources.

County Change in population 1974–1980 Change in rate support grants*1974–75 to 1981–82
(000's) (£000's)
Avon 10.7 95, 188
Bedfordshire 21.4 40, 665
Berkshire 34.1 33, 382
Buckinghamshire 49.1 33, 654
Cambridgeshire 43.7 46, 808
Cheshire 28.6 97, 529
Cleveland -1.2 80, 585
Cornwall 19.0 50, 933
Cumbria -7.1 61, 174
Derbyshire 7.1 101, 292
Devon 29.5 101, 437
Dorset 26.6 52, 669
Durham -6.8 87, 465
East Sussex 1.6 56, 173
Essex 57.9 96, 410
Gloucestershire 16.2 46, 893
Hampshire 37.3 128, 424
Hereford and Worcester 36.5 57, 560
Hertfordshire 17.4 44, 568
Humberside 2.9 127, 952
Isle of Wight 4.8 14, 125
Kent 27.0 138, 939
Lancashire -0.3 199, 599
Leicestershire 12.4 88, 302
Lincolnshire 18.7 61, 744
Norfolk 35.2 65, 015
Northamptonshire 27.3 54, 180
Northumberland 1.9 34, 457
North Yorkshire 17.0 69, 521
Nottinghamshire -5.9 123, 859
Oxfordshire 16.9 33, 583
Shropshire 15.8 42, 097
Somerset 16.5 43, 925

County Change in population 1974–1980 Change in rate support grants*1974–75 to 1981–82
(000's) (£000's)
Staffordshire 17.0 104, 018
Suffolk 30.8 53, 344
Surrey -5.2 35, 945
Warwickshire 5.4 40, 593
West Sussex 36.5 41, 435
Wiltshire 17.4 52, 913
*In 1974–75 the sum of needs, resources and domestic elements of rate support grant. For 1981–82 the sum of block grant and domestic rate relief grant.