§ Mr. Squireasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he intends to make available figures for the services components of grant related expenditure in 1982–83.
§ Mr. KingI have today placed in the Library copies of the "Technical Handbook of Grant Related Expenditure, 1982–83," which details for each local authority in England the amounts of grant-related expenditure attributable to the different services it provides. Copies of this publication are being sent to each local authority as agreed with the local authority associations.
The grant-related expenditure assessment for each local authority is the total of the amounts for the individual services. The amount of GRE for a particular service reflects an informed judgment, reached after consultation with the local authority associations, of the amount each authority would need to spend in 1982–83—given its particular circumstances—if it chose to provide a level of service comparable to that of other authorities. But the figures are necessarily approximate. It is the overall GRE for each authority which is the basis for calculation of its unhypothecated block grant; the amount to be spent on each service is a matter for each individual local authority to decide.