§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much money was borrowed by local authorities, which was(a) sanctioned by Government and (b) not sanctioned by Government (i) overall and (ii) from abroad, in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. ChopeTotal net external borrowing, that is net of repayments, and total net direct borrowing from abroad by local authorities in England was as follows:
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Total net borrowing of which direct from abroad (£ million) (£ million) 1979–80 2,228 n/a 1980–81 1,741 6 1981–82 −326 7 1982–83 42 15 1983–84 1,018 32 1984–85 2,246 8
Total net borrowing of which direct from abroad (£ million) (£ million) 1985–86 2,042 71 1986–87 1,703 14 1987–88 2,152 45 1988–89 2,588 19 Local authorities may borrow without the approval of my right hon. Friend in anticipation of revenue and for the purpose of repaying existing loans. They may also borrow for any other purpose or class of purpose approved by my right hon. Friend. In practice, in the years mentioned in the question local authorities operated loans pools which were partly funded by external borrowing and partly from internal sources such as balances and unapplied capital receipts. Expenditure financed from loans pools under borrowing approvals given by my right hon. Friend was as follows:
Expenditure financed from loans pools (£ million) 1979–80 2,992 1980–81 2,900 1981–82 2,527 1982–83 3,358 1983–84 3,538 1984–85 3,381 1985–86 3,008 1986–87 2,814 1987–88 2,953 1988–89 not yet available