§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if it is his practice to issue supplementary credit approvals only to those local authorities which have received European regional development fund support.
§ Mr. KeyMy Department issues supplementary credit approvals (SCAs) to local authorities for a variety of purposes. Authorities in receipt of European regional development fund support for projects falling within the other services block and the urban programme are eligible for SCAs associated with such projects. But SCAs are also available to all authorities undertaking certain types of project. For 1991–92, these include housing special programmes (such as estate action), urban initiatives and, within other services, a variety of initiatives concerned with waste disposal and environmental quality.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what account he took of the level of European regional development fund receipts when calculating the credit levels within the other services block for local authorities.
§ Mr. KeyThe Government take anticipated European Community receipts into account at the national level when setting the level of public expenditure programmes, with the result that these programmes are higher than they would otherwise be.
The majority of capital resources on the other services block are distributed between individual local authorities in the form of block allocations on the basis of formulae recommended by the local authority associations. No explicit account is taken in this distribution of whether expenditure may be financed in part through grant from the European Community. However, in addition, the Government are distributing £25 million of credit approvals within the other services block in 1990–91 to authorities in receipt of European regional development fund grant on projects falling within this block. For 1991–92, it is planned to distribute £45 million for such projects.