§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) for each of the 31 coal mines listed for closure, what are the sums he has set aside to increase grant aid to each of the local authorities affected by the resulting loss of rates revenue;
(2) if he will publish a table to show for the 10 coal pits listed for immediate closure and the 21 pits to be closed in the longer term the sums paid by each pit in rates in each of the last two years, and the current year, indicating the councils to which the rates were paid in each case.
§ Mr. Robin SquireInformation on the rates paid by each of the pits in question is not held centrally.
Any change to a local authority's rate income during the course of a financial year will not affect the amount of its revenue support grant. Authorities are able to avoid the cash flow consequences of any significant unplanned loss by recalculating their contributions to the national non-domestic rates pool.