Mr. William O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has to review his Department's guidelines on the density and sparsity effects in respect of the provision of services by local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [36039]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordThe Department has commissioned research on the effects of sparsity and density of population on the costs of providing local authority services. Reports from both research studies are expected to be received this month. Their findings will be discussed with the local authority associations. The findings and the associations' views will be available to us when we reach decisions on standard spending assessments for 1997–98.