§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authorities are debt free; if he will list them and the party or parties currently in political control of them; and if he will make a statement on his Department's policy in respect of local authority indebtedness. [35662]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordThe table sets out the list of those authorities that expected to be debt-free on 1 April 1996, and their current political control. We continue to encourage local authorities to reduce their outstanding debt using sums that they have set aside for this purpose.
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Local authorities with debt-free status as at 1 April 19961 Local Authority Political control Barking and Dagenham LAB Basingstoke and Deane NOC Bedford NOC Bracknell Forest LAB Breckland NOC Broadland NOC Chiltern NOC Christchurch NOC City of London IND Crawley LAB Dacorum LAB Dartford LAB Daventry NOC Dorset LIB/DEM East Cambridgeshire IND East Devon NOC East Dorset LIB/DEM Eden IND Epsom and Ewell Rate-payers Forest Heath NOC Hambleton NOC Hart NOC Havant NOC Hertsmere LAB Kennet NOC Leominster IND Malvern Hills NOC Mid Bedfordshire NOC Mid Sussex LIB/DEM Newbury LIB/DEM Penwith NOC Rochester upon Medway LAB Runnymede NOC Rushmoor NOC Ryedale NOC Sevenoaks NOC South Bucks NOC South Cambridgeshire NOC South Northamptonshire NOC South Ribble LAB South Shropshire IND Spelthorne CON St. Edmundsbury LAB Suffolk Coastal NOC Surrey Heath CON Swale NOC Tewkesbury NOC Tonbridge and Malling NOC Tunbridge Wells LIB/DEM Uttlesford NOC Vale of White Horse LIB/DEM Wansdyke LAB Welwyn Hatfield LAB West Sussex NOC
Local authorities with debt-free status as at 1 April 19961 Local Authority Political control Windsor and Maidenhead LIB/DEM Wychavon NOC Wyre LAB 1 Does not include miscellaneous authorities, such as police, waste and fire authorities.