HC Deb 26 February 1998 vol 307 cc349-52W
Mr. Jenkin

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the current level of non-housing debt and the cost of servicing such debt in each unitary and island authority in Scotland; and what were the equivalent figures 12 months ago. [31466]

Mr. Macdonald

The available information is as shown. The footnotes to the tables explain the basis on which the information has been compiled:

The amounts of debt outstanding1,2,3,4 on local authority general and trading funds
£000
Local authority 31 March 1996 31 March 1997
Aberdeen City 242,910 244,248
Aberdeenshire 199,048 207,105
Angus 58,566 62,576
Argyll and Bute 152,626 161,480
Clackmannanshire 40,592 42,026
The amounts of debt outstanding1,2,3,4 on local authority general and trading funds
£000
Local authority 31 March 1996 31 March 1997
Dumfries and Galloway 166,023 179,511
Dundee City 156,993 163,059
East Ayrshire 92,742 95,854
East Dunbartonshire 76,104 79,861
East Lothian 95,317 99,898
East Renfrewshire 54,836 56,186
Edinburgh City of 623,298 604,512
Eilean Siar 115,712 119,757
Falkirk 107,471 108,868
Fife 277,919 294,865
Glasgow City 954,761 984,904
Highland 296,058 316,377
Inverclyde 103,476 105,804
Midlothian 73,879 73,563
Moray 88,013 90,653
North Ayrshire 107,611 112,071
North Lanarkshire 255,910 265,546
Orkney 11,570 12,653
Perth and Kinross 91,207 92,150
Renfrewshire 137,757 147,151
Scottish Borders 123,010 128,252
Shetland5 2,322 2,453
South Ayrshire 87,562 89,209
South Lanarkshire 263,095 274,852
Stirling 95,725 101,300
West Dunbartonshire 96,704 99,919
West Lothian 138,162 139,598
Scotland 5,386,977 5,556,262
1 Local Authorities provide the Scottish Office with annual information on the amount of debt outstanding at 31 March, on each of the main categories of account—General Services, Housing Revenue Account and Trading Services. General Services debt is further sub-divided into debt which is relevant for loan charges support and that which is non-relevant. For each of these accounts the amount recorded is the debt owed by the account to the local authority Loans Fund. These figures do not directly measure the total borrowings of the local authority.
2 Water and Sewerage debt at 31 March 1996 has been excluded to maintain comparability.
3 The debt figure comprises relevant and non-relevant General Fund Services and Trading Services debt. Some Non-Housing Revenue Account Housing debt is included with the relevant General Fund debt and cannot be netted off.
4 Joint Board Debt which is relevant for loan charges support has been apportioned to the appropriate local authorities. No information is available to apportion non-relevant Joint Board debt of £45.341 million at 31 March 1996 and £46.040 million at 31 March 1997.
5 Shetland is essentially debt free—the debt shown is only their apportionment of Joint Board debt.

Source:

Capital Debt Outstanding Return 1997, completed by all Local Authorities, Joint Boards and the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive.

Loan charges recorded on local authority general funds1,2
£000
Local authority Provisional for 1996–97 Estimate for 1997–98
Aberdeen City 29,428 32,577
Aberdeenshire 23,598 25,505
Angus 8,076 9,193
Argyll and Bute 21,243 20,959
Clackmannanshire 4,366 5,449
Dumfries and Galloway 22,369 23,985
Dundee City 20,707 20,850
East Ayrshire 13,216 13,654
East Dunbartonshire 9,825 10,565
East Lothian 14,225 15,130
Loan charges recorded on local authority general funds1,2
£000
Local authority Provisional for 1996–97 Estimate for 1997–98
East Renfrewshire 8,856 9,069
Edinburgh City of 80,628 80,726
Eilean Siar 17,323 18,172
Falkirk 15,690 16,366
Fife 36,205 38,651
Glasgow City 109,220 115,268
Highland 40,916 42,945
Inverclyde 13,616 13,886
Midlothian 10,874 10,481
Moray 12,507 12,707
North Ayrshire 13,902 16,394
North Lanarkshire 32,614 35,231
Orkney 5,334 5,853
Perth and Kinross 12,804 14,117
Renfrewshire 20,497 21,083
Scottish Borders 18,745 18,134
Shetland 0 0
South Ayrshire 10,408 11,671
South Lanarkshire 37,620 39,667
Stirling 12,287 13,302
West Dunbartonshire 11,441 12,567
West Lothian 18,244 19,145
Scotland 706,784 743,302
1 The Loan Charges amounts are for the debt servicing costs of relevant General Fund debt only. Information is not available centrally on the costs of servicing non-relevant General Fund and trading services debt. Therefore, these amounts relate to a sub-set of the total given in the first table.
2 These figures relate to transactions between the relevant accounts and the local authorities loans fund and do not provide information on the external borrowings or debt repayments of local authorities.

Source:

Provisional Outturn and Budget Estimate Return 1997 (POBE97).

Mr. Jenkin

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list for each unitary and island authority in Scotland the current level of uncollected(a) community charge and (b) council tax income. [31381]

Mr. Macdonald

The current information is as follows:

(a) Uncollected Community Charge for Financial Years 1989–99 to 1992–93
£000
Authority Total Community Charge1 outstanding at 30 September 1997
Aberdeen City 10,199
Aberdeenshire 5,103
Angus 4,705
Argyll & Bute2 9,203
Clackmannanshire 2,453
Dumfries & Galloway 3,792
Dundee City 12,565
East Ayrshire 12,083
East Dunbartonshire 6,615
East Lothian 9,589
East Renfrewshire 4,056
Edinburgh City of 73,694
Eilean Siar 1,134
Falkirk 5,347
Fife 21,948
Glasgow City 139,315
Highland 11,300
Inverclyde 7,337
Midlothian 9,986
Moray 2,701
North Ayrshire 18,098
(a) Uncollected Community Charge for Financial Years 1989–99 to 1992–93
£000
Authority Total Community Charge1 outstanding at 30 September 1997
North Lanarkshire2 32,567
Orkney 106
Perth & Kinross 4,221
Renfrewshire2 18,584
Scottish Borders 3,102
Shetland 60
South Ayrshire 5,081
South Lanarkshire 35,636
Stirling 4,798
West Dunbartonshire 14,333
West Lothian 17,306
Scotland 507,017
1 Includes outstanding Community Water Charges.
2 These authorities have supplied only estimated amounts of Community Charge outstanding.

Source:

Statistical Return Council Tax and Community Charge Receipts, completed by all authorities.

(a) Uncollected Council Tax Income for Financial Years 1993–94 to 1996–97
£000
Authority Total Council Tax Income1 outstanding at 30 September 1997
Aberdeen City 11,899
Aberdeenshire 5,064
Angus 3,226
Argyll & Bute 5,100
Clackmannanshire 1,750
Dumfries & Galloway 5,018
Dundee City 9,058
East Ayrshire 6,825
East Dunbartonshire 5,652
East Lothian 5,638
East Renfrewshire 2,483
Edinburgh City of 37,848
Eilean Siar 1,126
Falkirk 4,186
Fife 13,863
Glasgow City 76,963
Highland 13,145
Inverclyde 4,713
Midlothian 4,128
Moray 1,788
North Ayrshire 7,810
North Lanarkshire 17,910
Orkney 272
Perth & Kinross 4,015
Renfrewshire 12,704
Scottish Borders 2,203
Shetland 417
South Ayrshire 5,659
South Lanarkshire 17,881
Stirling 2,751
West Dunbartonshire 10,515
West Lothian 8,287
Scotland 309,897
1 Outstanding amounts include uncollected Council Water Charges for years up to and including 1995–96.

Source:

Statistical Return Council Tax and Community Charge Receipts completed by all authorities.

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