§ Mr. LetwinTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the amount of money that each local authority in Scotland will be able to spend on non-housing capital for each year between 1998–99 and 2001–02 as a result of the abolition of the rule requiring local authorities to use 50 per cent. of non-housing capital receipts to redeem debt. [51670]
§ Mr. MacdonaldNo estimate has been made at an individual local authority level because receipts raising ability varies throughout the country. At an all Scotland level we estimate that local authorities will be able to raise, on average, an additional £75 million per annum following the abolition of the debt redemption rules on non-housing capital.