§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the debt inherited by each unitary authority in Wales from the predecessor authorities; and what estimate he has made of each authority's exposure to future financial liabilities from those authorities. [88400]
Mr. Jon Owen JonesInformation on the outstanding loan debt of county and county borough councils at 1 April 1996 is set out in paragraph 6 of the notes to Table 1.2 of the Local Government Finance Report (Wales) 1997 –98, which was approved by the House in February 1997.
I have made no estimate of any financial liabilities that councils inherited from their predecessor authorities because information on such liabilities is not held centrally.
Following the transfer of functions, this issue will be a matter for the National Assembly.