§ Mr. NormanTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what(a) type and (b) value of (i) specific and (ii) special
Tunbridge Wells £000 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 Budget only Emergency Planning — — — 1 — — Total ring-fenced specific grants 0 0 0 1 0 0 Housing benefit administration 158 165 164 162 150 249 Council tax benefit administration 73 74 74 93 87 — Total unring-fenced specific grants 231 239 238 255 237 249 Revenue support grant 3,242 2,972 2,872 2,749 3,103 2,787 National non-domestic rates 3,279 3,292 3,503 3,913 3,871 4,352 Gross AEF 6,752 6,503 6,613 6,918 7,211 7,388 Percentage ring-fenced of gross AEF 0 0 0 0.01 0 0
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Kent £000 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 Budget only AIDS support — 140 50 127 115 105 Asylum seekers — 4,955 22,974 49,176 46,522 34,003 Building care capacity — — — — — 4,447 Carers grant — — — — — 2,169 Child care and early years — — — 1,405 3,237 16,041 Children's services (Quality Protects) — — 1,462 2,302 5,974 10,442 Civil defence — 273 — — — — Class size reductions — — 777 — — — Community care special transitional grant — 9,045 — — — — Deferred payments — — — — — 977 Education budget support grant — — — — 100 — Education of travellers and displaced persons 275 310 — — — — Emergency planning — — 273 252 375 260 Ethnic minorities achievement grant — 837 748 — — — Former GM schools transitional grant — — — 375 42 — Magistrates courts — 6,055 6,086 6,093 6,313 5,884 Mental health — 1,317 2,306 2,594 3,136 3,235 Nursery education grant for 4-year-olds — — 5,861 5,964 — — Nursery education grant for 3-year-olds — — — — — 11,203 Other grants within AEF — 19 1,159 9,252 3,094 591 Performance fund — — — — — 1,254 Preserved rights — — — — — 30,044 Probation (ordinary 80 per cent. grant) — 8,221 8,872 9,781 — — Promoting independence — — 7,383 7,451 9,440 3,958 Provision for 3-year-olds — — — 475 5,242 — Residential allowances — — — — — 2,269 Rural bus services — 1,252 1,230 1,292 1,644 1,885 School budget support grant — — — 1,463 — — Section 11 (ethnic minorities) grant 895 — — — — — grants have been provided by central government to (a) Tunbridge Wells borough council and (B) Kent county council in each year since 1997. [104694]
§ Mr. RaynsfordThe tables give all the special and specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF) provided to Tunbridge Wells and Kent. The information is taken from the Reporting Officer forms returned on an annual basis by authorities to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The entries for 1997–2002 are actual figures. These are not yet available for 2002–03 and therefore budgeted figures have been given. The definition of ring-fencing was updated last year to reflect the types of grant which now exist. Some grants previously classified as ring-fenced are not now classified in this way. The key distinction made remains that ring-fenced grants are those which restrict local authority spending. For completeness the following list includes all special grants inside Aggregate External Finance. Further details of classifications are in an annex to the freedoms and flexibilities announcement of 26 November.
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Kent £000 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 Budget only Social services training support programme — 643 514 689 791 673 Standards fund 5,342 6,264 13,620 26,207 31,162 35,137 Supported employment — 100 24 96 103 — Supporting people implementation grant — — — — — 700 Teachers' pay reform — — — 2,896 17,637 12,000 Teenage pregnancy local implementation grant — — — — — 240 Under-5s specific grant — 5,709 — — — — Young people's substance misuse grant — — — — — 91 Total ring-fenced specific grants 6,512 45,140 73,339 127,890 134,927 177,608 The private finance initiative — 331 842 885 850 — Total unring-fenced grants 0 331 842 885 850 0 School standards grant — — — — 17,514 17,975 Revenue support grant 451,972 386,147 389,996 382,868 427,589 385,874 National non-domestic rates 301,690 268,337 292,938 332,884 327,578 359,413 Gross AEF 760,174 699,955 757,115 844,527 908,458 940,870 Percentage of gross AEF ring-fenced 1 6 10 15 15 19
§ Mr. NormanTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many plans were(a) Tunbridge Wells borough council and (b) Kent county council required to submit to central government in each year since 1997. [104695]
§ Mr. LeslieThe number of plans submitted in each year to central government is set out in the following table. These figures include plans that are required from partnerships that include local authorities. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister recently announced a significant reduction in the number of plans that will be required from all authorities. Authorities assessed as excellent will themselves only have to prepare two plans, neither of which will be submitted to Government except in cases, such as Kent, in which the authority did not receive a three star rating in education. For these authorities, education plans will be required until the top rating is attained. The table, therefore, includes the three different types of education related plans that are required for 2003–04. The table assumes that none of the small number of other mandatory plans produced by partnerships of which Kent is a member fall due in 2003–04.
Year Tunbridge Wells Kent 1997–98 2 4 1998–99 3 10 1999–2000 3 17 2000–01 5 21 2001–02 9 28 2002–03 7 31 2003–04 5 3