Mr. W. Joseph Stewartasked the Minister of Health the amount in the pound levied for Poor Law purposes by the county councils, county by county, in England and Wales for the years 1931 to 1937?
§ Sir K. WoodThe revenue expenditure on poor relief of each county council in England and Wales falling to be met out of rates and the block grants for each of the years 1930–31 to 1933–34 inclusive, and the equivalent of that expenditure expressed as a rate in the pound, will be found in Part I of the relevant Annual Local Taxation Returns, and the corresponding figures for the two following years in Part I of the Local Government Financial Statistics for 1934–35 and 1935–36. I will send the hon. Member a statement giving the estimated corresponding figures for the year 1936–37.
The hon. Member will appreciate that the figures shown in the returns take no account of the block grants under the Local Government Act, 1929, which are applicable to local government expenses generally and cannot be apportioned to individual services.