§ Mr. Walker-Smithasked the Minister of Health whether he will make available to Parliament as soon as possible tables showing in respect of every county and county borough in England and Wales the additional population credited in respect of sparsity and the additional population credited in respect of children under the Local Government Bill now before Parliament, together with the corresponding weightings under the Local Governments Acts of 1929–46.
§ Mr. BevanTo provide this information would involve the preparation and printing of long tables and the information would not be of assistance in the consideration of the Local Government Bill. The weighting for children now proposed relates to the number of children under 15 years of age whereas previously it related to the number of children under five years of age and was calculated in a different manner. The weighting for sparsity is now a simple addition to population whereas previously it was based on a complicated formula and was applied to a population already weighted for rateable value, children and unemployment.