§ 79. Dame Irene Wardasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will make a statement on the circumstances which led to his communication to certain rating authorities of 26th January last.
§ Mr. H. Brooke:This communication related to the transitional receipts and payments under Section 15 of the Local Government Act, 1958. A first provisional calculation, based in the main on data supplied by the local authorities, was made in readiness for the financial year 1959–60. On revised data now received from the local authorities a second provisional calculation has been made; it is not yet possible to make a final calculation.
For some areas the second provisional calculation shows marked differences in the results from those of the first calculation. I have therefore decided to postpone the adjustment for the two past years and to have further consultation with the associations of local authorities about the timing and phasing of these adjustments.
Whitley Bay in my hon. Friend's constituency is one of the places materially affected; I understand that the council have welcomed my decision to defer the adjustment.