§ Mr. Bruce-Gardyneasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will name the individual capital spending projects by local authorities which have been reported to his Department as being deferred in response to his circular drawing attention to the Chancellor's statement of 27th July; and what is the total sum involved in such projects.
§ Mr. RossAs the Under-Secretary of State informed the hon. Member for Perth and East Perthshire (Mr. MacArthur) on 17th November, local authorities are not required to report all projects which they have decided to defer. To list those projects which happen to have been reported as deferred would call for a good deal of work, having regard to the number of services affected. I do not think that this would be justified when the information provided about deferment would necessarily still be incomplete. From all the cases that have come to my notice I am satisfied that local authorities have co-operated responsibly in slowing down expenditure on non-essential capital projects.