HC Deb 01 July 1974 vol 876 cc66-7W
Mr. Shersby

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what encouragement is being given to local authorities to provide sewerage facilities in advance of housing construction programmes; and what is the current expenditure on local authority sewerage facilities for each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Mr. Denis Howell

Provision of sewerage and sewage disposal facilities is the responsibility of the water authorities who have been asked to give priority to schemes serving the provision and improvement of housing.

Current expenditure at constant prices on these facilities by local authorities in England in each of the last three years for which final figures are available—based on information published in Local Government Financial Statistics—is as follows:

£ millions (November 1973 prices)
1969 70 164.9
1970–71 178.0
1971–72 192.0

Mr. Shersby

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total expenditure on drainage and sewerage by water authorities during each of the

£ million (at November 1973 prices
Revenue Expenditure 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72
(1) Debt charges 80.3 87.9 97.0
(2) Other revenue expenditure 122.3 125.6 129.8
(3) Total revenue expenditure 202.6 213.5 226.8
(4) Total capital expenditure 200.1 238.9 249.8
Total of lines (3) and (4) 402.7 452.4 476.6

On the basis of information made available by the water authorities, estimated total revenue expenditure on these services in 1974–75 is £317.2 million and total capital expenditure is £225.3 million, a total of £542.5 million.