§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the resources withdrawn from local authorities to enable the Scottish Development Agency to undertake its non-industrial functions during the next financial year.
§ Mr. William RossIt is not a question of withdrawing resources from local authorities to enable the Scottish Development Agency to undertake these functions. Under transitional arrangements grants will continue to be paid to local authorities in respect of current schemes. More importantly, the overall resources now to be available for this work, to be spent either directly by the Agency or by local authorities acting as its agents, will be very substantially greater than in previous years.
§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the extra net resources for Scotland which will accrue from the Scottish Development Agency's environmental and rehabilitation rôle during the next financial year.
§ Mr. William RossI must ask my hon. Friend to await the publication of the annual Estimates. The Scottish Development Agency will be consulted and its views taken into account before these estimates are finalised.
§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has yet decided on the number of years over which the Scottish Development Agency financial allocation will be spent.
§ Mr. William RossI must ask my hon. Friend to await the publication of the next White Paper on Public Expenditure.