HC Deb 05 November 1975 vol 899 cc204-5W
34. Mr. Gow

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has to impose cash limits on expenditure by local authorities during the next financial year.

Mr. Crosland

I shall be discussing with the Consultative Council on 11th November details of how cash limits will be applied to Government grants to local authorities in 1976–77.

44. Mr. Lawson

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if the CIPFA report on current local authority spending will be discussed by the Consultative Council on Local Government Finance.

Mr. Crosland

The main figures from this report were discussed by the Consultative Council on 1st August. They formed an important part of the evidence which lead to the conclusion that local authorities' current expenditure in 1975–76 was about 2 per cent. above the level envisaged in the rate support grant settlement last autumn.

51. Mr. Mike Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authorities have now taken budgetary action—or given a clear indication that they intend to do so—that he regards as meeting satisfactorily his target of no real growth in local authority spending.

Mr. John Silkin

There is no formal collection of this information. But I am encouraged and impressed by what I have heard in the Consultative Council of local authorities' determination to restrain their expenditure to achieve the required overall standstill.