HC Deb 28 June 1976 vol 914 cc26-7W
Mr. Ralph Howell

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will publish a table showing total expenditure by local authorities in each year since 1960, at current prices and at constant prices, together with estimates for the current year;

(2) if he will tabulate for each year since 1960—including estimates for the current year—expenditure by local authorities on each of the following: education, housing, personal social services, general administration, planning and loan charges at current prices and at constant prices.

Mr. Guy Barnett

Table 1 shows the available information on expenditure at current prices; it is drawn from returns by local authorities. It is not possible yet to break down the information for 1975–76 into the headings requested. Revised information for 1976–77 has been asked for. Table 2, drawn from the White Paper on Public Expenditure (Cmnd. 6393), shows expenditure at constant prices from 1970–71 onwards for the service categories used in the public expenditure survey. It contains the White Paper estimates for 1975–76 and 1976–77.

TABLE 1
LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN ENGLAND AND WALES
RATE FUND SERVICES: REVENUE EXPENDITURE AT CURRENT PRICES
£ million
Education Housing* Personal social services General administration Town and country planning Other Total Of which debt charges
1960–61 … 708 85 47 40 10 548 1,439 335
1961–62 … 783 92 52 43 11 609 1,589 386
1962–63 … 878 88 58 46 12 668 1,751 408
1963–64 … 964 89 64 48 15 732 1,912 445
1964–65 … 1,041 110 70 54 16 793 2,084 512
1965–66 … 1,198 130 80 59 21 899 2,387 594
1966–67 … 1,314 140 92 63 25 985 2,619 665
1967–68 … 1,442 147 105 68 30 1,102 2,894 740
1968–69 … 1,539 174 116 73 33 1,162 3,097 851
1969–70 … 1,694 88 124 75 40 1,252 3,273 478
1970–71 … 1,918 86 150 85 49 1,451 3,740 539
1971–72 … 2,237 48 257 92 58 1,611 4,305 581
1972–73 … 2,615 146 324 106 69 1,801 5,061 658
1973–74 … 3,038 328 439 125 88 2,130 6,148 906
1974–75† … 4,129 490 652 146 138 2,373 7,929 1,007
1975–76† … 4,129 490 652 146 138 2,373 10,260 1,200

Source: Local Government Financial Statistics.

* Figures for housing expenditure in 1969–70 and subsequent years are not directly comparable with those for earlier years owing to changes in the treatment of government grants.

† Provisional figures.

TABLE 2
PUBLIC EXPENDITURE SURVEY 1976
LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN ENGLAND AND WALES—CURRENT EXPENDITURE† AT 1975 SURVEY PRICES
£ million
1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76* 1976–77*
Education, libraries, science and arts 3,213 3,426 3,622 3,844 4,070 4,191 4,284
Housing 146 80 203 393 458 430 403
Health and personal social services 360 391 449 509 587 633 657
Other services 1,812 1,896 1,970 2,049 2,347 2,516 2,438
Total 5,531 5,793 6,244 6,795 7,462 7,770 7,782

Source: Public Expenditure to 1979–80 (Cmnd. 6393).

* Provisional or projected figures. For further information see Cmnd. 6393 Table 3.5.

† On services for which local authorities were responsible following the transfer of water and health services to other bodies in April 1974.