§ Mr. George Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment in respect of what categories of local authority expenditure, besides that covered by Section 105 of the Housing Act 1974, the Government have statutory power to prohibit spending even when the funds involved are wholly rate-borne.
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§ Mr. OakesThe following are examples of categories of local authority expenditure where a Minister has statutory power to prohibit spending: contributions to the National Trust, grants to universities, grants to co-operative societies running smallholdings and allotments, contributions by exporting authorities to receiving districts for town development schemes, expenditure in respect of emergencies and disasters.
This list is not comprehensive and the information from which a comprehensive list could be drawn up is not readily available. Only cases where the requirement to obtain consent bites directly on expenditure have been included. Borrowing to finance capital expenditure requires the approval of the Secretary of State, which may either be given in respect of individual schemes or for approved programmes of work—in relation to the key sectors—or by way of a block allocation for locally determined schemes.