§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if it is still his intention to reduce the amount of grant made available to Scottish local authorities in 1977–78 if they are unsuccessful in reducing expenditure in 1976–77 to the limits recommended by his Department; and if he will make a statement explaining how he intends to implement this policy;
(2) if he will give an assurance that those local authorities which have reduced spending in 1976–77 to the limits recommended by his Department will not suffer from any grant reduction imposed in respect of 1977–78 because Scottish local authorities as a whole have not abided by the cash limits;
193W(3) if he will make specific recommendations on spending reductions to those local authorities which have indicated that they cannot reduce spending to the limits proposed by his Department.
§ Mr. MillanI shall be issuing a circular shortly and having discussions with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.