§ Mr. Churchillasked the Secretary of State for the Environment, as a result of measures at the end of 1976 to reduce public expenditure, what reductions there have been in the budget of his Department for 1978–79 at 1978 survey prices; and what percentage of the total budget this figure represents.
§ Mr. Shore,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 13th March; Vol. 946, c. 28], circulated the following information:
The overall effect upon my Department's programmes-other than the PSA—for 1978–79 of the measures taken at the end of 1976 to contain public expenditure would have been to reduce them by £380 million, or about 6 per cent., to £5,942 million. This reduction included a reduction of £166 million in local authority lending for house purchase and improvement.
During 1977 there have been a number of changes and additions to the programme for 1978–79 which are described in Table 5.9 of Vol. II of the 1978 Public Expenditure White Paper, Cmnd. 7049. These included an additional £66 million for inner cities announced in November 1977, and £184 million for housing and other environmental services announced in the October construction package bringing the total for my Department's programmes for 1978–79, excluding the PSA, to £6,066 million. This total does not fully reflect the additions referred to since lower interest rates result in anticipated lower housing subsidy payments.
All figures are at 1977 survey prices. The 1978 survey prices are not yet available.
§ Mr. Georgeasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the funds that have been allocated to Walsall under Section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966; and on what programmes these funds have been spent.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesI have been asked to reply.
Since 1967, the grants paid to Walsall under Section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966 have been: 804W
WALSALL COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL Financial Year £ 1967–68 … … … 7,347 1968–69 … … … 10,130 1969–70 … … … 43,878 1970–71 … … … 32,679 1971–72 … … … 110,103 1972–73 … … … 43,857 1973–74 … … … 52,240 WALSALL METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL 1974–75 … … … 57,974 1975–76 … … … 81,977 1976–77 … … … 201,884 1977–78 … … … 416,695 Claims for the last four years have not yet been finalised.
The eligible expenditure on which the authority has claimed grant comprises in the main the salary costs of education staff.