§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether it is intended that local authorities in England will have their grant claim cut by £300 million to keep within the grant cash limit; if not, whether he will give the current position; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. Heseltine[pursuant to his reply, 8 April 1981]: The total of block grant available for distribution was fixed by Parliament at £8,364 million. Claims received from local authorities exceed this amount by £303 million—3.5 per cent. As in previous years, authorities have therefore been notified that grant payments will be reduced from their claims by this uniform percentage for the time being. As was made clear in paragraph 44 of the rate support grant report, we envisage that at supplementary report stage this percentage adjustment may be replaced by an adjustment based on resetting the poundage schedules.