§ Mr. Michael Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if Her Majesty's Government have any plans to introduce legislation to compel local authorities to publish detailed accounts of the cost of refuse and cleansing departments.
§ Mr. KingThe code of practice on the publication by local authorities of annual reports and accounts, drawn up in conjunction with local government under the terms of the provisions of part II of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980, requires authorities to publish details of their net expenditure by service together with supporting statistical information. To the extent that authorities will comply with the code of practice in respect of the present financial year, details of the cost to an authority of providing environmental services, which includes refuse collection and cleansing, will be published.
I shall be considering whether authorities might require further guidance on the preparation and publication of accounts for particular services in the light of my consideration of the Coopers and Lybrand report recently published.