Rate Support Grant (Hansard, 21 December 1981)

§ Mr. Nicholas Edwards

At a meeting today of the Welsh Consultative Council on Local Government Finance I announced my decisions on the Welsh Rate Support Grant settlement for 1982–83.

The main decisions are as follows:

Relevant expenditure Total relevant expenditure for RSG purposes will he £1,301 million. Of this amount £1,126 million is current expenditure, an increase of £94 million over the current expenditure provision in the 1981–82 settlement. The relevant expenditure total also takes account of the capital expenditure allocations of £279 million which is £46 million more than the amount allocated for 1981–82. The assumption on rent increases in Wales is £2.50 per dwelling per week.

Aggregate exchequer grant Aggregate exchequer grant will be 72.5 per cent. of relevant expenditure, a total of £943 million.

Specific grants The estimated total amount of specific grants will he £96.62 million.

Transport supplementary grant The prescribed amount of transport supplementary grant will he £30 million.

National parks supplementary grant The prescribed amount of national parks supplementary grant will be £1.69 million.

The rate support grants The total amount of the rate support grants will he £814.69 million.

Distribution of block grant Block grant will be distributed in accordance with grant related expenditure (GRE) formulae agreed by the Welsh local authority associations. The structure of grant related poundages will he broadly the same as for 1981–82, the main difference being that there will he an increase in the slope of the poundage schedule above the threshold. This change will act as a further disincentive to very high spending in relation to GRE.

Safety nets There will be a safety net by which grant losses arising from changes in GRE and the residual effect of moving to the new block grant system will be limited to the grant equivalent of a 5p rate at the ratepayer level.

Copies of my full statement to the Welsh Consultative Council have been placed in the Library. All the provisions of the 1982–83 settlement will be included in a Welsh rate support grant report which will be laid before this House for approval next month.