§ Mr. John Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the procedures used in his Department for handling applications for consent for capital expenditure by Lothian regional council; and how long it takes for these applications to be dealt with.
§ Mr. YoungerProjects were considered at first on individual application and later as a group for which consent was sought in the council's letter of 2 November 1980. Letters of consent relating to the group application were issued on 23 January.
§ Mr. John Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the capital projects which have been delayed by more than one month as a result of the special arrangements which he has introduced for processing applications for consent to incur capital expenditure by Lothian regional council.
§ Mr. YoungerSince I have no means of identifying the many factors which may delay particular projects, I cannot identify which, if any, may have been delayed by the individual scrutiny which I have introduced.
§ Mr. John Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the capital projects for which he has refused consent since the start of his special arrangements for Lothian region, giving the location and estimated cost of each item.
§ Mr. George YoungerI shall write to the hon. Member.