§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in the Official Report the inflation factor applied to local government volume expenditure totals to convert November 1978 prices to November 1979 prices and to convert November 1979 prices to November 1980 prices, and if he will detail precisely how each inflation factor was derived.
§ Mr. KingThe inflation factors for net current expenditure are calculated each year on the basis of an established methodology from data on pay and price movements in local government reported to us by Essex county council, on behalf of local authorities in England and Wales, as part of the rate support grant negotiations. The overall factor is 1.15 for November 1978 to November 1979, in England and Wales. For 1981–82, separate RSG settlements have been made for England and Wales, and the factor for England for November 1979 to November 1980 is 1.25.
168WDetailed information on the derivation of the factors is given in the booklets published by the local authority associations—"Rate Support Grant 1980–81 (llth Period)" February 1980, and "Rate Support Grant 1981–82 (12th Period)", to be published soon.
§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in the Official Report the "target" expenditure for each local authority in England below which each council must spend in order to ensure that it does not incur rate support grant reductions in 1981–82 expressed (a) in November 1980 prices and (b) in 1981–82 outturn prices.
§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in the Official Report the grant-related expenditure figures—as originally published in the rate support grant report, appendix 1 to annex 9, column 2—expressed in November 1980 prices in a form consistent with the volume targets issued to local authorities for 1981–82.
§ Mr. KingThe volume targets issued to local authorities for 1981–82 are calculated in terms of current expenditure at November 1980 prices. The grant-related expenditure assessments in appendix 1 to annex G of the rate support grant report relate to total expenditure at outturn prices. Total expenditure cannot be directly compared with current expenditure, even if it were revalued to the same price base, because it includes a number of items—revenue contribution to capital, rate fund contribution to the housing revenue account, etc.—which are not included in the definition of current expenditure.
§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in the Official Report the total revenue expenditure for each local authority in England (a) in 1978–79—in volume terms, at November 1979 prices—(b) in 1979–80—in volume terms, at November 1979 prices—and (c) in 1980–81—revised budget stage, in volume terms, at November 1979 prices.