§ Mr. Bulmerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will take into account the price of motor fuel and its impact on the rural areas in his future allocation of the rate support grant.
§ Mr. KingThe needs of different local authorities are accounted for, in the allocation of rate support grant, via the assessment of grant-related expenditure. The GRE for each authority is an assessment of how much it would cost that authority to provide a typical standard of service, having regard to its circumstances and responsibilities. In general, therefore, circumstances of rural authorities which might be expected to result in a greater need for motor fuel expenditure are already incorporated into the grant allocation procedure, for example through allowance for the sparsity of population.
We are exploring the necessity and feasibility of making an additional allowance for differences in unit costs facing different authorities—for example, differences in wage levels. It is, however, considered unlikely that differences in fuel prices will be found to contribute in a major way to variations in expenditure needs between authorities.