§ Sir John Biggs-Davisonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the increase or decrease in the population of each of the shire counties and the corresponding increase or decrease in Government grant to each of them since 1974.
§ Mr. KingFigures for the change in population of each of the shire counties over the period June 1974 to June 1980 are set out as follows with figures for the change in rate support grants to each county over the period 1974–75 to 1981–82.
The grant figures are for the sum of rate support grants paid to county and district authorities in each year, and not to the county authorities alone. This is in order to discount the effects of different grant payment arrangements over the period. The grant figures for 1981–82 are those which I placed in the Library, pursuant to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Reading, North (Mr. Durant) on 10 December—[Vol. 14, c. 487.] Rate support grants are not distributed in proportion to total population, although this has always been an important factor. The age structure of the population and other indicators of expenditure need are taken into account together with the ability that each authority has to meet its expenditure need from its own resources.
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County Change in population 1974–1980 Change in rate support grants*1974–75 to 1981–82 (000's) (£000's) Avon 10.7 95, 188 Bedfordshire 21.4 40, 665 Berkshire 34.1 33, 382 Buckinghamshire 49.1 33, 654 Cambridgeshire 43.7 46, 808 Cheshire 28.6 97, 529 Cleveland -1.2 80, 585 Cornwall 19.0 50, 933 Cumbria -7.1 61, 174 Derbyshire 7.1 101, 292 Devon 29.5 101, 437 Dorset 26.6 52, 669 Durham -6.8 87, 465 East Sussex 1.6 56, 173 Essex 57.9 96, 410 Gloucestershire 16.2 46, 893 Hampshire 37.3 128, 424 Hereford and Worcester 36.5 57, 560 Hertfordshire 17.4 44, 568 Humberside 2.9 127, 952 Isle of Wight 4.8 14, 125 Kent 27.0 138, 939 Lancashire -0.3 199, 599 Leicestershire 12.4 88, 302 Lincolnshire 18.7 61, 744 Norfolk 35.2 65, 015 Northamptonshire 27.3 54, 180 Northumberland 1.9 34, 457 North Yorkshire 17.0 69, 521 Nottinghamshire -5.9 123, 859 Oxfordshire 16.9 33, 583 Shropshire 15.8 42, 097 Somerset 16.5 43, 925
County Change in population 1974–1980 Change in rate support grants*1974–75 to 1981–82 (000's) (£000's) Staffordshire 17.0 104, 018 Suffolk 30.8 53, 344 Surrey -5.2 35, 945 Warwickshire 5.4 40, 593 West Sussex 36.5 41, 435 Wiltshire 17.4 52, 913 *In 1974–75 the sum of needs, resources and domestic elements of rate support grant. For 1981–82 the sum of block grant and domestic rate relief grant.