§ 16. Sir Raymond Gowerasked the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of Welsh local authorities' planned expenditure and rates for 1983–84; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Nicholas EdwardsWelsh local authorities plan to spend in aggregate £1,271 million in 1983–84. This is £21 million or 1.7 per cent. more than the sum of the individual authority total expenditure targets I set in this year's rate support grant report. The rating consequences of these expenditure plans will be all-Wales average general and domestic rate poundages for the current year of 168.3p and 149.8p, respectively. These average poundages are only 1.1p or 0.7 per cent. higher than the average poundages last year, with variations around the average ranging from approximately minus 11 per cent. to plus 12 per cent.
Thirty-two of the 45 Welsh local authorities, three counties and 29 districts, have planned expenditure at or below their expenditure targets which is commendable and demonstrates both that the targets I set are achievable and the fairness of the 1983–84 rate support grant settlement. However, 13 authorities have planned expenditure above their targets and appear to have disregarded the effect of this on their ratepayers. Had all Welsh authorities met their targets there would have been average reductions in the general rate poundage of about 6.5 per cent. and domestic rate poundage of about 7.5 per cent. Thus, while the position as regards rates in 1983–84 is in general satisfactory, the position could have been considerably better.
A key determinant of expenditure is manpower, with local authority wage and salary costs accounting for about two thirds of total current expenditure. It is a cause for concern therefore that the most recent joint manpower watch figures show that for the first time since 1979 there has been a year on year increase in employment in the local government sector in Wales. This trend must be reversed if the progress which has been made in reducing current expenditure to a level which the nation can afford is to continue.
Reductions in local authority expenditure have been reflected in low rate increases in the last two years and have enabled me to increase the provision for worthwhile capital projects. I look to all local authorities, especially those with expenditure above their targets, to review critically their manpower requirements in order to secure staff reductions. I am confident that there is scope to achieve these by increasing efficiency and securing better "value for money" without affecting the level of services.