§ 43. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he received an approach from the Greater London council asking him to receive a deputation to discuss the council's request that block grant penalties on expenditure should not be imposed; why he refused to meet such a deputation on an all-party Greater London council basis; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe chairman of the GLC transport committee wrote to my right hon. Friend on 16 December seeking to bring an all-party deputation to discuss two matters relating to RSG. My noble Friend the Minister for Local Government replied on 26 January.
The first matter which the deputation wished to discuss dealt with the operation of RSG as it affects all authorities. This was a matter which had previously been debated with the GLC and the Government's position made known to them. My noble Friend therefore departed from his usual practice of keeping an open door to authorities which wish to make representations to him and indicated that there would be no point in a meeting to discuss this issue.
The second matter raised was a proposal to exempt from the scope of the grant holdback arrangements additional expenditure on transport services for the disabled. This expenditure would be only a tiny fraction of the GLC's total expenditure in 1983–84 and the authority's overspending is so massive that they will receive no grant in 1983–84 as a result of the general grant arrangements referred to above. They will therefore not be subject to block grant holdback. While we remain prepared to consider representations from any authority on this point, there seems no purpose in specifically meeting with the GLC for this purpose.