§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what changes he proposes in the system for the control of local authority capital expenditure.
§ Mr. YoungerI am broadly satisfied with the operation of the local authority capital control system in Scotland, but I propose two modest changes which will lead to more flexible management of the local authority capital cash blocks Scottish Office—local authority 1 and Scottish Office—local authority 2. At present my Department can carry forward to the following year an underspend on either cash block up to a maximum of 2 per cent. of the appropriate cash limit; in future the maximum will be 5 per cent. Furthermore if it appears that an overspend is likely on either block I will refrain from taking any mid-year corrective action unless the probable outturn looks like exceeding 105 per cent. of the appropriate cash limit.