§ Q12. Mr. Hicksasked the Prime Minister if Her Majesty's Government will consider transferring financial responsibility for the payment of teachers' salaries and police from rates to central taxation; and if she will make a statement.
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§ The Prime MinisterThe option of transferring financial responsibility for teachers' salaries from local authorities to the Exchequer was considered in the Green Paper on "Alternatives to Domestic Rates". We announced in the rates White Paper (Cmnd. 9008), paragraph 2.12, that we had rejected this option. It would be undesirable for the Exchequer to take over financial responsibility for the pay bill while leaving manpower and management decisions with the local authorities. Similar considerations apply to taking central financial responsibility for the police.