§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total, in real terms, of Government expenditure on local government in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1983, respectively; and what is the forecast for 1984.
§ Mr. Peter ReesThe following table sets out aggregate Exchequer grant paid to local authorities since 1978–79. The index has been calculated by deflating cash figures by the GDP deflator. 1978–79 has been taken as 100. All figures are for Great Britain.
Year Grant (£ million cash) Index (deflated by GDP deflator) 1978–79 9,425.3 100 1979–80 10,815.5 98.1 1980–81 12,758.3 97.4 1981–82 13,373 93.3 1982–83 13,848.1 90.1 1983–84 14,349.65 890 1984–85 14,791 87.4 For 1978–79 to 1980–81 the figures show final grant paid. For 1981–82 the figures are near final and include holdback. For 1982–83 and 1983–84 the figures reflect holdback of grant in England and Wales based on budgets. Grant entitlements of local authorities will be recalculated on estimated and final outturn. The figure for 1984–85 is based on the amount available for grant in the 1984–85 RSG settlements and on the GDP deflator forecast in the Autumn Statement. The Scottish figures reflect abatements from grant available at settlement from 1979–80 onwards. Central Government provides considerable financial assistance to local government outside the rate support grant system, principally — through housing subsidies and reimbursement for rate rebates.
§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total local government expenditure in real terms for each year from 1975 onwards, taking 1975 as the base year at 100.
§ Mr. Peter ReesI shall let my hon. Friend have a reply as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Strawasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what effect he estimates an additional £100 million of revenue expenditure by local authorities will have upon (a) the public sector borrowing requirement and (b) the money supply, assuming that such additional expenditure is 8W entirely rate borne and (i) the 1983–84 penalty and target system operates and (ii) no penalty or target system operates.
§ Mr. Peter Rees[pursuant to his reply, 19 December 1983, c. 13]: It is not possible to estimate the precise effect on the PSBR or the money supply of an additional £100 million of relevant expenditure by local authorities without making a great number of assumptions.