Mr. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the Official Report figures showing in constant prices expenditure by local authorities on insulation of their housing stock for each of the last five years; and if he is satisfied that the inclusion of grants for such expenditure in the general allocation has not resulted in a fall in expenditure.
§ Mr. AncramThe information requested is as follows:
£ million Cash At 1983–84 prices
1979–80 4.2 6.1 1980–81 3.7 4.5 1981–82 2.5 2.8 1982–83 2.1 2.2 1983–84 2.3 2.3 16W
£000 1983–84* 1984–85 1985–86 Region Capital expenditure on roads Current† expenditure on roads maintenance and road lighting Capital expenditure allocation roads and transport Provisional capital expenditure allocation on roads and transport Borders 1,554 4,626 2,115 2,400 Central 3,291 7,834 4,031 3,500 Dumfries and Galloway 1,932 5,622 2,341 2,400 Fife 4,986 9,904 6,327 6,100 Grampian 9,500 15,221 10,762 11,600 Highland 9,186 18,849 9,152 10,300 Lothian 15,179 20,402 21,570 22,600 Strathclyde 54,720 58,138 67,477 68,500 Tayside 6,965 16,182 8,070 8,000 Orkney 457 2,067 557 600 Shetland 3,734 2,116 5,010 4,300 Western Isles 3,053 3,034 3,889 4,400 Regions Total 114,557 163,995 141,301 144,700 *Provisional outturn figures. †Includes expenditure on roads administration. I have no reason to believe that the inclusion of funds for the insulation of local authority houses in their allocation has been the sole, or even the most significant factor in this pattern of expenditure. Since 1980–81, when resources for this purpose were included in the HRA-block allocations, the pattern reflects decisions by local authorities in allocating the resources available to them. Over this period, expenditure has not dropped markedly in relation to the number of houses still without insulation.