§ 55. Mr. Cabornasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he proposes making any changes to the block grant system following the recommendations made in the Audit Commission report on block grant.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerWhen the report was published, my right hon. Friend said that our immediate reaction was that whilst most of its recommendations seem reasonable, we had doubts about a number of arguments on which they were based. We are examining the report in detail. There are no present plans to change the arrangements for distributing block grant. My right hon. Friend announced on 9 October that Department of the Environment Ministers would be embarking on a series of studies into various aspects of local government finance, including the rate support grant system.