§ 27. Ms. Clare Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he has received any representations from local authorities about the effect of the rate support grant allocations to local social services departments upon their ability properly to fulfil their statutory duties.
§ Mr. John PattenAlthough we have received no representations in the exact terms of the hon. Member's question, we have received representations from or on154W behalf of a few local authorities about the possible effects of limitations in the total resources available to them on their capacity to carry out their statutory duties.