§ Mr. Wallaceasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make it his policy not to penalise Orkney Islands council and Shetland Islands council in respect of any expenditure in excess of his prescribed limits which is attributable to costs incurred in connection with the public inquiry into the proposed reprocessing plant at Dounreay.
§ Mr. AncramIt is for local authorities to determine their own expenditure priorities within the resources available to them. For the purposes of calculating grant penalties for spending over guideline I disregard items of expenditure only in exceptional circumstances and I do not consider that expenses in connection with public inquiries fall into this category.
§ Mr. Wallaceasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make an appropriate adjustment in the rate support grant to Orkney Islands council and Shetland Islands council to cover expenditure incurred by local authorities in making such objections and representations as they see fit, to the public inquiry on the proposed reprocessing plant at Dounreay.
§ Mr. AncramNo. Rate support grant is payable in support of local authorities' revenues generally and not in relation to individual items of expenditure.