§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the total value of grants made by the Greater London council to each London borough which he has approved; which individual boroughs have received the grants; and if he intends to exercise his powers under section 91 of the Local Government Act 1985 to recover any such grants which have not been authorised by him.
§ Mr. TraceyThe total value of financial assistance provided by the GLC to the London boroughs for which my right hon. Friend has given his consent under section 91 of the Local Government Act 1985 is as follows:
Borough Total value (£) Barking and Dagenham 4,398 Brent 100,000 Ealing 387,500 Enfield 27,500 Greenwich 2,166,252 Hackney 35,814 Hammersmith and Fulham 155,300 Haringey 1,846,015 Havering 49,000 Hillingdon 30,363 Hounslow 116,570 Kensington and Chelsea 26,600 Lambeth 427,465 Newham 228,000 Redbridge 216,240 Richmond Upon Thames 25,000 Southwark 61,696 Tower Hamlets 4,394,158 Waltham Forest 117,349 Wandsworth 100,000 10,515,220 Following his announcement on 18 December, at column 219, my right hon. Friend is considering the extent to which he would wish to exercise his discretion to direct the London Residuary Body to recover the value of assistance given without his consent under the provisions in the 1985 Act. My right hon. Friend has also made clear his concern about the continuing assistance proposed to be given by the GLC to individual boroughs on a selective basis, particularly where this involves funding activities continuing beyond abolition. We take the view that, with the approach of abolition, there is in general little justification for the GLC seeking at this stage to fund post-abolition activities from ratepayers' money. Decisions as to such funding are primarily the province of successor authorities. My right hon. Friend will therefore wish to look very closely at any further applications for consent under section 91 of the 1985 Act. Where assistance is given without his consent or consent is refused, he intends to exercise his discretion under schedule 15, paragraph 2(2), to the Act to direct the London Residuary body to recover the value of the assistance from the authority concerned in every case where this appears to be justified.