HC Deb 24 March 1986 vol 94 cc331-2W
Mr. Peter Bruinvels

asked the Prime Minister what funds have been made available to the city of Leicester in each of the past three years and to date, broken down by Department; and if she will make a statement.

The Prime Minister

The readily available information covers grants and subsidies to the city of Leicester district council and is given in the table. The figures for inner-area programme, slum clearance and improvement grants are from DOE central records of payments and entitlements, whereas the balance of specific grants not identified by Departments has been estimated from the authority's outturn or budget returns.

The figures do not include allocations of money other than to the local authority—for instance, social security payments, funding for hospitals and other health services, aid for employment and training measures, grants to companies, voluntary bodies, other institutions and individuals and support for the arts. Details of this funding could not be obtained without disproportionate cost, but it would be in total be much larger than the grants and subsidies to the local authority shown here.

Grants and subsidies to the city of Leicester
£ million
1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86
I. Identifiable DOE grants
Rate support grant
Block grant 8.3 8.0 10.7 11.7
Domestic rate relief grant 3.0 3.1 3.1 3.1
Housing subsidy 2.4
Housing benefits 6.7
Inner area programme 2.1 2.4 2.3 1.8
Slum clearance 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.3
Homes insulation scheme 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.2
Improvement grants 2.2 3.2 4.2 5.1

1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86
II. DHSS grants
Housing benefits 3.3 24.9 27.4 29.2
III. Other grants not identifiable by departments
Specific revenue grants 3.1 6.0 2.5 3.5
Capital grants 2.0 3.0 3.2 n/a

Notes:

1. The block grant figure for 1982–83 is final. Those for 1983–84 to 1985–86 are based on the latest supplementary reports for those years.

2. The figures for domestic rate relief grant for 1982–83 to 1984–85 are final. The figure for 1985–86 is the first estimate.

3. Housing benefit includes rent rebates, rent allowances and rate rebates. In 1982–83, payments were made by both DOE and DHSS. From 1983–84 payments have been made only by DHSS.

4. The 1985–86 figure for inner area programme is for payments to date.

5. The 1985–86 figures for slum clearance, homes insulation scheme, improvement grants and DHSS housing benefit payments are provisional.

6. The figures for the balance of specific grants not paid by the DOE have been estimated from the authority's outturn or budget returns.