§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to the reply to the hon. Member for Leicester, East of 12 May, Official Report, column 365, if he will publish in the Official Report such information as is available to his Department about local authorities' nuclear-free zones activities; if he will take steps to collect detailed information on this subject; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. RumboldSection 137 of the Local Government Act 1972 allows local authorities to incur expenditure which in their opinion is in the interests of their area, up to the product of a 2p rate. I believe that some authorities use this power to fund nuclear-free zones activities, but my right hon. Friend has no powers to require local authorities to give him information about their discretionary spending. The representations referred to in my previous reply do not provide information for publication.