HC Deb 17 July 1987 vol 119 cc668-9W
Mr. Soley

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all cases since 1980 in which he has substituted his own estimate of total expenditure for rate support grants and other purposes for that provided by a local authority.

Mr. Howard

Since 1980 the Secretary of State has substituted his own estimates of total expenditure in the following cases—for the purposes of the third rate support grant supplementary report for 1985–86, for Manchester, Brent and Merton. These authorities did not supply outturn information by the due date and total expenditures given on the budget returns were adjusted by the amount of changes in the contribution to the advanced further education and in-service training pools required as a result of a new method of apportionment; —for the purpose of calculating block grant entitlements in 1987–88 for

  • Surrey
  • Derbyshire
  • Lancashire
  • Staffordshire
  • Bedfordshire
  • Somerset
  • Cumbria
  • Cornwall
  • East Sussex
  • Hampshire
  • Isle of Wight
  • Shropshire
  • Devon
  • Suffolk
  • Sunderland
  • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
These authorities had excluded the additional cost of the teachers' pay award on returns made to the Department.

Mr. Soley

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all local authorities in England who have been requested since March 1987 to provide his Department with their total estimated expenditure in relation to 1987–88; and what criteria were used to select these authorities.

Mr. Howard

On 4 March 1987 all local authorities in England were asked to provide estimates of their 1987–88 total expenditure on the return of expenditure and rates (RER 88).

Further information regarding their estimated total expenditure in 1987–88 was sought from the following authorities during and after the end of March where there were doubts as to whether the information already provided was the best available.

  • Bedfordshire
  • Berkshire1
  • Cambridgeshire
  • Cornwall
  • Cumbria
  • Derbyshire
  • Devon
  • East Sussex
  • Hampshire
  • Hereford and Worcester
  • Isle of Wight
  • Lancashire
  • Northamptonshire
  • Northumberland
  • Shropshire
  • Somerset
  • Staffordshire
  • Suffolk
  • Surrey
  • West Sussex
  • ILEA1
  • Hammersmith and Fulham1
  • Barnet1
  • Enfield
  • Hounslow1
  • Manchester1
  • Newcastle-upon-Tyne1
  • Sheffield1
  • Sunderland1

1 Authorities contacted after the end of March.