§ Mr. Worthingtonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide figures to show for each regional service what account is taken in the calculation of (a) rate support grant and (b) his guideline figures for Strathclyde of its obligations to provide services to meet national and European Economic Community standards as well as national pay awards and agreements.
§ Mr. LangEach local authority's guideline is constructed on the basis of assessments of its relative expenditure need for each service. These assessments are based on total provision for local authority current expenditure and the allocation of that provision to services. These are determined taking account of all relevant factors, including nationally or internationally determined standards of service where they apply, and the costs including wage costs of providing the service. It is not possible to identify elements of provision or of assessed need attributable directly to these factors. Rate support grant is paid in support of a local authority's expenditure generally, and is not attributable to particular items of expenditure.