Strathclyde Regional Council (Hansard, 3 March 1988)

§ Mr. Rifkind

My Department responded to the council's letter on 1 March. I am arranging to publish the reply in theOfficial Report. It is not the normal practice for Ministers to meet individual authorities to discuss their capital allocations, but on this occasion, my hon. Friend the Minister of State hopes to meet the council later in the year.

Following is the letter: Dear Mr. McFarlane,

662W

STRATHCLYDE REGIONAL COUNCIL: FINANCIAL PLAN 1988–89 TO 1991–92 I refer to your letters dated 4 and 10 February addressed to Joan Fraser in which you restate the Council's request for a Ministerial meeting to discuss the Council's non-housing capital allocations. Your Council's representations were partly founded on the premise that its capital allocations do not equate directly with the level of population of the region. In previous correspondence with your Council at both official and Ministerial level, we have emphasised that population factors are not the main determinant of the level of capital allocations: and we have set out the main elements which are taken into account. I do not think that there is anything I can usefully add to the exchanges between the Scottish Office and your Council on this aspect. More generally Strathclyde is certainly not alone in receiving capital allocations which fall short of its aspirations. The resources available for distribution in the form of capital allocations are finite and for 1988–89, the pressure on the Scottish Block is especially severe as a consequence for the local authority current expenditure settlement for that year. An extra £71 million had to be found from within the Block to finance that settlement and local authority capital expenditure provision could not be exempted from meeting its share of these additional costs. Your Council will, I hope, by now have received Mr. Cameron's letter of 22 February notifying final capital allocations for 1988–89 and provisional figures for the following 2 years. Mr. Lang carefully considered your Council's renewed request for a meeting but he concluded that the representations were not such that he would merit departing from his and his predecessor's normal policy of not meeting individual Councils about their capital allocations. I can assure your Council, however, that the representations you made were fully taken into account before final decisions were made by him and the Secretary of State. Notwithstanding this policy, I am however pleased to inform you that when he is visiting the area later this year, (at a time yet to be determined), Mr. Lang has agreed to pay a visit to your Council when he will be prepared to hear at first hand, your Council's representations on such issues. The Council will then have a full opportunity to put before him your views on the capital expenditure programmes. Yours sincerely J. Stephen