§ Mr. Andrew WelshTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will consider abolishing the minimum level for claims of £120,000 from individual local authorities under the Bellwin scheme.
§ Mr. RifkindThere is no minimum level of £120,000 for claims under the Bellwin scheme of special financial assistance to local authorities. However, on all occasions when assistance under the scheme has been made available, authorities have been expected to meet an initial tranche of emergency expenditure up to a threshold set to reflect the fact that authorities have statutory powers to deal with emergencies and are expected to plan accordingly. Thresholds, based on a proportion of their penny rate, ensure that the smaller the authority the lower the threshold.