§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will give for each county council (i) the net expenditure in each year since 1977–78, (ii) the domestic and business precept in each year since 1977–78, (iii) the percentage rise in the precept in each year since 1977–78, (iv) the percentage rise in the precept in the periods 1977–78 to 1980–81, 1981–82 to 1985–86, 1986–87 to 1989–90 and 1977–78 to 1989–90, (v) the change in the number of staff employed at the end of the periods 1977–78 to 1980–81, 1981–82 to 1985–86, 1986–87 to 1989–90 and 1977–78 to 1989–90 expressed in number and percentage terms, (vi) the political composition of the councils in 1977 to 1981, 1981 to 1985, 1985 to 1989; and if he will list the councils in rank order by largest increase in precept over the period 1985–86 to 1989–90 starting with the council with the highest increase in that period.
§ Mr. GristThe information requested is shown in the following tables:
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(iii) The percentage rise in the precept in each year since 1977–78 is shown below. Percentage change Counties 1977–78 to 1978–79 1978–79 to 1979–80 1979–80 to 1980–81 1980–81 to 1981–82 1981–82 to 1982–83 1982–83 to 1983–84 1983–84 to 1984–85 1984–85 to 1985–86 1985–86 to 1986–87 1986–87 to 1987–88 1987–88 to 1988–89 Clwyd 10.5 25.9 24.6 19.4 0.0 0.0 9.5 6.2 9.9 4.8 6.1 Dyfed 5.9 28.1 27.9 9.8 0.1 6.9 9.2 19.6 14.5 6.9 5.3 Gwent 6.9 24.1 19.4 10.3 4.7 4.4 0.0 3.5 18.5 11.0 8.3 Gwynedd 10.2 37.9 15.0 15.3 -3.9 10.6 6.6 3.4 12.0 8.9 10.9 Mid Glamorgan 1.4 30.4 24.7 21.4 -0.1 6.4 17.1 3.9 9.9 4.8 5.8 Powys 5.6 42.1 33.3 14.8 3.2 0.0 4.7 14.9 14.9 6.2 6.9 South Glamorgan 9.0 24.1 13.2 14.2 14.6 -6.4 6.1 11.3 24.3 4.1 7.4 West Glamorgan 7.6 37.9 21.4 17.3 3.2 2.5 6.1 5.1 7.1 14.2 16.9
(iv) The percentage rise in county council precepts for the periods requested is shown below. Information for 1989–90 is not yet available. Percentage change Counties 1977–78 to 1980–81 1981–82 to 1985–86 1986–87 to 1988–89 1977–78 to 1988–89 Clwyd 73.4 16.2 11.1 193.7 Dyfed 73.7 39.6 12.6 243.0 Gwent 58.3 13.2 20.2 181.5 Gwynedd 74.8 17.2 20.8 219.7 Mid Glamorgan 64.9 29.3 10.9 215.4 Powys 100.0 24.2 13.6 272.2 South Glamorgan 53.2 26.6 11.8 208.1 West Glamorgan 80.0 17.9 33.5 255.9
(v) The change in numbers of staff employed in "general services" by county councils is shown below for the years where data is available. Individual authority data is not held centrally prior to December 1978 or later than September 1988. In order to minimise the effect of seasonal variation, March quarter returns for the appropriate years have been used. Counties Change Percentage change March 1979 March 1981 March 1986 March 1988 1979 to 1981 1981 to 1986 1986 to 1988 1979 to 1988 1979 to 1981 1981 to 1986 1986 to 1988 1979 to 1988 Full time staff Clwyd 9,007 8,724 8,460 8,371 -283 -264 -89 -636 -3.14 -3.03 -1.05 -7.06 Dyfed 8,388 8,091 7,693 7,856 -297 -398 163 -532 -3.54 -4.92 2.12 -6.34 Gwent 10,929 10,516 9,856 9,734 -413 -660 -122 -1,195 -3.78 -6.28 -1.24 -10.93 Gwynedd 6,151 6,120 5,613 5,550 -31 -507 -63 -601 -0.50 -8.28 -1.12 -9.77 Mid Glamorgan 14,770 13,977 13,276 13,463 -793 -701 187 -1,307 -5.37 -5.02 1.41 -8.85 Powys 3,285 3,208 3,078 3,005 -77 -130 -73 -280 -2.34 -4.05 -2.37 -8.52 South Glamorgan 8,670 8,661 8,249 8,171 -9 -412 -78 -499 -0.10 -4.76 -0.95 -5.76 West Glamorgan 9,954 9,228 8,584 8,616 -726 -644 32 -1,338 -7.29 -6.98 0.37 -13.44 Part time staff Clwyd 6,045 5,959 6,933 7,541 -86 974 608 1,496 -1.42 16.35 8.77 24.75 Dyfed 5,296 4,996 5,538 6,296 -300 542 758 1,000 -5.66 10.85 13.69 18.88 Gwent 7,860 7,839 8,286 9,390 -21 447 1,104 1,530 -0.27 5.70 13.32 19.47 Gwynedd 3,649 3,607 3,925 4,201 -42 318 276 552 -1.15 8.82 7.03 15.13 Mid Glamorgan 8,689 9,411 10,704 10,893 722 1,293 189 2,204 8.31 13.74 1.77 25.37 Powys 1,804 1,762 2,024 2,340 -42 262 316 536 -2.33 14.87 15.61 29.71 South Glamorgan 6,038 5,936 6,361 7,223 -102 425 862 1,185 -1.69 7.16 13.55 19.63 West Glamorgan 5,594 5,349 5,785 5,871 -245 436 86 277 -4.38 8.15 1.49 4.95
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(vi) The political composition of the councils for the first and last year of the periods requested has been extracted from the "Municipal Year Book" for that year and is shown below. Counties Independent Conservative Labour Plaid Cymru Other Clwyd 1977 27 11 23 0 5 1981 22 21 20 0 1 1985 21 13 28 0 4 1989 19 15 25 0 7 Dyfed 1977 42 0 29 1 6 1981 43 0 25 6 5 1985 40 0 28 5 5 1989 34 0 29 5 9 Gwent 1977 1 12 59 0 4 1981 4 26 38 2 3 1985 0 12 65 0 1 1989 0 9 67 1 1 Gwynedd 1977 56 0 5 5 0
Counties Independent Conservative Labour Plaid Cymru Other 1981 44 8 3 9 2 1985 45 2 5 8 6 1989 40 3 5 10 7 Mid Glamorgan 1977 4 3 61 9 3 1981 6 8 48 16 3 1985 4 3 64 7 4 1989 3 1 68 7 6 Powys 1977 53 0 0 0 0 1981 53 0 0 0 0 1985 45 1 4 0 8 1989 41 0 8 0 8 South Glamorgan 1977 3 34 42 0 0 1981 0 64 14 0 0 1985 0 35 41 1 3 1989 0 18 34 1 9 West Glamorgan 1977 6 9 51 1 1 1981 3 10 43 2 0 1985 2 10 56 0 1 1989 2 7 53 0 5
(vii) The increase in precept over the period 1985–86 to 1988–89 in rank order of increase is shown below. Information for 1989–90 is not yet available. Counties Percentage change 1985–86 to 1988–89 West Glamorgan 42.9 Gwent 42.5 South Glamorgan 39.0 Gwynedd 35.3 Powys 30.5 Dyfed 28.9 Clwyd 22.1 Mid Glamorgan 21.8