§ Mr. TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing, for each local authority in England functioning as a social services authority, the amount by which its rate support grant for the year 1989–90 was increased to take account of its need for resources to cope with the increase in child abuse referrals.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyRate support grant is unhypothecated and provides support for local authority spending on all services. It is not possible to show how much RSG is paid in support of a particular aspect of social services provision. RSG is, however, distributed in accordance with the Government's assessment of individual local authorities' need to spend, including their need to spend on all aspects of social services. Provision for local authority current expenditure on social services for children aged 0 to 17 for 1989–90 is £1,201 million, an increase of £120 million, 11.1 per cent., over provision for 1988–89. In addition, this year the aggregate of Exchequer grant paid to local authorities includes a specific grant of £7 million to support the costs of training social services staff working with children and their families.