§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the basis of his calculation of a net inflow of persons for Grimsby and an average of nights stayed by visitors for indicator values for standard spending assessment purposes.
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§ Mr. ChopeA definition of these and all indicators used within SSAs is given in annex A of the Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England) approved by the House on 18 January.
§ Mr. O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he intends to make provision for concessions on community charges to those households which are not connected to the main sewer and which at present receive a reduction in their rating assessment; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he intends to make provision for some adjustment to those people who pay community charges and do not receive certain services because they live on an unmade road; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Chope[holding answer 23 February 1990]: No. The community charge is not property-based, and it would not be appropriate to retain features of the rating system which link payment for local services to the rental value of property.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, further to his written reply dated 14 February,Official Report, column 222, concerning the amount of poll tax payable in 1990–91 per adult for each region, and so on, (1) whether he will provide in each case the average amount per head contributed by central Government to the finance of local expenditure in 1989–90;
(2) whether he will provide in each case the adult population figures on which it was based together with the number of hereditaments: and if he will add figures for the child population.
§ Mr. Chope[holding answer 26 February 1990]: I have today placed in the Library a table showing the information requested. The figures for 1989–90 rate support grant include contributions to or from the London rate equalisation scheme and are per head of relevant population in 1990–91. Central Government also contribute towards the finance of local authority expenditure by specific grants but amounts are not yet known for individual authorities or areas.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, further to his written reply dated 14 February,Official Report, column 222, concerning the amount of poll tax payable in 1990–91 per adult for each region, and so on, whether he will provide in each case an estimate of the numbers of single-adult households chargeable to poll tax together with the number of those with children.
§ Mr. Chope[holding answer 26 February 1990]: The available information is shown in the table. This is based on data taken from the family expenditure survey and shows the estimated number of single-adult households with and without children in each region.
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Single adult Single parent All single households Northern 460 40 500 Yorkshire and Humberside 670 80 750 North West 800 110 910 East Midlands 440 40 490 West Midlands 580 70 650 East Anglia 230 20 250 Greater London 950 90 1,040 Remainder of South East 1,140 120 1,260
Single adult Single parent All single households South West 500 50 550 Total England 5,770 620 6,400 Numbers are in thousands and may not add due to rounding.
§ Sir John StanleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will state the assumptions and the basis of calculation used in his reply to the hon. Member for Tonbridge and Mailing on 12 February,Official Report, column 58, that under the community charge system about 15 times as much will be contributed to the cost of local government by the top 10 per cent. of households by income compared with the poorest 10 per cent.
§ Mr. Chope[holding answer 22 February 1990]: Using a sample of households grouped into deciles of gross income, the calculations involved the following stages:
- (i) Calculate the amount of local spending funded by national taxation as a multiple of income from domestic rates (less rebates).
- (ii) Taking the figure produced by (i), calculate the amount of national taxation accounted for by centrally funded contributions to local taxation.
- (iii) Calculate the amount produced by (ii) as a proportion of total national taxation.
- (iv) Assuming that the proportion at (iii) applied equally to all households, estimate the amount of national taxation paid as a contribution to local authority spending by the top and bottom deciles of households by income.
§ Mr. OppenheimTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many meetings his Department has had with, and how many letters it has received from, Derbyshire county council in connection with the community charge within the past year.
§ Mr. ChopeThe Department has had no meetings with, but has received nine letters from, Derbyshire county council in connection with the community charge within the past year.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, further to his written reply dated 14 February,Official Report, column 222, concerning the amount of poll tax payable in 1990–91 per adult for each region, what assumption has been made about the per adult contribution made by central Government in deciding the proposed increase in the local tax/ratepayer's contribution to local expenditure in Humberside; and whether he will publish in the Official Report the per adult figures for the central Government contribution in each case, together with figures showing that contribution as a percentage of the local tax/ratepayer's contribution.
§ Mr. ChopeThe Government have not proposed a specific increase in local contribution to expenditure in Humberside. The Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England) sets out the basis of distribution of revenue support grant for 1990–91. The Revenue Support Grant Transition Report (England) sets out the adjustments to that basis of distribution and the Special Grant Report specifies two special grants for 1990–91. The distribution of business rates will be in accordance with the Local Government Finance Act 1988. The table shows the aggregate of these amounts (known as "external support") for Humberside authorities as amounts per adult and as percentages of the average assumed personal community charge or 1989–90 rate bill per adult:180W
External support for Humberside External support per adult £ External support as percentage of rate/chargepayer contribution Underlying 1990–91 assumed community charge with safety net 595 224.4 Underlying 1989–90 average rate bill per adult 583 241.0 Underlying assumed long run community charge 535 164.9
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if his Department has commissioned any research on the effects of the poll tax or community charge on the provision of bed-and-breakfast accommodation.
§ Mr. ChopeNo such research has been commissioned. Any person solely or mainly resident in a building, whatever its use, will be subject to the personal community charge. Bed-and-breakfast accommodation offered in someone's own home which is available for fewer than 100 days in a year will not be subject to business rates.
§ Mr. HanleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the amount of the block grant given to each London borough, per head of population in 1988–89, 1989–90 and the forecast for 1990–91.
§ Mr. ChopeThe information for 1988–89 and 1989–90 is as follows. Comparable information for 1990–91 is not available for individual authorities because of changes to the grant system.
Block grant per head of population—London boroughs 1988–89 (£) 1989–90 (£) City of London 0 0 Camden 0 0 Greenwich 207 223 Hackney 364 421 Hammersmith and Fulham 316 345 Islington 281 302 Kensington and Chelsea 232 283 Lambeth 346 377 Lewisham 277 308 Southwark 293 347 Tower Hamlets 361 457 Wandsworth 265 264 Westminster 0 0 Barking and Dagenham 190 213 Barnet 118 100 Bexley 233 235 Brent 270 320 Bromley 176 159 Croydon 137 135 Ealing 224 228 Enfield 183 183 Haringey 413 441 Harrow 198 203 Havering 190 190 Hillingdon 18 11 Hounslow 104 83 Kingston upon Thames 129 115 Merton 209 207 Newham 464 521 Redbridge 233 240 Richmond upon Thames 66 38 Sutton 157 154 Waltham Forest 364 370 Note:
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys mid-year estimates of total population have been used to derive per capita values.