HC Deb 27 February 1990 vol 168 cc177-80W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To 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.

Mr. Chope

A 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'Brien

To 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 Mitchell

To 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 Mitchell

To 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.

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 Stanley

To 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:

  1. (i) Calculate the amount of local spending funded by national taxation as a multiple of income from domestic rates (less rebates).
  2. (ii) Taking the figure produced by (i), calculate the amount of national taxation accounted for by centrally funded contributions to local taxation.
  3. (iii) Calculate the amount produced by (ii) as a proportion of total national taxation.
  4. (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. Oppenheim

To 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. Chope

The 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 Mitchell

To 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. Chope

The 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:

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 Lloyd

To 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. Chope

No 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. Hanley

To 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. Chope

The 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.