§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what figure for inflation his Department advised(a) district councils, (b) county councils and (c) health authorities in Wales to use in the advance planning and estimate-making for the 1990–91 financial year.
§ Mr. David HuntIndividual local authorities determine their own budgets, including the inflation and other assumptions on which they are based. The appropriate level of local government expenditure for each financial year is set by the Government and it is regrettable that actual spending by local authorities has consistently and unnecessarily exceeded those levels. No record of local authorities' budget assumptions is kept and no estimate of the inflation in local government costs to which they have contributed is made by my Department. I will respond separately to questions raised with respect to health authorities.