HC Deb 14 May 1991 vol 191 cc72-3W
Mr. David Porter

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement listing his Department's contribution to police, prisons, fire and other services within Suffolk for each of the past 10 years; and what his forward plans are for the next three years.

Mr. Kenneth Baker

The Home Office pays specific grant on a proportion of local authorities' expenditure on police, magistrates' courts, probation and civil defence. The proportion varies according to the service. My Department also pays grant under section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966 to enable local authorities to employ additional staff to meet the specific needs of local communities of Commonwealth origin. Details of some of these grants to individual authorities are not available for all of the last 10 years. The available information, and that on Home Office expenditure on prisons, in respect of Suffolk is given in the table. No detailed forecasts are made of grant and other payments to individual local authorities for future years.

Police1 Magistrates' courts2 Probation3 Civil defence4 Section 115 Prisons6
£'000s £'000s £'000s £'000s £'000s £'000s
1981–82 9,934 — — — 29 —
1982–83 10,901 — 935 — 57 —
1983–84 11,613 — 1,029 — 88 18,932
1984–85 12,411 1,184 1,102 — 82 19,331
1985–86 13,687 1,301 1,205 223 113 19,924
1986–87 14,776 1,448 1,329 241 109 20,629
1987–88 15,701 1,563 1,461 286 113 23,164
1988–89 17,805 1,997 1,568 356 119 22,481
1989–90 20,458 2,485 1,939 367 150 23,860
71990–91 22,291 2,707 2,035 362 148 26,263
71991–92 24,772 2,933 2,298 324 173 28,101
1 Rate of grant—51 per cent.
2 Rate of grant—80 per cent.
3 Rate of grant—Mainly 80 per cent.
4 Rate of grant—Mainly 100 per cent.
5 Rate of grant—75 per cent.
5 Operating costs of the three prison establishments in Suffolk.
7 Estimates of grant and expenditure.

The Home Office makes no specific contribution to local authorities' expenditure on fire services. Government support for fire is provided through the revenue support grant system, and decisions on fire expenditure are the responsibility of individual local authorities.