§ Mr. Andrew MacKayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what further measures the Government intend to take to strengthen their powers to curb excessive local authority spending.
§ Mr. HeseltineStronger capping powers are necessary to enable the Government to protect all charge payers from excessive spending by local authorities. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his March Budget a fundamental and permanent shift from local to national taxation for the funding of local services. We are determined to ensure that in future the very substantial extra sums of money we are now providing are not wasted in higher spending by local authorities but continue to keep charges down to reasonable levels. All authorities must exercise restraint and play their part in the fight against inflation.
My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales and I have therefore decided to introduce before the Whitsun recess a Bill to abolish the exemption from capping of English and Welsh authorities with budgets of less than £15 million, and to bring the Scottish capping powers into line with those which apply in England and Wales. If approved, it would, inter alia, enable my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland for the first time to cap an authority whose year-on-year increase in expenditure he considered to be excessive.
The Bill will also contain provisions enabling properties to be allocated to bands in preparation for the introduction of the new council tax from 1 April 1993.