§ Sir Anthony MeyerTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he intends to make further grant payments under the Bellwin scheme to local authorities in north Wales which were involved in carrying out emergency works following the flood emergency at Towyn.
§ Mr. David HuntAs my hon. Friend will know, I have already made payments under the Bellwin scheme, amounting to over £2 million, to local authorities in Wales which were directly affected by the severe weather during the Winter of 1989–90. In the case of the north Wales flooding, one of the ways in which I recognised the exceptional nature of the problems was by extending the deadline for receipt of authorities' final audited claim forms to 30 June 1991.
Parliamentary approval to payment of grant in respect of these claims is being sought in a summer supplementary estimate on the "rate rebates, community charge reduction grants and flood and storm emergency services, Wales" vote—class XVI, vote 11. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure on meeting mature claims will be met by a repayable advance of £500,000 from the Contingencies Fund.