§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for each month from January 1991 and subsequently outstanding local authority investments by amount outstanding and the net change between periods using the categorisation that appears in the CSO's financial statistics, and differentiating between those banks which have eligible status and those which do not.
§ Mr. Portillo[holding answer 12 November 1991]: The most recent quarterly figures for local authority investments were published in table 4.8 of "Financial Statistics", October 1991 edition. Figures for the third quarter will be available in the November edition.
638WWhereas the quarterly information on investments is collected from all authorities, the monthly information is collected only from a sample of authorities. The sample is not large enough to provide reliable figures in the detail requested.
Information on local authority bank deposits used in table 4.8 is collected from banks by the Bank of England on a quarterly basis. Monthly figures, used for the provisional calculation of the local authority borrowing requirement, are estimated from information on all public sector bank deposits.
No separate statistics are available for local authority deposits with eligible banks, which are banks whose sterling acceptances are eligible for discount at the Bank of England. The list of eligible banks, which is entirely a matter for the Bank of England, is determined on a functional basis, reflecting levels of activity arid commitment to the sterling acceptance market. Whether or not a bank is on this functional list carries no implications for its competence or credit-worthiness.
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for each month from January 1991 and subsequently outstanding inter-local authority investments by amount outstanding and the net change between periods.
§ Mr. Portillo[holding answer 12 November 1991]: Information from the Department's quarterly survey of local authorities is as follows. I regret that no reliable monthly information is available.
Local authority investments with other local authorities Amount outstanding Change from previous quarter £ million £ million 1991 Ql 960 -159 Q2 1,335 + 375 Q3 1,231 1-104 1 Q3 provisional.