§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will state for each year since 1978–79 the Government's settlement for local authority personal social services and the actual expenditure by local authorities on personal social services for each year.
§ Mr. KeyThe available information is as follows:
482W
Personal Social Services £ million Grand related expenditure1 control total Expenditure2 1982–83 1,943 n.a. 1983–84 2,085 n.a. 1984–85 2,205 n.a. 1985–86 2,366 n.a. 1986–87 2,553 n.a. 1987–88 2,756 n.a. 1988–89 2,913 n.a. 1989–90 3,269 n.a.
SSA Control Total Expenditure3 1990–91 3,592 4,119 1991–92 4,418 4,521 1 Information on grant related expenditure control totals is not available for years prior to 1982–83. 2 It is not possible to construct comparable figures for outturn on the basis of available returns from local authorities. 3 Net Revenue Expenditure to compare with SSA.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment for what reasons he decided to exclude homelessness of children and adults, the number of elderly and disabled persons from ethnic minority groups, information about the prevalence of disability in the population from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys disability survey, and information about the prevalence of mental illness, from the calculation of standard spending assessment for local authority personal social services.
§ Mr. KeyThe selection of indicators included in the social services standard spending assessments is based on the careful consideration of research evidence, much of it from independent sources, and extensive discussion with local authority representatives. The information referred to has formed part of these considerations, but in most cases is not available on a reliable and consistent basis for all local authorities.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the average annual rate of growth allowed to the local authority personal social services between 1978–79 and 1988–89.
§ Mr. KeyThe average annual rate of growth in the total allowance for revenue spending on personal social services within the rate support grant settlements between 1982–83 and 1988–89 was 7 per cent. Information is not available for years prior to 1982–83. It is for local authorities to decide their own priorities between spending on various services.