§ Mr. Gwilym JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he intends to make any adjustments to local authorities' 1990–91 contributions to the Welsh non-domestic rates pool.
§ Mr. David HuntI can confirm that following receipt of audited returns, my Department has written to 33 of the 37 district councils in Wales informing them of the adjustments I will be making to the contributions they made into the non-domestic rates pool during 1990–91. Authorities whose contributions to the pool were too high will receive repayments amounting to some £5,566,030, while authorities whose contributions were too low will be making additional payments amounting to £3,612,501. My Department will be writing to the remaining four district councils once queries associated with their audited returns have been resolved.
Parliamentary approval of this new expenditure is being sought in a spring supplementary estimate on class XVI, vote 11. Pending that approval, expenditure on repayments to local authorities will be met by a repayable advance from the Contingencies Fund.