§ Mr. Clifton-BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total level of local authority debt for each financial year since 1980.
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§ Mr. Robin SquireThe toal external debt (temporary and longer-term) of local authorities in the United Kingdom at 31 March each year was as follows:
£ billion 1980 33.5 1981 35.8 1982 35.9 1983 36.0 1984 37.3 1985 40.2 1986 42.7 1987 45.0 1988 47.8 1989 50.8 1990 51.7 1991 53.7 1992 54.4
§ Mr. Barry FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to announce the outcome of the consultation on the local government finance settlement for 1993–94; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RedwoodI am today laying before this House the Local Government Finance Report (England) 1993–94, the Limitation of Council Tax and Precepts (Relevant Notional Amounts) Report (England) 1993–94, and the Special Grant Report (No. 5). These reports establish the amount of grant to be paid to local authorities and the basis of its distribution for 1993–94, and specify the amounts which are to be used as the basis of comparison for measuring increases in local authorities' budget in 1993–94 for the purposes of capping. I shall be sending copies of these reports to all authorities, together with a table showing the standard spending assessments and grant entitlement of each authority; these will be placed in the Library and have been placed in the Vote Office. I also reaffirm the provisional capping criteria that I announced last November.