Mr. William O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if his Department takes into consideration EC objective 1 status when assessing levels of grant and standard spending assessment; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BaldryStandard spending assessments are the Government's assessment of the appropriate amount of revenue expenditure by each local authority taking account of its physical, demographic and social characteristics. The calculation of SSAs take no account of the likely level of funding from European Community institutions.
Under arrangements agreed with the European Commission, my Department will provide public expenditure cover, in the form of supplementary credit approvals, automatically and in full, for forecast European regional development fund receipts arising on projects which fall within the "other services block", my Department's urban initiatives and projects for which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for National Heritage has the policy responsibility. To the extent that an authority chooses to use part of its allocation of basic credit approvals to provide matching funding within a project using ERDF grant, then the revenue consequences of these credit approvals will have been reflected in SSAs in the usual way.
Mr. William O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what criteria are applied for assessing spending on(a) refuse collection, (b) environmental health and (c) planning; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BaldryRefuse collection, environmental health and planning control are among those services included in the standard spending assessment for "All Other Services" at the district level. The formula for the distribution of resources for "All Other Services" is set out in the Local Government Finance Report (England) 1993–94 approved by Parliament in February 1993.
Mr. William O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will make it his policy to include(a) economic and (b) social deprivation indices in the standard spending assessment; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will make it his policy to base future standard spending assessments on research into the variations in spending needs between different authorities; and if he will make a statement;
(3) if he will make it his policy to include in the additional needs index a disability indicator of need in both special and ordinary schools; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BaldryWe have recently completed a review of the system of standard spending assessments. As part of the review we have considered the inclusion in standard spending assessments of a wide range of indicators, including measures of economic deprivation and disability. The existing system of standard spending assessments is based on statistical evidence and research into the factors which lead to variation in the costs faced by local authorities.
Proposals for standard spending assessments for 1994–95 will be announced later this autumn as part of the provisional revenue support grant settlement.