§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish his estimate of the annual operating costs of local government in Wales at constant prices for the last three years, together with his estimate for the next three years.
§ Mr. RedwoodThe annual operating costs of local government include administration, personnel and other running expenses. Such operating costs cannot be fully identified from information held centrally. However, the available information is given in the following table. Information for future years and the 1993–94 and 1994–95 figures for revenue expenditure on administration are not yet available.
Local authority revenue expenditure, 1994–95 prices (£ million) Net revenue expenditure1 Revenue expenditure on administration2 1991–92 outturn 2,561.6 361.3 1992–93 outturn3 2,632.2 391.6 1993–94 budget 2,579.4 — 1994–953 2,608.0 — 1All general fund revenue spending including community council precepts. No adjustments have been made for transfers of responsibility to or from local authority control—that is, the transfer out of further and higher education responsibilities in 1992 and 1993. 2 Identifiable gross expenditure on administration, including spending on central administration—that is, personnel management—and administration costs normally accounted for within specific services—that is, education etc. 3 Provisional.