HC Deb 05 April 1995 vol 257 cc1293-5W
Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what further consideration he is giving to the appointment of a trouble shooter to spearhead the objective 1 programmes on Merseyside. [18935]

Sir Paul Beresford

I will write to the hon. Member.

Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many cities in Great Britain are in adjustment within the police formula, but a number of the issues raised will be examined in the next settlement and have been included in the programme of the technical sub-group mentioned above.

Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the ratio between the change in the level of resources provided through the area cost adjustment over the last year and(a) the level of inflation and (b) overall changes in the standard spending. [18947]

Mr. Robert B. Jones

The total contribution of the area cost adjustment to standard spending assessments rose by 7.9 per cent. between 1994–95 and 1995–96. In 1994–95, however, the SSA for the receiver for the Metropolitan police was based on his budget. This included those extra costs which, from 1995–96, are reflected in the area cost adjustment. Excluding these, the increase in the total area cost adjustment contribution was 1.3 per cent. This compares with an overall increase in SSAs between 1994–95 and 1995–96 of 2.4 per cent. The projected increase in the GDP deflator for 1995–96 is 3.25 per cent.

Mr. Jamieson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what reserves were held by each county council at 31 March 1994 under the headings(a) the reserves for local management of schools, (b) earmarked reserves, (c) free balances and (d) total reserves.

Mr. Robert B. Jones

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Mr. Gill) on Monday 13 March,Official Report, column 421. No further breakdown into earmarked reserves and free balances is available.

Mr. Robert Banks

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what were the values at the end of each financial year since 1985 for each of the North Yorkshire district councils. [18814]

Mr. Robert B. Jones

For districts in North Yorkshire, average right-to-buy values are given below, in £s for each financial year, before any discount:

receipt of objective 1 funding; and what account is taken of this designation in determining standard spending assessments. [18940]

Sir Paul Beresford

Within Great Britain the only city eligible for funding from the European Commission under objective 1 is Liverpool.

The receipt of EC assistance is not taken into account in assessing the standard spending assessments of local authorities.

Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what consideration he is giving to the effect of the standard spending assessment on Liverpool's ability to identify funds to match against proposed objective 1 scheme; and what impact this is having on the city's ability to gain access to the objective 1 grants available. [18934]

Sir Paul Beresford

Standard spending assessments are the Government's assessment of what revenue local authorities need to spend in order to provide a common level of service. There is no direct relationship between SSAs and the ability of an area to match EC grants which are predominantly grants towards capital expenditure.

Matching funding for such grants is available from a variety of sources including domestic public expenditure programmes, UDCs, TECs, and the private and voluntary sectors as well as from local authorities' own resources.