Lord Malleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will revise the procedures for assessing the revenue support grant and the announcement of the amounts to the individual recipient authorities so as to provide more information on the purposes for which grant is made.
§ The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Viscount Ullswater)Her Majesty's Government believe that the existing procedures in England, Wales and Scotland for assessing the need for revenue support grant, which include discussions with the local authority associations, are satisfactory. Since 59WA revenue support grant is not hypothecated to particular services, no further information can be given to authorities about the purposes for which the grant is made. It is for individual authorities to make expenditure decisions on the basis of local needs and priorities.