§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish in respect of(a) each county council, (b) each district council and (c) each of the proposed unitary councils and for Wales as a whole the estimated amount of money which his office will provide to fund the cost of local government reorganisation.
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesMy right hon. Friend has announced total funding of £43 million for 1994–95 and 1995–96.
The sum of £20 million is being provided for information technology changes in the form of supplementary credit approvals. An SCA of £38,955 was issued to each county and district council on 31 October–a total of £1.753 million. The remaining £18.247 million will be distributed to the unitary authorities according to a formula, consultation on which does not finish until 3 February. The allocations set out in the following table are therefore provisional. £3.5 million will be provided to district and county councils in 1995–96 for compensation costs, again in the form of SCAs. The Welsh Office will be discussing the distribution arrangements with the local authority associations in due course. My right hon. Friend informed the House on 14 December that, if some authorities decided to make major administrative savings 632W at the point of reorganisation, he would make more money available to facilitate this.
Finally, £19.5 million will be provided to the unitary authorities in 1995–96 for their running costs. The distribution is set out in the following table. I am pleased to be able to announce that this funding will, subject to the approval of the House, take the form of special grant. I expect the necessary report to be laid shortly and to be debated at the same time as the other local government finance reports for 1995–96.
Funding for local government reorganisation during 1995–96. Figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 Unitary authority Running costs 1£000 Information technology 2£000 Anglesey 797 715 Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire 942 858 Aberconwy and Colwyn 937 952 Denbighshire 869 836 Flintshire 903 881 Wrexham 890 863 Powys 916 962 Cardiganshire 795 612 Pembrokeshire 883 854 Carmarthenshire 979 1,107 Swansea 963 959 Neath and Port Talbot 958 979 Bridgend 837 667 The Vale of Glamorgan 830 658 Rhondda, Cynon, Taff 1,024 965 Merthyr Tydfil 790 606 Caerphilly 979 1,007 Blaenau Gwent 799 718 Torfaen 812 734 Monmouthshire 804 724 Newport 842 774 Cardiff 952 817 Wales 19,500 18,247 Notes:
1 Subject to approval of the House, to be paid as special grant.
2 Supplementary credit approvals. Provisional allocations only.