§ Mr. McMasterTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will detail as precisely as possible the assistance, both direct and indirect, given by central Government sources to the Tayside flood areas in terms of(a) immediate help, (b) assistance with temporary accommodation, (c) assistance with restoring permanent accommodation, (d) the application of the Bellwin scheme, (e) flood prevention measures and (f) other costs; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. George Kynoch[holding answer 16 January 1995]: The Government's immediate response to the Tayside flooding in January 1993 was to trigger the Bellwin scheme of special financial assistance to local authorities. So far, nearly £1.679 million has been paid by 434W way of grant under the scheme to affected authorities. This is made up of £1 million to Tayside regional council, £673,229 to Perth and Kinross district council and £5,524 to Dundee district council. I expect a further payment to the regional council to be made shortly of about a further £800,000, but discussions with the regional council are still to be concluded.
Perth and Kinross district council requested supplementary capital allocations of£1.11 million in 1992–93 and this was met in full. Within these resources £910,000 was made available specifically for temporary accommodation for people made homeless by the flooding. Further housing and non-housing allocations of £1.245 million and £200,000 respectively were made available 1993–94. The allocation for housing was in respect of repair of the flood damage to council stock.
Tayside regional council was given supplementary capital allocations totalling £1.48 million in 1992–93 for expenditure on water, sewerage and other programmes, including roads and transport. This met in full the request made by the region. Further capital allocations in consequence of the flooding, totalling £700,000 were issued in 1993–94.
As a further measure, the Scottish Office contributed £110,000 towards a comprehensive flood prevention study covering the River Tay catchment area, which the regional council is currently considering with a view to the implementation of flood prevention measures.
In addition, a special scheme of grants was introduced to assist farmers with the cost of repairs to breached floodbanks. The special scheme increased the normal grant rate from 50 per cent. to 75 per cent. and was available for the period from 1 February 1993 to 30 September 1993.
§ Mr. McMasterTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the relevant data in relation to the Bellwin scheme as it applied to regional and district authorities in Tayside following the most recent floods in relation to(a) total amounts claimed, (b) total amounts paid, (c) per capita central government expenditure in relation to the (i) general population and (ii) flood victims, (d) budgetary heads of claims, (e) items claimed but refused, (f) items claimed by reduced and (g) items which could have been claimed but which were not; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kynoch[holding answer 16 January 1995]: Following the severe flooding in Tayside in January 1993, claims under the Bellwin scheme were received from three councils. Tayside regional council and Perth and Kinross district council have received interim payments of grant. The relevant figures for all councils are shown in the table: the figures for grant claimed are net of the threshold for each authority and are based on the normal grant rate of 85 per cent.
435W
Authority Grant Claimed £ Grant paid to date £ Tayside regional council 2,464,760 1 ,000,000 (interim) Perth and Kinross district council 791,451 673,229 (interim) Dundee district council 128,790 5,524 (final) Total 3,385,001 1,678,753 Since the claim from Tayside region is yet to be finally settled, it is not possible to give per capita figures for expenditure, but it must be doubtful if such figures would be meaningful given the nature of the flooding.
The claims have been assessed on the basis of the normal Bellwin scheme rules. These are set out in Scottish Office finance circular 6/1990, a copy of which is in the Library.
I am not aware of there being any items of expenditure for which Bellwin grant could have been claimed but which the local authorities chose not to include in their claims. My officials have had lengthy discussions with the authorities concerned both before and after claims were submitted, and these discussions included guidance on what expenditure would and would not in principle be eligible for grant.