HC Deb 29 November 1995 vol 267 cc731-2W
Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what resources he will make available to authorities that have been or are to be reorganised on 1 April 1994, 1996 or 1997 for reorganisation costs incurred by them in 1995–96; and if he will make a statement. [3687]

Mr. Curry

On 27 July I invited authorities that have been, or are to be, reorganised on or before 1 April 1997 to submit estimates of the amount of expenditure that they expect to incur on transitional costs of reorganisation in 1995–96. On the basis,inter alia, of the information provided by the authorities, I have decided the maximum amounts that it would be appropriate to allocate towards such costs in 1995–96.I have given priority to authorities that are to be reorganised on 1 April 1996 and within that group, to the shadow authorities that are to become the new unitary authorities, and to the redundancy costs of authorities that are to be abolished.

The amounts are as follows:

Maximum amounts: £000s rounded
Authority 1995–96 Total 1994–95 and 1995–96
Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight council 1,750 3,494
Cleveland
Cleveland county council 2,500
Hartlepool borough council 3,200 3,748
Langbaurgh on Tees borough council 2,550 2,637
Middlesbrough borough council 2,160 2,354
Stockton on Tees borough council 2,930 3,428
Avon
Avon county council 2,500
Bristol city council 3,000
Woodspring district council 3,250
In Bath and North East Somerset, of which: 3,000
Bath and North East Somerset council 1,810
Bath city council 600
Wansdyke district council 590
In South Gloucestershire, of which: 3,000
South Gloucestershire council 1,800
Kingswood borough council 650
Northavon district council 550
Humberside
Humberside county council 2,500
Hull city council 3,000
In the East Riding of Yorkshire. of which: 3,200
East Riding of Yorkshire council 1,200
Beverley borough council 650
Boothferry borough council 300
East Yorkshire borough council 550
Maximum amounts: £000s rounded
Authority 1995–96 Total 1994–95 and 1995–96
Holderness borough council 500
In North Lincolnshire, of which: 2,900
North Lincolnshire council 1,800
Glanford borough council 550
Scunthorpe borough council 550
In North East Lincolnshire, of which: 2,950
North East Lincolnshire DC 1,900
Cleethorpes borough council 450
Great Grimsby 600
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire county council 1,500
Ryedale district council 410
Selby district council 510
In York, of which: 3,000
York district council 2,550
York city council 450
Total 49,310 52,824

In addition, £0.2 million has been set aside, for distribution by the Home Office, for the reorganisation costs of combined fire authorities. A reserve of £0.49 million has been retained to meet any unanticipated, exceptional, costs incurred by shadow authorities.

I have considered carefully the bids submitted by authorities that are to be, or might be, reorganised in 1997. The arrangements make it clear that these authorities would have to make an exceptional case and that priority would be given to supporting expenditures that had to be incurred in 1995–96 if reorganisation were to be implemented by the specified date, and that were of a scale that could not reasonably be found from within the authority's budget. In my view, none of the bids established a sufficiently exceptional case to justify an allocation in the current year. These authorities have, however, been invited to submit bids for 1996–97.