HC Deb 17 December 1996 vol 287 cc539-40W
15. Mr. Gapes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the local authority financial settlement for 1997–98. [7865]

29. Mr. Clifton-Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the impact of the Budget settlement upon local authorities in England. [7879]

Mr. Curry

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the statement that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made to the House on 27 November,Official Report, columns 337–42.

23. Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received in respect of the standard spending assessment for Essex county council and Basildon district council. [7873]

Sir Paul Beresford

We have one representation from Essex county council about pupil numbers. We have not received any representations from Basildon district council on the provisional local government finance settlement for 1997–98.

28. Sir Colin Shepherd

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the extent to which the present formula for deriving standard spending assessments reflects accurately the differing costs of providing services in sparsely populated rural areas and areas of urban density. [7878]

Sir Paul Beresford

The research we commissioned into sparsity and local authority costs found that the size of the current allowance for sparsity in standard spending assessments is about right.

Research into density concluded that other measures of urbanness might also be relevant, but that further study would be needed.

For 1997–98, we therefore propose no changes in the basis of the sparsity and density allowances.

30. Mr. Pearson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received following his statement on the local authority finance settlement for England in 1997–98. [7880]

Mr. Curry

Following my right hon. Friend's announcement on 27 November, authorities have until 3 January 1997 to make written representations on the 1997–98 settlement. We have received 45 written representations so far.

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