§ Mr. Win GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list in(a) cash and (b) real terms the amount of money made available for Tai Cymru in each year from 1990–91 to 1996–97 and the number of houses which (i) his Department estimated would be built and (ii) were built in each year up to 1994–95. [10042]
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesThe available information on the capital programme is as follows:
96 and (b) 1996–97 excluding amounts made available to police authorities. [10034]
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesThe amount of total standard spending in Wales, excluding that made available to the police authorities, is £2,466,247,000 in 1995–96 and £2,535,937,000 in the provisional 1996–97 settlement.
751W
§ Mr. GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list in(a) cash and (b) real terms the revenue support grant for local authorities in each of the years from 1990–91 to 1996–97. [10036]
§ Mr. JonesThe information requested is given in the following table.
Revenue support grant for Welsh local authorities (including police authorities) all amounts in £million Year Cash at 1990–91 prices 1990–91 1,139.9 1,139.9 1991–92 1,235.3 1,162.7 1992–93 1,619.5 1,464.8 1993–94 1,668.2 1,466.0 1994–95 1,738.9 1,500.0 1995–96 1,717.0 1,441.5 1996–971 1,790.4 1,462.9 1Provisional.
§ Mr. GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of(a) the maximum council tax increase each local authority will be able to make in 1996–97 while respecting his capping criteria and (b) the levels of local authority spending in (i) 1995–96 and (ii) 1996–97 allowing for statutory increases. [10040]
§ Mr. JonesCouncil tax increases consistent with my right hon. Friend's proposed capping principles will depend on his final settlement proposals. These will be announced at the end of this month. The latest available estimate of local authority net revenue spending for 1995–96 is £2,883.9 million. Local authorities have yet to set their budgets for 1996–97.
§ Mr. GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the(a) level of additional funding for education in Wales provided by the revenue support grant for 1996–97 and (b) the additional funding made available for education in England. [10278]
§ Mr. RichardsMy right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget statement on 28 November allowed for planned public spending on schools in England in 1996–97 to rise by £878 million, of which £774 million is being channelled through the local government revenue settlement. Comparable resources for Wales were included in the £85 million increase in total standard spending announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales on 28 November.
With the agreement of the Welsh local authority associations, and with the exception of community care resources, the Government do not identify funding for local government in Wales in respect of particular services.
§ Mr. GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list in(a) cash and (b) real terms the amount made available for local authority capital provision for housing in each year from 1990–91 to 1996–97. [10041]
752W
§ Mr. JonesThe information requested is given in the following table
Local authority housing capital provision1 £million Cash prices Constant 1994–95 prices 1990–91 190.3 220.6 1991–92 194.3 212.0 1992–93 279.4 292.9 1993–94 263.9 268.9 1994–95 265.7 265.7 1995–96 267.6 260.4 1996–97 258.1 244.5 1Government provision announced prior to the start of each financial year.
§ Mr. GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list(a) cash and (b) real terms the amounts made available to local authorities for housing renovation grants in each year from 1990–91 to 1996–97, the estimates made at the time of the number of grants which would be awarded and the number which were so awarded in each year from 1990–91 to 1996–97. [10043]
§ Mr. JonesThe information is given in the following tables:
Table 1: Government finance made available £million Year Cash prices Constant 1994–95 prices 1990–91 95.3 110.5 1991–92 1109.7 1119.7 1992–93 169.3 177.5 1993–94 171.9 175.1 1994–95 2184.0 22184.0 1995–96 179.1 174.3 1996–97 179.6 170.1 1Includes £5.9 million for Exchequer contributions for 1991–92. 2Includes an extra £7 million made available during the year.
Table 2: Numbers of completed grants Plans Outturn 1990–91 23,500 28,288 1991–92 9,989 19,663 1992–93 20,300 15,802 1993–94 23,100 16,152 1994–95 17,700 15,061 1995–96 16,400 116,300 1996–97 17,000 n/a 1Estimated. n/a = not available.
The numbers of grants completed in 1990–91 and 1991–92 include a significant number approved under the Housing Act 1985. Different grant arrangements were brought into effect from 1 July 1990 under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. All figures include disabled facilities grants.
Figures given for plans made assumptions about the mix of types of grant to be awarded and the associated average costs: no targets by type were set for authorities.
753W
§ Mr. GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he made of the cost of the teachers' pay award for(a) 1995–96 and (b) 1996–97 when calculating the revenue support grant; and what are those costs for 1995–96. [10284]
§ Mr. RichardsWe expect pay awards in the public sector, including those subject to the recommendations of the School Teachers' Review Body, to be met through increased efficiency and other economies. The local government revenue settlements for 1995–96 and 1996–97 reflect that policy.
During the 1996–97 settlement discussion, the Welsh local authority associations estimated the cost of the 1995–96 pay award at £19 million.
§ Mr. GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage of local government spending was made up by the revenue support grant in each year since 1990–91. [10035]
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesThe following table shows, from 1990–91 to 1995–96, revenue support grant as a percentage of the total expenditure on services to which revenue support grant may apply. The expenditure figures used were obtained from local authorities' outturn information for years up to 1993–94 and from information on budgets for 1994–95 and 1995–95.
Revenue support grant as a percentage of spending Per cent 1990–91 51 1991–92 50
£millions 1990–91 outturn 1991–92 outturn 1992–93 outturn 1993–94 outturn 1994–95 outturn 1995–96 forecast outturn 1996–97 plans National Museum of Wales a) cash 8.4 9.5 10.5 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.6 b) real terms 9.8 10.4 11 11.6 11.5 11.3 10.9 National Library of Wales a) cash 3.8 4.3 4.8 4.9 4.9 5.1 5.4 b) real terms 4.4 4.7 5 5 4.9 4.9 5.1 CADW a) cash 9.1 9.7 9.2 9.9 10.8 10.5 10 b) real terms 10.5 10.6 9.7 10.1 10.8 10.2 9.4 Arts Council of Wales a) cash — — — — 13.7 14.2 14.2 b) real terms — — — — 13.7 13.8 13.4 Sports Council for Wales a) cash 4 4.3 5.2 5.1 5.7 5.8 5.8 b) real terms 4.6 4.6 5.5 5.2 5.7 5.6 5.5 Countryside Council for Wales a) cash 0.5 14.5 16 18.2 20.5 18.3 21.6 b) real terms 0.5 15.8 16.8 18.5 20.5 17.8 20.4 Wales Tourist Board a) cash 7.2 7.6 10 9.7 10.6 11.7 11.7 b) real terms 8.4 8.3 10.5 9.9 10.6 11.4 11.1 The real terms figures have been derived by the application of the latest GDP deflator at market prices with a base year of 1994–95.
754W
Revenue support grant as percentage of spending Per cent 1992–93 61 1993–94 64 1994–95 62 1995–96 58
§ Mr. GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list in(a) cash and (b) real terms (i) the total amounts and (ii) the amounts per pupil that each local education authority was permitted to borrow for capital work on schools in each local government financial settlement from 1990–91 to 1996–97. [10037]
§ Mr. RichardsMost of the borrowing by local education authorities to fund capital work on schools since 1990–91 has been covered by unhypothecated basic credit approvals. Accordingly each authority decides how much of its approved borrowing is allocated to schools.