§ Mr. McLoughlinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his oral statement of 5 February 1998,Official Report, column 1258, on local government settlements for Derbyshire, on what evidence he based his statement that there were difficulties in financing Derbyshire for some years under the previous administration. [29140]
422W
§ Mr. Raynsford[holding answer 12 February 1998]: In their representation on the proposed settlement, Derbyshire pointed out that they had the lowest cumulative increase in cap limit of any shire county between 1989–90 and 1997–98; and among the lowest cumulative increase in Government assessment of need to spend over that period.
§ Mr. McLoughlinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his oral statement of 5 February 1998,Official Report, column 1258, on Derbyshire's local government settlements, what plans he has to redress the effects of the discrimination in recent settlements which he has identified. [29142]
§ Mr. Raynsford[holding answer 12 February 1998]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions has made several changes to the distribution of Government grant to local authorities to improve the overall fairness of the local government finance settlement. He has also made clear his intention to passport a wider range of increases in SSAs through the capping guidelines. We shall hold discussions with local government during 1998 to identify further possible improvements to the way in which grant is distributed among authorities.
§ Mr. McLoughlinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his oral statement of 5 February 1998,Official Report, column 1258, on local government settlements for Derbyshire, what assessment he has made of the level of discrimination in local government settlements for those counties whose standard spending assessments are lower than Derbyshire. [29141]
§ Mr. RaynsfordStandard spending assessments (SSAs) vary between authorities for a number of reasons. These include variations in local circumstances, such as total population and numbers of children of school age; and the way in which those variations are treated in the calculation of SSAs.