§ Mr. PicklesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will list for each of the financial years since 1983–84(a) the expenditure submitted by Brentwood Borough Council under the heading flood defences, for use in the Department's settlement SSA indicator data, (b) the increase in the SSA due to the inclusion of the flood defences estimates in these calculations, (c) the amount of additional Government grant received in that year by the Council solely as a result of the inclusion of the flood defences figures, if any, and (d) the increase in capping limits in each year solely as a result of the inclusion of the flood defence estimates in the calculations; [49012]
(2) if he will calculate the effect on (a) the standard spending assessment, (b) the amount of Government grant and (c) the capping limit for Brentwood Borough Council for 1998–99 if the flood defence estimates had been nil for each year since 1983–84. [49013]
§ Mr. RaynsfordThe following table shows(a) the expenditure submitted by Brentwood Borough Council for use in the calculation of the Flood Defence element of standard spending assessments (SSAs) for each year since 1990–91; and (b) the resulting increase in the SSA for Brentwood Borough Council:
Year for which expenditure was budgeted1 Year for which budgeted expenditure was used in the SSA calculation Budgeted expenditure (£000)2 Increase in SSA due to use of budgeted flood defence expenditure in the calculation (£000)3 1990–91 1991–92 27 30 1991–92 1992–93 84 94 1992–93 1993–94 29 30 1993–94 1994–95 923 944 1994–95 1995–96 911 915 1995–96 1996–97 933 975 1996–97 1997–98 957 1,014 1997–98 1998–99 955 1,004 1Figures submitted and used in earlier years are not readily available 2Budgeted net current expenditure on flood defence 3The figures given are for the Flood Defence SSA element for Brentwood Borough Council in each year. The overall increase in SSA due to the inclusion of figures for flood defence expenditure would have been slightly greater than the amounts quoted due to a consequent small decrease in the size of the reduction for interest receipts. The figures quoted do not take account of any indirect effect of changes in spending patterns which may have taken place as a result of not budgeting for expenditure on flood defence. Note:
The reported budgeted expenditure for 1998–99 is £961,000.
(c) The amount of additional Government grant received in each year by the Council solely as a result of the inclusion of the flood defence figures is approximately equal to the increase in SSA quoted in the table.
(d) It is impossible to calculate the increase in capping limits for Brentwood Borough Council in each year solely as a result of the inclusion of the flood defence estimates in the calculations because they are likely to have been affected by any changes in budgeting decisions as a result of not budgeting to spend on flood defence.
If the flood defence estimates for Brentwood Borough Council had been nil for each year since 1983–84, the SSA and the amount of Government grant received by the 645W Council for 1998–99 would have been reduced by approximately the size of the increases indicated previously. It is impossible to know what the Council's capping limit in 1998–99 would have been, since it would depend upon the budget it would have set in 1997–98 and earlier years.