§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on his proposals to relax the capping regime for local authority budgets, in the Economic and Fiscal Strategy report June 1998, page 27. [46394]
§ Mr. Darling[holding answer 18 June 1998]The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions recently undertook a public consultation on possible reforms to the local government finance system. The Government are considering responses to that consultation and the result will be published in due course.