§ Mr. ÖpikTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list, for each Welsh local authority with responsibilities for education, the amount by which the increase in revenue support grant adjusted for changes in nursery voucher funding and increased NNDR differs from the amount that has been passported through the capping regime to raise standards in schools; what is the total figure for all local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [31541]
§ Mr. HainBoth the £37.1 million in re-instated nursery voucher funding and the £49.4 million of extra schools money which is being distributed to local authorities as
674W
1998–99 County and Country Borough provisional capping limits Components of budget increase 1997–98 adjusted budget (National amount1 £000 1998–99 Capping limit £000 Maximum cash increase £000 Maximum per cent. increase Basic increase (3 per cent.) £000 Headroom for SSA increase (passporting) £000 Headroom for Specific expenditure (provisios)2 £000 Isle of Anglesey 63,405 66,272 2,867 4.5 1,902 343 622 Gwynedd 115,746 120,356 4,610 4.0 3,472 0 1,138 Conwy 94,054 98,484 4,430 4.7 2,822 489 1,119 Denbighshire 85,490 91,721 6,231 7.3 2,565 2,760 906 Flintshire 122,728 132,896 10,168 8.3 3,682 5,263 1,223 Wrexham 106,584 111,827 5,243 4.9 3,198 921 1,124 Powys 121,825 126,590 4,765 3.9 3,655 0 1,111 Ceredigion 65,874 71,856 3,982 5.9 2.036 1,341 605 Pembrokeshire 105,336 110,386 5,050 4.8 3,160 878 1,012 Carmarthenshire 161,048 167,955 6,907 4.3 4,831 440 1,635 Swansea 205,846 214,113 8,267 4.0 6,175 0 2,091 Neath Port Talbot 134,744 140,138 5,394 4.0 4,042 0 1,352 Bridgend 118,976 123,715 4,739 4.0 3,569 0 1,170 The Vale of Glamorgan 98,919 105,804 6,885 7.0 2,968 2,897 1,020 Rhondda, Cynon, Taff 231,864 241,049 9,185 4.0 6,956 0 2,229 Merthyr Tydfil 60,953 63,341 2,388 3.9 1,829 0 559 Caerphilly 156,973 163,193 6,220 4.0 4,709 0 1,511 Blaenau Gwent 72,132 74,979 2,847 3.9 2,164 0 683 Torfaen 82,634 87,002 4,368 5.3 2,479 1,083 806 Monmouthshire 66,863 71,347 4,484 6.7 2,006 1,767 711 Newport 121,906 126,764 4,858 4.0 3,657 0 1,201 Cardiff 266,235 279,815 13,580 5.1 7,987 2,860 2,733 Total 2,662,135 2,789,603 127,468 4.8 79,864 21,043 26,561 1 1997–98 budget requirements adjusted upwards for return of £37.1 million for nursery vouchers. 2 Additional community care (£21 million), 4 year old provision (£4.4 million) and national grid for learning (£1.2 million). standard spending assessments are included, pound-for-pound, in revenue support grant. No authority receives less in spending power under provisional capping principles than it will receive in revenue support grant.
A breakdown of 1998–99 local authority capping limits is set out in the table. The information was placed in the House of Commons Library and issued to all local authorities on 9 February.
Local authority 1997–98 budget requirements (column 1)—to which the 3 per cent. basic capping increase is applied—have been adjusted upwards to reflect the re-instatement of the £37.1 million nursery voucher money. The 3 per cent. basic increase (column 5) takes full account of the £49.4 million of extra schools money included in standard spending assessments.
Passporting (column 6) ensures that individual authorities get the full benefit of SSA increases in their spending power. Under the passporting system capping limits take account of the cash increase in SSAs or the cash increase allowable under the basic increase and specific provisos (column 7), whichever is the greater.
Increases in individual SSAs are the result of an increase in the overall amount available for distribution (including the extra schools' money), distribution formula changes, and changes in non-financial data such as relative population increases. It is not possible to isolate in any meaningful way the extent to which the schools' money has impacts on individual authorities' passports.