HC Deb 25 March 1998 vol 309 cc194-5W
Mr. Gorrie

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what figure was allowed in(a) percentage and .(b) cash terms, for wage rises in GAE, AEF and capping limits to Scottish councils in 1998–99 and in each of the last 10 years; and what the actual increases were in respect of the wage levels for (i) teachers and (ii) other staff. [35843]

Mr. Macdonald

Pay awards to local authority staff in Scotland are a matter for councils themselves, and no central record of actual pay increases is kept. Whether any allowance was made for wage rises in the local authority settlement by the previous Administration is not a matter for me: actual levels of GAE, AEF and spending for the previous 10 years are given in the table. In setting Government support for council spending and in capping levels for 1998–99, no assumption was made about the level of pay rises in local authorities; the Government's public sector pay policy is that pay increases must be affordable within existing resources.

£ million
Year Total GAE Total AEF Total net expenditure (outturn)
1988–89 3,640 3,689 4,426
1989–90 3,873 3,716 4,725
1990–91 4,293 3,937 5,143
1991–92 4,792 4,651 5,498
1992–93 5,103 5,123 5,974
1993–94 5,086 5,165 6,038
1994–95 5,260 5,272 6,206

£ million
Year Total GAE Total AEF Total net expenditure (outturn)
1995–96 5,318 5,306 6,593
1996–97 5,391 5,369 16,605
1997–98 5,316 5,345 26,629
1998–99 5,495 5,366 not yet available
1 Provisional Outturn
2 Budget Estimate

Notes:

  1. Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) does not include expenditure on loan and leasing charges.
  2. Prior to 1991 Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) was known as Assessments of Relative Need.
  3. Prior to 1991–92 Aggregate External Finance (AEF) was known as Aggregate Exchequer Grant.
  4. Aggregate Exchequer Grant consisted of Rate Support Grant and Specific Grants only. The Non-Domestic Rate Income (NDRI) figures have therefore been added to these years for comparison purposes.
  5. The above AEF figures are as announced and do not include any subsequent redeterminations.
  6. Total net expenditure figures are total non-housing net current expenditure (including loan and leasing charges). For the years 1988–89 to 1995–96 the figures are final outturns, for 1996–97 the figure is a provisional outturn and for 1997–98 it is a budget estimate.
  7. No adjustments have been made for changes in local authority responsibility over the period in question.
  8. The 1997–98 AEF and expenditure figures include £105.6 million which was paid to local authorities as a special grant (outside AEF) in respect of Strathclyde Passenger Transport. £5.236 million has also been included in the 1998–99 AEF figure for the same purpose.

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