§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list for each of the past five years the budgets of the Wessex Regional Flood Defence Committee, indicating(a) the levy on each component local authority with the percentage rise or fall year on year, (b) the standard spending assessment for flood defence paid to each local authority with the percentage rise or fall year on year, (c) the difference between local 753W authority SSA and actual levies paid and (d) MAFF flood defence grants (i) available (ii) paid; and if he will make a statement. [110144]
754W
£000 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 Devon SSA 4,919 4,973 4,955 3,388 3,447 3,555 Percentage increase — 1.1 0.4 31.6 1.7 3.1 EA levy 1— 1— 1— 1— 1— 1— Difference 4,919 4,973 4,955 3,388 3,447 3,555 Gloucestershire SSA 1,638 1,796 1,871 1,958 2,097 2,190 Percentage increase — 9.6 4.2 4.6 7.1 4.4 EA levy 47 47 48 53 63 69 Percentage increase — — 2.0 9.1 18.9 9.7 Difference 1,591 1,749 1,823 1,905 2,034 2,121 Hampshire SSA 2,072 2,824 3,024 3,716 3,947 4,044 Percentage increase — 36.3 7.1 22.9 6.2 2.5 EA levy 119 123 125 128 136 149 Percentage increase — — 2.2 2.0 6.1 10.0 Difference 1,953 2,701 2,899 3,588 3,811 3,895 Somerset SSA 3,116 3,200 3,563 3,617 3,646 3,944 Percentage increase — 2.7 11.3 1.5 0.8 8.2 EA levy 2,990 3,256 3,326 3,358 3,746 4,057 Percentage increase — — 2.2 1.0 11.6 8.3 Difference 126 -56 237 259 -100 -113 Wiltshire SSA 1,217 1,572 1,225 1,290 1,397 1,514 Percentage increase — 29.2 22.1 5.3 8.3 8.4 EA levy 957 1,004 1,039 1,104 1,244 1,367 Percentage increase — — 3.5 6.3 12.7 9.9 Difference 260 568 186 186 153 147 Dorset SSA 2,532 2,711 1,672 1,706 1,773 1,856 Percentage increase — 7.1 38.3 2.0 3.9 4.7 EA levy 2,549 1,536 1,583 1,625 1,753 1,925 Percentage increase — — 3.1 2.7 7.9 9.8 Difference -17 1,175 89 81 20 -69 Avon SSA 2,678 — — — — — Percentage increase — — — — — — EA levy 2,550 — — — — — Percentage increase — — — — — — Difference 128 — — — — — Bath and NE Somerset SSA — 412 388 602 415 485 Percentage increase — — 5.8 55.2 31.1 16.9 EA levy — 346 352 385 457 501 Percentage increase — — 1.8 9.4 18.5 9.7 Difference — 66 36 217 -42 -16 North Somerset SSA — 1,414 1,547 1,595 1,627 1,753 Percentage increase — — 9.4 3.1 2.0 7.7 EA levy — 1,321 1,360 1,369 1,535 1,662 Percentage increase — — 2.9 0.7 12.1 8.3 Difference 93 187 226 92 91 South Gloucestershire SSA — 644 628 634 692 791 Percentage increase — — 2.5 1.0 9.1 14.3 EA levy — 381 388 433 524 575 Percentage increase — — 2.0 11.4 21.1 9.7 Difference — 263 240 201 168 216
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 15 February 2000]: The information requested in relation to (a) to (c) is as follws: 755W
£000 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 Bristol SSA — 1,105 1,150 1,165 1,218 1,368 Percentage increase — — 4.1 1.3 4.5 12.3 EA levy — 662 670 732 875 960 Percentage increase — — 1.3 9.2 19.5 9.7 Difference — 443 480 433 343 408 Bournemouth SSA — 0 604 616 635 672 Percentage increase — — — 2.0 3.1 5.8 EA levy — 570 586 597 652 717 Percentage increase — — 2.8 1.9 9.0 10.0 Difference — -570 18 19 -17 -45 Poole SSA — 0 591 601 618 654 Percentage increase — — — 1.7 2.8 5.8 EA levy — 527 540 551 589 647 Percentage increase — — 2.5 2.0 6.9 10.0 Difference — -527 51 50 29 7 1 Less than £500 It is important to note the following points:
some local authorities pay levies to Regional Flood Defence Committees (RFDCs) other than Wessex;flood defence Standard Spending Assessments (SSAs) reflect a range of flood defence costs falling on different classes of local authority i.e. levies paid to RFDCs, special levies to internal drainage boards and local authorities' "own spend" as a flood defence operating authority;local government reorganisation caused adjustments to be made to the SSA and levy figures as between the affected county councils and new unitary authorities.In relation to (d), MAFF grant is allocated to the Environment Agency by means of Grant Earning Ceilings (GECs), which represent the total of approved capital expenditure in respect of which grant can be claimed, and not in terms of the grant available. The amount of grant paid is dependent on the mix of (a) fluvial and (b) tidal/sea defence expenditure, for which different grant rates apply. Information is therefore unavailable in the form requested but a comparison of (i) the original GECs (which can be revised in-year) and (ii) the actual outturn of approved capital expenditure is as follows:
£ million Somerset Bristol/Avon Avon/Dorset Year (i) (ii) (i) (ii) (i) (ii) 1994–95 1.4 1.3 0.4 0.4 2.6 2.0 1995–96 1.7 1.2 0.3 0.2 4.9 3.3 1996–97 4.0 4.0 0.3 0.1 1.8 1.7 1997–98 3.2 4.8 0.1 0.1 1.1 1.5 1998–99 2.7 4.5 0.4 0.3 0.4 1.0