HC Deb 13 December 2001 vol 376 cc1023-4W
Mr. Kidney

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his oral statement of 4 December 2001,Official Report, columns 167–70, what measures of price increases he took into account in assessing the real-terms increases to which he referred. [22748]

Dr. Whitehead

The gross domestic product (GDP) deflator was used to assess the real-terms increase in grant since the Government took office referred to in the statement on the proposals for the funding of local government revenue expenditure next year. A series for the GDP deflator in index form is produced by the Treasury from data provided by the Office for National Statistics. This series is extended to future years by applying Treasury forecasts of the inflation rate. The series allows for the effects of changes in price (inflation) to be removed from a time series.

Mr. Salter

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will announce details of the capital allocations to local authorities through the single capital pot for 2002–03. [23034]

Mr. Raynsford

I am today announcing the first all-purpose capital allocations to local authorities through the single capital pot for 2002–03. A total of £2.3 billion will be provided in this first year of the pot. This is more than double the amount authorities received last year in basic credit approvals (BCAs).

Today's announcement reflects the substantial increases in public resources provided for local government investment in Spending Review 2000 and demonstrates our real commitment to delivering first rate public services.

These funds will not be ring-fenced for any particular capital investment. While the pot is made up of allocations from housing, transport, education and health budgets, councils will be free to make their own decisions about investing their capital funds locally. This delivers to councils more autonomy and flexibility to invest according to the priorities of the local community.

The single capital pot also includes a new discretionary element. Five per cent. of the total resources available through the pot have been distributed to authorities on the basis of their performance in delivering the relevant services and the quality of their strategic asset management planning. Its purpose is to encourage and reward the effective use of a council's physical assets and new capital investment in supporting delivery of quality services and achieving better value for local people.

Detailed tables, showing the total service allocations and the discretionary allocations for each authority, have been placed in the Library of the House. These include allocations that form part of the local transport capital settlement announced today. In parallel, housing authorities will today receive details of their housing allocations and a copy of these has also been placed in the Library.