HC Deb 29 January 2001 vol 362 cc5-8W
Mr. Clifton-Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list(a) those local authorities that are debt free, (b) the 10 least indebted authorities and (c) the 10 most indebted authorities. [147168]

Ms Beverley Hughes

An authority is defined as debt free if:

  1. (i) it has no money outstanding by way of long-term borrowing, from the Public Works Loan Board, the Bank of England and institutions authorised by it, and building societies;
  2. (ii) at the end of the previous financial year, it has a nil or negative credit ceiling.

It should be noted that authorities with high levels of debt are generally those which have undertaken capital investment and that longer-term borrowing to finance capital expenditure is regulated by Government through the issue of credit approvals. Total debt for all English local authorities will be available at http://www.local.detr.gov.uk/finance/stats/ in February 2001.

On the latest information available the following English local authorities are debt free:

  • Barking and Dagenham
  • Basingstoke and Deane
  • Bath and North East Somerset
  • Bedford
  • Bracknell Forest UA
  • Breckland
  • Broadland
  • Bromley
  • Bromsgrove
  • Chiltern
  • Christchurch
  • City of London
  • Congleton
  • Corby
  • Cotswold
  • Crawley
  • Dacorum
  • Dartford
  • Daventry
  • Dorset
  • East Cambridgeshire
  • East Devon
  • East Dorset
  • Eden
  • Elmsbridge
  • Epsom and Ewell
  • Forest Heath
  • Hambleton
  • Hart
  • Havant
  • Hertsmere
  • Huntingdonshire
  • Kennet
  • Lichfield
  • Malvern Hills Mid Bedfordshire Mid Sussex Mole Valley North Dorset North Wiltshire Penwith
  • Reigate and Banstead
  • Runnymede
  • Rushmoor
  • Ryedale
  • Salisbury
  • Sevenoaks
  • South Buckinghamshire
  • South Cambridgeshire
  • South Northamptonshire
  • South Oxfordshire
  • South Ribble
  • South Shropshire
  • Spelthorne
  • St. Edmundsbury
    • 8W
  • Straford-on-Avon
  • Suffolk Coastal
  • Surrey Heath
  • Swale
  • Tandridge
  • Tewkesbury
  • Tonbridge and Mailing
  • Tunbridge Wells
  • Uttlesford
  • Vale of White Horse
  • Watford
  • Welwyn Hatfield
  • West Berkshire UA
  • West Sussex
  • Windsor and Maidenhead UA
  • Wychavon
  • Wyre

Source:

Capital Payments and Receipts Return 2000–01.

This list is updated regularly and can be found at http://www.local.detr.gov.uk/finance/stats/debtfree.htm

  1. (a)The 10 English local authorities, that have the least gross debt and are not debt free, at 31 March 2000, are:
    • Poole UA
    • Staffordshire Moorlands
    • Tynedale
    • North Cornwall
    • South Holland
    • Waverley
    • Epping Forest
    • Maldon
    • Oadby and Wigston
    • Teignbridge.
  2. (b)The 10 English local authorities, that have the most gross debt, at 31 March 2000, are:
    • Manchester
    • Birmingham
    • Lambeth
    • Southwark
    • Hackney
    • Islington
    • Sheffield
    • Liverpool
    • Leeds
    • Tower Hamlets

Source:

Borrowing and Lending Survey—March 2000.