§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures he is taking to ensure the delivery of services to sparsely populated rural areas; and what resources he is making available. [87707]
§ Mr. LeslieService provision in rural areas is a matter for the delivery bodies in the first instance. For local authorities, the recent provisional local government finance settlement gave every authority a grant increase of at least 3.0 per cent., with education authorities receiving at least 3.5 per cent., Rural shire districts did particularly well, their grant increasing by an average of 7.6 per cent.