§ Virginia BottomleyTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the per capita central Government funding is for local government expenditure on(a) Surrey and (b) Durham. [72393]
§ Mr. Nick RaynsfordLocal authorities, including police authorities, within Durham and Surrey budgeted to receive £920 and £630 government grant per head in 2002–03, respectively. Government grant here consists of revenue support grant, non-domestic rates, specific grants inside aggregate external finance and police grant. These figures do not include capital grants or grants paid to the Housing Revenue Account.
Budgeted revenue expenditure, financed from the grants referred to above, council taxes and reserves, was £1,246 per head in Durham and £1,052 per head in Surrey. For each area, almost all of the locally raised expenditure was budgeted to come from council taxes: £315 per head in Durham and £413 per head in Surrey.
The figures quoted above for Durham include grants receivable in Darlington, which is now a unitary authority. This is because Durham Police Authority covers the areas of both Durham County Council and Darlington Borough Council, and a separate figure is not available for the grant receivable by Durham Police Authority for the area of Durham County Council.