---

Sparsity Allowance

7. Mr. Ashton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many district councils qualify for a sparsity allowance in their standard spending assessment. [3124]

Mr. Gummer: The SSA of every district council reflects sparsity, even where it has a significant urban population, so 14 per cent. of Bassetlaw's SSA comes to it because of sparsity factor.

Mr. Ashton: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that sparsity allowance is essential for rural areas because of the extra costs of refuse collection and public transport, for example? When rural areas were Conservative controlled there was no danger of the allowance being abolished, but now the vast majority are controlled by Labour or the Liberals, is there not a great temptation for the Government to abolish it and use the cash for income tax cuts in next Tuesday's Budget? Will he assure us that that will not happen?

Mr. Gummer: I would like the hon. Gentleman to have a word with the Labour-controlled London boroughs and others who have long pressed for the abolition of sparsity factor. He may have noticed that my right hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Urban Regeneration and I have made it clear that recent research broadly supports the present sparsity rules. I have not made a final decision, but I think that it is unlikely that I will want to move from the present system when the evidence shows that it should remain. I wish that the hon. Gentleman would get his Labour friends to stop bashing the countryside.

Mr. John Greenway: My right hon. Friend and I represent rural areas. Does he agree that many of our constituents in the countryside and in rural villages do not enjoy the level of services that people in towns and cities take for granted? Is not that why the Local Government and Rating Bill's measures to protect the small village

19 Nov 1996 : Column 825

post office, general store, public house and garage are so popular with parish councils? Can we be sure that district councils will have sufficient sparsity factor in their standard spending assessments to be able to afford the much needed discretionary relief?

Mr. Gummer: I remind my hon. Friend that 75 per cent. of that money will come from the Exchequer. I also remind him of the Bill's Second Reading, when Labour's Front-Bench spokesmen showed that they knew little--and cared less--about rural matters.

Standard Spending Assessment

8. Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received on standard spending assessment. [3125]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Sir Paul Beresford): We have received a number of representations from local authorities and others on standard spending assessments.

Mr. Pope: Is not it the case that if every council received the same support that Westminster council receives, most of them would be able to pay out rebates on the council tax and, in particular, if Hyndburn council received the same support as Westminster, it would be able to pay a rebate of £612 for every council tax payer in the borough? Does the hon. Gentleman understand the anger that this corrupt system causes?

Sir Paul Beresford: The hon. Gentleman forgets that, if we went down that route, there would be another 14p on income tax. Perhaps he should examine some of his local authority's expenditure. I understand that it moved its school centre to the wrong location and so had to move it again--and then had to build a new building at a cost of £1.7 million.

Sir Irvine Patnick: My hon. Friend will, like me, be an avid reader of the Local Government Chronicle. Does he remember the 5 January 1996 article in which the hon. Member for North-West Durham (Ms Armstrong) was quoted as saying that she does not promise to change the present system? Is not it an indictment that Labour is out of ideas and policy and is prepared to keep the existing system as it is?

Sir Paul Beresford: I thank my hon. Friend for that point. He has taken one of the shots that we would have fired at a later date. He is right, and it is interesting to watch the scrabble of feet among the Opposition.

Ms Armstrong: I am delighted that the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Sir I. Patnick) continues to misquote me. I have not given any commitments to additional funding because of the mess that the Government have made, but we will introduce a fair system. How can the Minister justify the current system? Under the Government grant system, the council tax payers of Westminster contribute only 4 per cent. to the cost of their services while, for example, the people of Wirral are expected to pay 24 per cent. Will he promise to change that system?

Sir Paul Beresford: The hon. Lady should recognise that experts consider the SSA to be the fairest system.

19 Nov 1996 : Column 826

However, some Opposition Members do not accept the word of experts. The taxpayer may not pay for any change, but the council tax payer will. First, the hon. Lady will massage the SSA, then she will remove capping, stop compulsory competitive tendering, return the business rate to local councils and introduce new regional authorities such as the Greater London council. I know who will pay for that--the council tax payer.

Mr. Mans: My hon. Friend will be aware of the initiative by Lancashire county council in requesting an independent review of the area cost adjustment. Although such a review may mean that the county gets £20 million less next year, and despite the stupidity of the Labour-controlled county council in asking for one in the first place, will my hon. Friend consider delaying its implementation for at least a year?

Sir Paul Beresford: I appreciate my hon. Friend's concern. The review will be implemented only if we are absolutely sure that the new system is robust and stands up to close inspection.

Energy Conservation

9. Mr. Canavan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total annual amount spent by his Department on energy conservation in each of the last three years. [3126]

Mr. Robert B. Jones: My Department's expenditure on energy efficiency was £68.3 million in 1993-94, £109.9 million in 1994-95, and £132.8 million in 1995-96--a total of £311 million for the three years.

Mr. Canavan: Is the Minister aware that the cut of more than £30 million in the home energy efficiency scheme means that many people--particularly senior citizens--are no longer eligible for grants to insulate their homes or improve their heating systems? Now that the cold weather is upon us again and the last ever Budget of this miserable Tory Government is due next week, will the Minister make strong representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to increase investment in the scheme in order to conserve energy and alleviate some of the hardship that has been caused by the imposition of VAT on domestic fuel and power?

Mr. Jones: The hon. Gentleman must have been asleep when the hon. Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Meacher) asked a similar question. I find that quite understandable, so let me repeat that £30 million was added to HEES in anticipation of the House voting for the second stage of VAT on fuel. As it did not, the £30 million fell. I realise that HEES is extremely popular and successful. Incidentally, it did not exist under the last Labour Government. I assure the hon. Gentleman, however, that eligibility has not been changed in any way, shape or form. Pensioners and disabled people qualify for help under HEES. The fact that those who are better off get a 25 per cent. discount while those on the lowest incomes get a 100 per cent. discount merely reflects the advice that we have received from many that the scheme should be more targeted.

Dr. Spink: Does my hon. Friend recall that, since Labour was in power, we have increased the number of

19 Nov 1996 : Column 827

homes with loft insulation by more than double, to 89 per cent., we have increased the number of homes with cavity wall insulation tenfold, and increased the number of homes with double glazing sevenfold? Does not that demonstrate the success of the Government's policies?

Mr. Jones: That question certainly shows that my hon. Friend takes more interest in the subject than the whole of the Labour party put together. The HEES will have benefited 2 million households. That is an enormous achievement.

Water Companies

10. Mr. Pearson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received following the publication of the Office of Water Services' report on the financial performance and capital investment of the water companies in England and Wales in 1995 and 1996. [3127]

Mr. Gummer: None. However, I welcome the fact that the report shows that capital investment in the water industry has remained high--far higher than before privatisation. At the same time, the regulator has encouraged companies to reduce their costs and to improve their efficiency.

Mr. Pearson: Is the Secretary of State aware that Severn Trent's profits have virtually trebled since privatisation, and customer bills have rocketed by 44 per cent. more than inflation, but investment has been cut every year since 1991-92? Is he also aware that, since privatisation, Severn Trent has paid absolutely no corporation tax on its mainstream sewage and water businesses? Does that not amount to a double whammy on consumers and taxpayers in the west midlands?

Mr. Gummer: I am aware that, when the water companies were nationalised, they spent an average of £1.6 billion on investment; in comparable terms, they now spend an average of more than £3 billion. The hon. Gentleman should recognise that the mess that was left behind because of public ownership of the water industry has now been cleared up and that people are coming from all over the world to ask British water companies to do their water improvements.

Mr. Hawkins: Will my right hon. Friend join me in welcoming the news that, as the result of the huge capital investment by North West Water, the sea off Blackpool's beaches has now been greatly improved and that tourism businesses will benefit dramatically from the good news of Blackpool's beaches now being approved under European Community standards? Is that not a further demonstration that the Labour party's carping criticism does not reflect the reality of real investment to help Britain's tourism industry?

Mr. Gummer: I am certainly pleased by the clean-up of Blackpool's beaches, which was not possible when the water industry was nationalised. I hope that my hon. Friend has noticed that the former Labour leader of Manchester city council wrote to the Canadian authorities to try to undermine North West Water's bid to help the water industry in Canada--again hitting out against the

19 Nov 1996 : Column 828

British water industry, British jobs and British investment. I hope that the Labour party will dissociate itself from its prospective candidate for Manchester, Blackley.

---