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Assisted Places Scheme
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will publish his current estimate of the revenue savings he expects to accrue as a result of the abolition of the assisted places scheme in the years (a) 1998-99, (b) 1999-2000, (c) 2000-01 and (d) 2001-02; and if he will list the assumptions underlying his estimates. [63330]
Ms Estelle Morris:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the right hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Mr. Maclean) on 2 November 1998, Official Report, column 405.
14 Dec 1998 : Column: 390
Local Government Finance
Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has for individual local authority spending in 1999-2000, for council tax damping and arrangements for council tax benefit subsidy. [64153]
Mr. Michael: I am consulting county and country borough councils on their provisional Standard Spending Assessments (SSAs) for 1999-2000 as set out in the following table.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| Provisional SSAs for county and county borough councils | 2,806.3 |
| Provisional SSAs for police authorities(17) | 178.3 |
| Proposed payments to bodies specified under section 76 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 | 1.8 |
| Total standard spending net of specific grants | 2,986.4 |
(17) Announced in my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Ms Lawrence) on 2 December 1998, Official Report, column 212.
The details of the council tax damping scheme which I announced on 9 December 1998, Official Report, columns 229-30, are as follows:
I propose that the amount of revenue support grant (RSG) for 1999-2000 should be £1,891.5 million.
The arrangements for council tax benefit subsidy are as follows:
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Consequently, my proposals for total standard spending and aggregate external finance are £3,244 million and £2,828 million respectively.
I proposed to provide council tax reduction grant of £22.5 million to 8 councils;
the grant will keep council tax increases, excluding community council precepts and discretionary non-domestic rate relief, to £70 at Band D in those councils' areas, or the parts of them that qualify for damping, as long as councils do not increase their budgets above the guideline figures that I am announcing for limiting council tax benefit subsidy payments.
The provisional damping grant entitlement for each council is shown in the following table.
I propose to set guideline figures consistent with an average increase of 7.2 per cent. in council tax which, in broad terms, equates to a budget increase of 5.9 per cent. over this year for each council, subject to allowing each council to spend the increase in its SSA in full;
on council tax above the guideline figure, subsidy would be withdrawn at the rate of 50 per cent.
I have made one minor change to the figures that I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Ms Lawrence) in my answer on 9 December 1998, Official Report, columns 229-30. I now propose that the amount of specific grants for 1999-2000 should be £258 million.
| Council | Provisional SSA for 1999-2000 | Provisional entitlement to damping grant | Provisional guideline figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isle of Anglesey | 68.0 | -- | 70.2 |
| Gwynedd | 118.9 | -- | 126.8 |
| Conwy | 104.7 | -- | 104.7 |
| Denbighshire | 91.8 | -- | 97.1 |
| Flintshire | 134.9 | -- | 140.7 |
| Wrexham | 112.7 | -- | 118.4 |
| Powys | 131.4 | -- | 134.1 |
| Ceredigion | 70.2 | 0.2 | 75.8 |
| Pembrokeshire | 114.5 | -- | 116.9 |
| Carmarthenshire | 169.1 | -- | 177.9 |
| Swansea | 214.2 | 0.6 | 226.7 |
| Neath Port Talbot | 133.5 | 3.2 | 148.4 |
| Bridgend | 123.6 | 0.0 | 131.0 |
| The Vale of Glamorgan | 110.1 | -- | 112.0 |
| Rhondda, Cynon, Taff | 230.6 | 8.9 | 254.1 |
| Merthyr Tydfil | 59.0 | 3.9 | 67.1 |
| Caerphilly | 164.2 | 0.1 | 172.8 |
| Blaenau Gwent | 70.4 | 5.6 | 79.4 |
| Torfaen | 89.8 | -- | 92.1 |
| Monmouthshire | 75.5 | -- | 75.4 |
| Newport | 130.8 | -- | 134.2 |
| Cardiff | 288.1 | -- | 299.3 |
| All county and county borough councils: total | 2,806.3 | 22.5 | not applicable |
Budget Statistics
Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has for allocating the Welsh budget provision in 1999-2000, and provisionally for the years (a) 2000-01 and (b) 2001-02; and if he will make a statement. [64154]
Mr. Michael: The Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) settlement announced on 14 July 1998, Official Report, columns 187-194, allocated a total Welsh budget of £7,812 million, £8,223 million and £8,666 million for 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02 respectively. This provides for an average annual increase of 5.3 per cent. over the three years. I have now reached my decisions on how the budget should be allocated. In reaching these decisions, I took into account the views we received on the CSR consultation paper issued in September, and I would like to thank those who responded to the paper.
I have decided to allocate significant additional resources to health and education to deliver our Manifesto commitments on class sizes, education standards and health waiting lists. These are our priorities because they are the people's priorities. There are also real terms increases for key issues like tackling social exclusion, improving the economic prosperity of Wales and for other
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important programmes. The allocations will provide an excellent start to the National Assembly for Wales.
For the NHS, I have allocated the indicative cash sums announced at the time of the CSR settlement in July-- an extra £1.030 billion over the next three years. This is an average increase of 6.4 per cent. (3.9 per cent. in real terms) each year. As well as enabling us to meet our manifesto commitments on reducing waiting lists, these allocations will also secure other important service improvements.
For Education and Training, I am allocating more than the indicative figures announced at the time of the CSR. I am increasing the education and training budgets by £844 million over the three years, an extra £1,000 per pupil/student in Wales. This is an average annual increase of 7 per cent. (4.5 per cent. real) over the next three years. The increase fulfils our manifesto pledges to make education our first priority. Over £70 million of the local government revenue settlement will be for education and we will expect local authorities to increase education spending by at least this amount. The increase in resources will fund an additional 28,000 students in Further Education, and an extra 8,000 students in Higher Education, by 2001-02.
I have already announced, at column 390, the provisional settlement for local government and the police. The settlement allows for an extra £868 million in extra spending on services by Welsh local authorities over the next 3 years, net of specific grants. In addition, Welsh councils will be able to invest some £1.2 billion in capital projects over the next 3 years.
We have set ambitious targets for improving the economic prosperity of Wales in 'Pathway to Prosperity'. I have increased provision for economic measures by £134 million over the period. The new Welsh Development Agency will have a gross programme of over £200 million in 1999-2000. We are also increasing our support for small businesses. I am allocating an extra £1 million each year to the Wales Tourist Board to help promote tourism activities associated with the Rugby World Cup and Millennium promotions. On transport, we will begin to address the priorities on roads set out in 'Driving Wales Forward'. We will also be announcing substantially increased support for local authorities' Integrated Transport Packages.
I am also setting up a special fund which will enable the Assembly to continue to improve Wales's economic prosperity.
Social inclusion and tackling poverty is another of the Government's priorities and I am allocating an extra £87 million over the period to help regenerate the poorest communities and to help the most vulnerable members of society. I am allocating provision of £25 million for Sure Start to begin a major programme to improve the life chances of very young children, especially the children of families living in the more disadvantaged areas. We will be encouraging measures to promote access to education and 'second chance' opportunities for training. I also want to encourage joint working across a number of
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programmes and organisations and I am setting aside funds for the Assembly to decide how it wishes to pursue these objectives.
I have already announced resources to ensure that the new Tir Gofal agri-environmental scheme will be properly funded, thereby meeting another of our Manifesto Commitments. We are also putting extra money into the Welsh Food Strategy.
Arts and sport in Wales is an area where provision in recent years has been cut in real terms. These programmes add to the economic and social well being of our community and I have allocated additional resources in each of the next 3 years to provide real growth.
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Finally, I have allocated additional resources to meet the cost of the Assembly. This includes the capital cost of the Assembly buildings and in the first year the cost of the Assembly elections.
In addition to the CSR settlement, the Welsh budget will receive at least an extra £75 million during 2000-01 and 2001-02 from the Government's Capital Modernisation Fund; these moneys will be used to fund innovative capital projects, such as housing initiatives, schools and hospitals. The allocations to the main programmes are set out in the following tables.
It is my intention to discuss the details of the allocations at a sitting of the Welsh Grand Committee on 16 December.
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| Spending plans (£ million) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programme | 1998-99 plans (£ million) | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | Total change (£ million) | Average annual change (%) | Average annual real terms change (%) |
| NHS | 2,480 | 2,655 | 2,825 | 2,990 | 1,030 | 6.4 | 3.9 |
| Education and Training(18) | 1,875 | 2,008 | 2,162 | 2,299 | 844 | 7.0 | 4.5 |
| Local Authority Revenue(19) | 2,842 | 2,986 | 3,128 | 3,279 | 868 | 4.9 | 2.4 |
| Local Authority Capital(20) | 426 | 405 | 395 | 406 | -71 | -1.5 | -4.0 |
| Economic Prosperity(21) | 319 | 335 | 368 | 388 | 134 | 6.7 | 4.2 |
| Cardiff Bay Development Corporation--to be wound up by 31 March 2000 | 45 | 35 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Social Inclusion(22) | 90 | 109 | 114 | 134 | 87 | 14.4 | 12.0 |
| Agriculture and Environment(23) | 77 | 83 | 85 | 88 | 25 | 4.6 | 2.1 |
| Arts and Culture | 45 | 47 | 51 | 52 | 15 | 5.0 | 2.5 |
| Central Administration incl. Assembly | 94 | 120 | 124 | 126 | 88 | 10.9 | 8.4 |
| Office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools(24) | 10 | 8 | 9 | 9 | -4 | -4.0 | -6.5 |
| Other non-block and demand-led items(25) | 405 | 390 | 399 | 423 | -4 | 1.5 | -1.0 |
| Total budget (26), (27) | 7,412 | 7,812 | 8,223 | 8,666 | 2,465 | 5.3 | 2.8 |
(18) Education and Training line includes Central Government Education and Training programmes and Local Authority revenue and capital expenditure.
(19) Local Authority revenue line includes total standard spending net of specific grants, police grants and transfers from other Government Departments.
(20) Local Authority capital line includes the Windfall Tax resources for education which are outside of the published Welsh Budget figures.
(21) Economic Prosperity line includes Central Government provision for Economic and Industrial Development programmes, Roads and Transport.
(22) Social Inclusion lines includes Central Government provision for Housing and Personal Social Services.
(23) Agriculture and Environment line includes Central Government provision for Domestic Agriculture and the Environment.
(24) OHMCI includes running costs and programme expenditure.
(25) Other non-block and demand-led items includes Housing Revenue Account Subsidy, Common Agricultural Policy grants and European Regional Development Fund grants.
(26) Total Budget line is not the sum of the individual lines since the local authority education figures are included in Education and Training and the local authority revenue and capital lines along with other technical adjustments.
(27) In addition to these figures, the Welsh Budget will be increased by its share of the Capital Modernisation fund--£30 million in 2000-01 and £45 million in 2001-02.
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(28) Excludes provision for student access funds.
(29) Includes transfer from DfEE resulting from the Dearing Review.
(30) Figure is net of specific grants, police grant and transfers from other Government Departments.
(31) Includes Economic Prosperity Fund.
(32) CBDC is to be wound up by 31 March 2000.
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