asked the Minister of Health the percentage of net expenditure met from the Exchequer equalisation grant in the case of the Dorset, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucester, Somerset and Wiltshire County Councils, respectively, for the past year.

The estimated percentages of expenditure met by Exchequer equalisation grants under Section 2 of the Local Government Act, 1948, according to the most recent provisional calculations for the year 1948–49, are as follows: Dorset, 7.8 per cent.; Cornwall, 29.2 per cent.; Devon, 12.4 per cent.; Gloucester, 33.0 per cent.; Somerset, 19.9 per cent.; Wiltshire, 19.4 per cent. The estimated expenditure on which the grants are calculated, and on which these percentages are based, includes the expenditure of county district councils.