asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the estimated total cost to all local authorities in a full year of paying the increase in the employer's contribution to national insurance; and if he will list the additional amounts payable for each local authority.

The estimate received from the local authority associations of the cost to local authorities in England and Wales of the 1½ per cent. national insurance surcharge payable from October 1978 is about £108 million in a full year. We do not have estimates for individual authorities.