asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the capital underspending by Sefton metropolitan district council, St. Helens metropolitan district council, Knowsley metropolitan district council and West Lancashire district council.

The first year for which capital allocations were issued was 1981–82. The following table compares for each authority prescribed expenditure, capital allocations and prescribed proportion of new capital receipts for that year. The authorities may also have had accumulated capital receipts available.