asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on rate support grant limitation for Basildon.

Basildon district council is a very high spender and has been subject to selective rate limitation in each of the last three years. The expenditure level set for the council under the 1984 Rates Act has been the same in cash terms in each of those years and this has provided real benefits to Basildon ratepayers. The local rate has risen by only 5 per cent. over the last two years combined, well below the rate of inflation and less than half of the rise for other shire districts over the same period.