asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the expenditure on regional development grant in each region of England Scotland and Wales for each year from 1978–79 to 1986–87; and what expenditure is planned on regional development grants in each of the regions of England, Scotland and Wales in each of the years from 1987–88 to 1989–90.
Payments of grant from 1978–79 to 1986–87 were as follows:
If the new system had been introduced in full in 1986–87, the community change in respect of Wandsworth borough council's own services would have been £59. There would have been an additional £27 for miscellaneous services, including the Metropolitan police, and £311 for expenditure by the Inner London education authority. The total community charge would have been £397. All these figures are inevitably highly speculative. By the time the community charge is introduced in 1990–91 each authority may spend more—or less—than it did in 1986–87. There will be plenty of scope for ILEA in particular to reduce its expenditure before 1990. If, in 1986–87, it had spent at the Government's assessment of its need to spend, instead of what it actually spent, ILEA's community charge would have been only £65, and the total community charge in Wandsworth only £157.