To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he took to determine that the use of the statistics available from the 1981 census in order to determine the distribution of central support for local authority expenditures provides a sufficient and reliable means of recognising the particular needs and conditions of those local authorities which have experienced change since that study.

We use the latest information available on a consistent basis for all local authorities in calculating entitlements to revenue support grant. For a number of social characteristics of local authorities the information from the 1981 census of population is the latest available on this basis.