Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980

54 The aggregate amount of rate support grants. E+W

(1)For the purposes of fixing the aggregate amount of the rate support grants for any year, the Secretary of State shalld etermine the aggregate amount (in this Part of this Act referred to as “the amount available for grants") which he estimates to be available for the payment out of money provided by Parliament of grants to local authorities [F1and the Receiver in respect of] relevant expenditure for the year, other than—

(a)housing subsidies;

(b)grants under section 8 of the M1Local Government Act 1974 [F2and rate rebate subsidy under the M2Social Security Act 1986];

(c)grants under section 69 of this Act; and

(d)grants under paragraph 29 of Schedule 32 to this Act.

(2)The Secretary of State shall deduct from the amount determined under subsection (1) above—

(a)the portion of the amount available for grants which he estimates will be allocated to grants in respect of specific services, other than—

(i)grants under section 8 of the M3Local Government Act 1974 [F2and rate rebate subsidy under the M4Social Security Act 1986]

(ii)grants under section 69 of this Act, and

(iii)grants under paragraph 29 of Schedule 32 to this Act; and

(b)the portion of the amount which is prescibed as the aggregate amount of supplementary grants for transport services within the meaning of section 6 of the Local Government Act 1974; and

(c)the portion of that amount which is prescibed as the aggregate amount of supplementary grants under section 7 of that Act.

(3)So much of the amount available for grants as remains after making the deductions required under subsection (2) above shall be the aggregate amount of the rate support grants for that year.

(4)Before determining the amount available for grants and the portions of that amount mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (2) above, the Secretary of State shall consult with such associations of local authorities as appear to him to be concerned and with any local authority with whom consultation appears to him to be desirable, and shall take into account—

(a)the latest information available to him as to the rate of relevant expenditure;

(b)any probable fluctuation in the demand for services giving rise to relevant expenditure, so far as the fluctuation is attributable to circumstances—

(i)in England as a whole; or

(ii)in Wales as a whole,

being circumstances which are not under the control of local authorities;

(c)the need for developing those services and the extent to which, having regard to general economic conditions, it is reasonable to develop them; and

(d)the current level of prices, costs and remuneration and any future variation in that level which in the opinion of the Secretary of State will result from decisions which appear to him to be final and which will have the effect of increasing or decreasing any particular prices, costs or remuneration.

(5), (6)

F3(7)The following grants for specific services, namely grants—

(a)to the Receiver F4 under section 51 of the M5Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973 (towards the cost of probation services) and under section 59 of the M6Justices of the Peace Act 1979 (grants for magistrates’ courts purposes); and

(b)under section 31 of the M7Police Act 1964 (police grants), whether made to a committee of a local authority or not,

shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (2) above as grants made to local authorities; F4

(8)In this section—

• “housing subsidies” means such grants to local authorities out of money provided by Parliament for housing as may be specified by the Secretary of State as housing subsidies for the purposes of this section; and

[F5F6(9)In this section “relevant expenditure” in relation to any year means—

(a)the aggregate of all local authorities’ relevant expenditure in relation to the year, plus

(b)the Reciever’s total expenditure for the year (within the meaning of Schedule 2 to the Local Government Fiancne Act 1982).

(10)But to the extent that, in any year, any expenditure of the Receiver or of a combined police authority is met by any grants mentioned in subsection (7)(a) or (b) above, that expenditure shall be treated for the purposes of this section as relevant expenditure in relation to that year.

(11)In this section “the Reciever” means the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District.]