Vol. 546 No. 4
103 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if all of the extra wage costs and other associated costs due to the introduction of BLG will be met by his Department or funds operated by his Department; and if he will make a statement on his intentions in this regard as it impacts on the local government rate for 2002. [31992/01]
I have recently allocated a total of 593 million, £467 million, to local authorities from the local government fund for 2002. This represents an increase of 10% over the 2001 baseline allocation and is some 75% higher than the corresponding allocation in 1997. I am confident that this level of resources is sufficient to meet the reasonable cost of local authority services, including the improved arrangements associated with better local government.
