The grants under this Part of this Act shall be payable to the councils entitled thereto at such times and in such manner as the Treasury may direct.
The Minister may reduce the grant payable in respect of any year under this Part of this Act to any council by such amount as he thinks just, if,—
(a)he is satisfied, either upon representations made to him by any association or other body of persons experienced or interested in matters relating to public health or without any such representations that the council have failed to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of efficiency and progress in the discharge of their functions relating to public health services, regard being had to the standards maintained in other areas whose financial resources and other relevant circumstances are substantially similar, and that the health or welfare of the inhabitants of the area of the council or some of them has been or is likely to be thereby endangered; or
(b)he is satisfied that the expenditure of the council has been excessive and unreasonable, regard being had to the financial resources and other relevant circumstances of the area; or
(c)the Minister of Transport certifies that he is satisfied that the council have failed to maintain their roads or any part thereof in a satisfactory condition:
Provided that, whenever the Minister makes such a reduction, he shall make and cause to be laid before Parliament a report stating the amount of the reduction, and the reasons therefor.
Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, all sums received by a county council by way of General or Additional Exchequer Grant or of proceeds of local taxation licence duties shall be applicable to general county purposes.
Upon application being made to the Minister by the council of any county or county borough requesting that the contributions of the council towards the expenses of any voluntary association having as its object the promotion of public health services may be paid directly to the association out of the amount payable as the General Exchequer Grant of the council, the Minister may pay such contributions accordingly, and any sums so paid shall be deemed to have been paid as part of that grant.
For the purposes of this Part of this Act, any contribution made by the Crown in aid of rates in respect of any premises occupied by or on behalf of the Crown for public purposes shall be treated as money paid as rates, and, in the case of any premises which, if in rateable occupation, would be agricultural, industrial or freight transport hereditaments, the value upon which that contribution would if this Act had not been passed have been computed for the half-year beginning on the first day of October, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, shall be treated as the unreduced rateable value of the premises and the value on which that contribution is computed for that half-year shall be treated as the reduced rateable value thereof.
(1)The Minister may make regulations for giving effect to the provisions of this Part of this Act and in particular—
(a)as to the apportionment for the purposes of this Part of this Act of the expenditure of any joint authority (including the receiver for the metropolitan police district and any assessment committee) amongst the areas liable to contribute to such expenditure, and for the part of the expenditure so apportioned to any area being treated as expenditure of a spending authority for that area for those purposes; and
(b)as to the manner in which the amounts of any grants payable under this Part of this Act are to be adjusted if and so far as any such adjustment is required in consequence of any alterations or combinations of authorities or alterations of boundaries taking effect on or after the appointed day; and
(c)as to the manner in which, subject to the express provisions of this Act, any calculation or estimate is to be made for the purposes of this Part of this Act, and as to the authority or person by or to whom any information required for the purposes of any such calculation or estimate is to be given, and as to the time at which and the form in which it is to be given; and, in particular, the regulations as to the manner in which expenditure falling to be borne by rates is to be calculated or estimated may provide for that expenditure being taken in appropriate cases to be the amount of the payments made in any year, and may provide for such adjustment as may be necessary to correct any abnormal treatment of income or expenditure in accounts; and
(d)for prescribing anything which, under this Part of this Act or under the Schedules therein referred to, is to be prescribed.
(2)The [3 & 4 Geo. 5. c. 19.] Local Government (Adjustments) Act, 1913, shall as from the appointed day have effect as if in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section one thereof for the reference to the Estate Duty Grant, and the residue under section one of the [53 & 54 Vict. c. 60.] Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890, mentioned in that paragraph, there was substituted a reference to the grants payable under this Part of this Act, and as if for the rules contained in Part I of the Schedule thereto there were substituted the regulations made under paragraph (b) of the last foregoing subsection of this section.
(3)Regulations made under paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section shall make provision for securing that where proposals for the development, of institutional treatment for their area were submitted to the Minister by the council of any county or county borough at such a date that grants in aid of capital expenditure on institutions to be provided thereunder are payable in accordance with the directions of the Treasury, then, if the execution of the proposals was delayed by the directions of the Minister and liabilities in connection with the proposals were incurred by the council with the approval of the Minister before the twelfth day of November, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, and in consequence of the delay the amount of any grants paid or payable to the council for the standard year is less than the amount thereof which would otherwise have been so payable, the amount of the grants paid or payable to the council in respect of that year shall be estimated and certified as if they had been increased by such amount as may be prescribed.
(4)All regulations made under this Part of this Act shall be laid before Parliament as soon as may be after they are made.
(1)Where by the rules contained in the Fourth and Fifth Schedules to this Act the expenditure of any authority is required to be apportioned between the several counties or county boroughs into which the area of the authority extends, the apportionment shall be made—
(a)in the case of expenditure in respect of roads other than loan charges, in proportion to the certified mileage of transferred roads in the parts of the area within the several counties;
(b)in the case of expenditure of a board of guardians other than loan charges, in proportion to the number certified as being the estimated number of persons in receipt of poor relief assignable by reason of residence to the parts of the area within the several counties and county boroughs;
(c)in the case of the expenditure in respect of loan charges, in proportion to the reduced rateable value of the parts of the area within the several counties and county boroughs.
(2)Where by the rules contained in the Fourth Schedule to this Act the amounts paid or payable to any authority out of the discontinued grants are required to be apportioned, the apportionment shall be made—
(a)in the case of grants in respect of roads, in proportion to the certified mileage of roads in respect of which the grants were made in the parts of the area within the several counties;
(b)in the case of grants to any voluntary association which carries on services for the welfare of the blind, in proportion to the number certified as being the estimated number of beneficiaries of the association ordinarily resident within the jurisdiction of the several authorities ;
(c)in the case of any grants other than the grants hereinbefore in this subsection mentioned, on such basis as the Minister may by order direct.
The Minister shall, before the expiration of the second fixed grant period, in consultation 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, cause an investigation to be made into the working of the rules contained in Parts III and IV of the Fourth Schedule to this Act, and of the provisions of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section ninety-eight of this Act, and shall cause a report of the result of the investigation to be laid before Parliament.