Local Government Act 1888

Financial Relations between Exchequer and County, and Contributions by County for Costs of Union Officers.

20 Payment to county council of proceeds of duties on local taxation licences.

(1) After the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March next after the passing of this Act, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall from time to time, in such manner and under such regulations as the Treasury from time to time prescribe, pay into the Bank of England to such account (in this Act referred to as the Local Taxation Account) as maybe fixed by the regulations, such sums as maybe ascertained in manner provided by the regulations to be the proceeds of the duties collected by those Commissioners in each administrative county in England and Wales on the licences (in this Act referred to as local taxation licences) specified in the First Schedule to this Act, and for the purposes of this section all penalties and forfeitures recovered in respect of the said duties shall be considered as part of the proceeds of the duties.

(2) The amount ascertained as aforesaid to have been collected in each county in respect of duties on local taxation licences shall, from time to time, be certified by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and paid under the direction of the Local Government Board out of the Local Taxation Account to the council of such county. The Commissioners may, if they think fit, vary such certificate, but unless so varied, their certificate shall be conclusive.

(3) It shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen from time to time by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Treasury to transfer to county councils as from the date specified in the Order the power to levy the duties on all or any of the local taxation licences, and after such date every county council and their officers shall (subject nevertheless to any exceptions and modifications contained in the Order) have within their county, for the purpose of levying the duties transferred, the same powers, duties, and liabilities as the Commissioners of Inland Revenue and their officers have with respect to the duties transferred, and to the issue and cancellation of licences on which the duties are imposed, and other matters under the Acts relating to those duties and licences, and all enactments relating to those duties and licences, and to punishments and penalties connected therewith, shall apply accordingly.

(4) Provided as follows:—

(i) All penalties and forfeitures recovered by a county council in pursuance of this section shall, instead of being paid to the Exchequer, he paid to the county fund, and carried to the same account as the duties.

(ii) The county council shall have, as respects the said duties and licences, the power given by the said Acts to the Treasury for the restoration of any forfeiture, and the mitigation or remission of any penalty or any part thereof.

(iii) Nothing in this section shall confer on the county council any special privileges of the Crown as respects legal proceedings.

(5) On a transfer under this section of the power to levy the duties on any licence—

(a) the county council shall provide for issuing, in different parts of their county, their licence for the same purpose, so as to enable persons to obtain it near their residences ; and

(b) if such licence has operation in any place in the United Kingdom outside the county in which it is issued, the licence of a county council for the same purpose shall continue to have the like operation outside the county in such place.

21 Grant to county council of portion of probate duty.

After the financial year ending the thirty-first day of March next after the passing of this Act, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall, from time to time, in such manner and under such regulations as the Treasury may from time to time prescribe, pay into the Bank of England to the Local Taxation Account, such sums as may be ascertained in manner provided by the regulations to be four fifth parts of one half of the proceeds of the sums collected by them in respect of the probate duties, and for the purpose of this section "probate duties" means the stamp duties charged on the affidavit required from persons applying for probate or letters of administration in England, Wales, or Ireland, and on the inventory exhibited and recorded in Scotland, and also the stamp duties charged on such accounts of personal and movable property as are specified in section thirty-eight of the [44 & 45 Vict. c. 12.] Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1881, and also includes the proceeds of all penalties and forfeitures recovered in relation to such stamp duties.

22 Distribution of probate duty grant.

(1) The sums paid in pursuance of this Act to the Local Taxation Account, in respect of the proceeds of the probate duties (in this Act referred to as the "probate duty grant"), shall, until Parliament otherwise determine, be distributed among the several counties in England and Wales in proportion to the share which the Local Government Board certify to have been received by each county during the financial year ending the thirty-first day of March next before the passing of this Act out of the grants heretofore made out of the Exchequer in aid of local rates, which will cease to be granted after the passing of this Act, and the share to be so certified shall be estimated in such manner as the Local Government Board direct,

(2) In the case of the six counties of South Wales and the Isle of Wight there shall be added to the amount actually received out of such grants as aforesaid such additional sum as the Local Government Board certify to be the amount which each of the said counties and the Isle of Wight would have received, if the roads maintained by the county roads boards or the highway commissioners had been main roads.

(3) The proportion to be paid to each county shall from time to time be paid under the direction of the Local Government Board to the county council out of the Local Taxation Account. The Board may, if they think proper, vary their certificate, but unless it is so varied, their certificate shall be conclusive.

23 Application of duties on local taxation licences, and probate duty grant.

(1) All sums from time to time received by a county council in respect of—

(a) the duties on the local taxation licences, whether collected by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue or by the county council; and

(b) the probate duty grant,

shall be paid to the county fund and carried to a separate account, in this Act referred to as the Exchequer Contribution Account.

(2) All sums for the time being standing to the Exchequer Contribution Account shall be applied—

(i) in paying the costs incurred in respect thereof, or otherwise chargeable thereon; and

(ii) in payment of the sums required by this Act to be paid by the county council in substitution for local grants ; and

(iii) in payment of the grant required by this Act to be made by the county council in respect of costs of union officers ; and

(iv) in repaying to the general county account of the county fund the costs on account of general county purposes for which the whole of the area of the county is liable to be assessed to county contributions;

and shall be so applied in the order above mentioned.

(3) If any surplus remains after paying the above costs and sums, such proportion of the surplus, as the total rateable value of the area of each quarter sessions borough exempt from contributing to any special county purpose, bears to the rateable value of the whole county, shall be paid to the council of that borough, and the remainder shall be applied as follows :

(4) It shall first be applied towards repaying to the proper special accounts of the county fund, the costs on account of which the area of the county, exclusive of such quarter sessions boroughs, is liable to be assessed to county contributions:

(5) Provided that where any of the said quarter sessions boroughs to which a payment of a proportion of the surplus is made as aforesaid is liable to be assessed to county contributions for any of such last-mentioned costs, there shall be deducted from the amount payable to the council of that borough in respect of the said surplus, such sum as would have been raised within the area of the borough if the amount of such costs had been raised by county contributions.

(6) If there remains any sum after repaying the said costs to the said accounts of the county fund, such residue shall be divided as follows, that is to say, such proportion thereof, as the total rateable value of the area of each borough maintaining a separate police force under the County and Borough Police Acts, and not being a quarter sessions borough above-mentioned, bears to the rateable value of the whole county, after deduction of the rateable value of every quarter sessions borough above-mentioned, shall be paid to the council of the borough, and the rest shall be applied towards repaying to the proper special accounts of the county fund the costs of the police, and other costs on account of which the area of the county, exclusive of all the said boroughs, is liable to be assessed to county contributions. Where a town, not being a borough, maintains its own police and receives any payment from the county council in pursuance of this Act towards the pay and clothing of such police, this enactment shall apply to such town as if it were a borough, and as if the sanitary authority therein were the council of the borough.

(7) If any balance remains after all the above payments are .made, and is in excess of what the county council consider necessary to carry forward to the next account, such excess shall be divided among the district councils other than the councils of quarter sessions or other boroughs to whom portions of the surplus have been paid under the foregoing provisions of this section, and shall be so divided in proportion to the rateable value of the area of each district.

(8) Where any part of a county is situate within the Metropolitan Police district, this section shall apply as if that part were the area of a borough maintaining a separate police force, save that the sum which would be payable to such borough shall be paid to the district councils of the county districts wholly or partly situate in such part, and shall be divided among such district councils in proportion to the rateable value of the area of each district, or of so much thereof as is within the Metropolitan Police district.

(9) All sums paid in pursuance of this section shall be carried, if paid to the council of a borough, to the borough fund, and if paid to a district council other than the council of a borough, to the district fund, and shall be applied to purposes for which the whole of the borough or district is liable to be rated.

(10) The rateable value for the purpose of this section, shall be determined according to the standard or basis for county contributions for the time being.

24 Payments by county council in substitution for annual local grants out of Exchequer in aid of local rates.

Whereas certain grants heretofore made- out of the Exchequer in aid of local rates (in this Act referred to as local grants) will by reason of the duties on the local taxation licences land the probate duty grant being by this Act made payable to local authorities, cease, it is therefore hereby enacted as follows:—

(1) So much of any enactment as requires or authorises payment out of the Exchequer of any local grant in substitution for which the county council is required by this Act to make any payment is hereby repealed as from the thirty-first day of March next after the passing of this Act without prejudice to any right accrued before that day.

(2) In substitution for local grants, the council of each county shall from time to time as from the said day pay out of. the county fund and charge to the Exchequer Contribution Account the following sums, that is to say—

(a) they shall pay to the guardians for every poor law union or officer for any other area wholly or partly in the county (as the case may be) such sums as the Local Government. Board from time to time certify to be due from the said council in substitution for the local grants towards the remuneration of teachers in poor law schools, and for payments to public vaccinators under section five of the [30 & 31 Vict. c. 84.] Vaccination Act, 1867; and

(b) they shall pay to the guardians of every poor law union the school fees paid for pauper children sent from a workhouse to a public elementary school outside the workhouse; and

(c) they shall pay to every local authority, for any area wholly or partly in the county, by whom a medical officer of health or inspector of nuisances is paid, one half of the salary of such officer, where his qualification, appointment, salary, and tenure of office are in accordance with the regulations made by order under the [38 & 39 Vict. c. 55.] Public Health Act, 1875, or any Act repealed by that Act, but if the Local Government Board certify to the council that such medical officer has failed to send to the Local Government Board such report and returns as are for the time being required by the regulations respecting the duties of such officer made by order of the Board under any of the said Acts, a sum equal to such half of the salary shall be forfeited to the Crown, and the council shall pay the same into Her Majesty's Exchequer and not to the said local authority; and

(d) they shall pay to the guardians paying the registrars of births and deaths for any district wholly or partly in the county a sum equal to the amount paid out of local grants towards the remuneration of the registrars paid by those guardians during the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March next after the passing of this Act; and

(e) they shall transfer to that account of the county fund to which the maintenance of any pauper lunatic chargeable to the county is charged, a sum equal to four shillings a week for each such pauper lunatic, for whom the net charge upon the county council, after deducting any amount received by the county council for the maintenance of such lunatic from any source other than local rates, is equal to or exceeds four shillings a week throughout, the period of maintenance for which the sum is so transferred ; and

(f) they shall pay to the guardians of every poor law union wholly or partly in the county a sum equal to four shillings a week for each pauper lunatic chargeable to that union, and maintained in an asylum, registered hospital, or licensed house, for whom the net charge upon the guardians, after deducting any amount received by them for the maintenance of such lunatic from any source other than local rates, is equal to or exceeds four shillings a week throughout the period of maintenance for which the sum is so paid ; and

(g) they shall pay to the council of each borough to which the maintenance of any pauper lunatic is chargeable, a sum equal to four shillings a week for each such pauper lunatic for whom the net charge upon the council of the borough, after deducting any amount received by them for the maintenance of such lunatic from any source other than local rates, is equal to or exceeds four shillings a week throughout the period of maintenance for which the sum is so paid; and

(h) they shall transfer to that account of the county fund to which the compensation payable to the clerk of the peace of a county, or any other officer of quarter sessions for the county, under section eighteen of the Act of the session of the eighteenth and nineteenth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter one hundred and twenty-six is charged, the amount of such compensation ; and

(i) they shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, transfer to the police account of the county fund a sum equal to one half of the costs of the pay and clothing of the police of the county during the preceding year; and

(j) they shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, pay to the council of each borough maintaining a, separate police force under the County and Borough Police Acts, one half of the costs of the pay and clothing of the police of that borough during the preceding year; and

(k) they shall, if within their county sums are raised by rates for the purpose of the metropolitan police, pay to the receiver for the metropolitan police district in. each year, a sum bearing such proportion to the sum actually raised in the same year by rates from the parishes in that county for the said purpose as a Secretary of State certifies to be the proportion which would have been contributed out of the Exchequer under the arrangement in force during the financial year next before the passing of this Act.

(3) A reference in sections One hundred and- eighty-nine and one hundred and ninety-one of the Public Health Act, 1875, to officers any portion of whose salary is paid out of moneys provided by Parliament shall be construed to refer to those officers in respect of whose salaries payment is wade by a county council in pursuance of this section.

(4) Where any payment towards the pay and clothing of the police of any town has been made in pursuance of section eighteen of the [19 & 20 Vict. c. 69.] County and Borough Police Act, 1856, which authorises such payment to be made until the discontinuance of the police, the like payment shall, notwithstanding anything in this section, be made by the county council to the authority of such town until such discontinuance.

(5) Where a sum is payable under this section to the guardians, authority, or officer of a union or other area, and such union or area is situate in more administrative counties than one, a proportionate part only of the sum otherwise payable shall be paid by the council of each of such counties to the guardians, authority, or officer, and the Local Government Board shall certify the proportionate part due from the council of each such county.

(6) The guardians, authority, or officer to whom a sum is payable under this section on the certificate of the Local Government Board, shall submit to the Board their claim to the payment in such manner, and produce such evidence and comply with such rules as the Board from time to time require or make, and the Board shall fix the amount due on the like principles, and may impose the like conditions for the payment thereof as before the passing of this Act.

(7) The Local Government Board may, if they think fit, vary a certificate granted for the purposes of this section, but, unless so varied, it shall be conclusive.

25 As to Secretary of State's power respecting efficiency of police.

(1) If a Secretary of State withholds as respects the police of any county, his certificate under the County and Borough Police Act, 1856, that the police of the county has been maintained in a state of efficiency in point of numbers and discipline during the year ending on the twenty-ninth day of September then last past, the council of that county, in lieu of transferring any sum under the foregoing provisions of this Act to the police account of the county fund, shall forfeit to the Crown and shall pay into Her Majesty's Exchequer out of the county fund, and shall charge to the Exchequer Contribution Account of that fund, such sum a3 the Secretary of State certifies to be in his opinion equivalent to one half of the cost of the pay and clothing of the police of the county during the said year.

(2) If a Secretary of State withholds, as respects the police of any borough, his certificate under the [19 & 20 Vict. c. 69.] County and Borough Police Act, 1856, that the police of the borough has been maintained in a state of efficiency in point of numbers and discipline for the year ending on the twenty-ninth day of September then last past, no payment shall be made by the county council to the council of the borough in respect of one half of the costs of the pay and clothing of the police of that borough during the said year, and such amount as a Secretary of State certifies to be In his opinion the equivalent of such one half shall be transferred by the county council from the Exchequer Contribution Account to the general County account and applied to the general purposes of the county.

26 Grant by county council towards costs of officers of union.

(1) After the thirty-first day of March next after the passing of this Act, every county council, other than the London county council, shall grant to the guardians of every poor law union wholly or partly in their county, an annual sum for the costs of the officers of the union and of district schools to which the union contributes; and, until Parliament otherwise determine, the said annual sum shall be such sum as the Local Government Board certify to have been expended by the guardians of each poor law union during the financial year ending the twenty-fifth day of March next before the passing of this Act, on the salaries, remuneration, and superannuation allowances of the said officers (other than teachers in poor law schools), and on drugs and medical appliances.

(2) Where a poor law union is situate in more counties than one, the payment under this section to the guardians of the union shall be borne by the counties in which each portion of such union is situate, in proportion to the rateable value of that portion, ascertained on such day as the Local Government Board may fix.

27 Supplemental provisions as to local taxation account and Exchequer contribution account.

(1) When a county council are required under the provisions of this or any other Act to pay any sum into Her Majesty's Exchequer, or to the Treasury, or to the receiver for the metropolitan police district, such sum shall be deducted from the amount payable under the provisions of this Act out of the Local Taxation Account to such county council, and instead of being paid to the county council, shall be paid into Her Majesty's Exchequer, or to the receiver for the metropolitan police district, as the case requires.

(2) The account of the receipts and expenditure of the Local Taxation Account shall be audited as a public account by the Comptroller and Auditor-General in accordance with such regulations as the Treasury may from time to time make.

(3) If at any time in any financial year the moneys standing to the Local Taxation Account are insufficient to meet such sums as the Local Government Board consider proper for the time being to pay thereout, the Local Government Board may borrow temporarily on the security of the said account and of moneys becoming payable thereto such sums as they require for the purpose of meeting such deficiency, and the Bank of England may lend such sums, but all sums so borrowed shall be repaid with the interest thereon during the same financial year out of moneys payable to the said account.