1Basis of apportionment of needs element of rate support grants
(1)In Part I of Schedule 1 to the [1966 c. 51.] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966 (which among other things relates to the apportionment of the needs element of rate support grants), after paragraph 3 there shall be inserted the following paragraph—
“3AWithout prejudice to sections 5 and 5A of this Act or to the generality of paragraphs 1 and 3 above, the Secretary of State may, in prescribing a basis for apportionment under either of those paragraphs or in providing for apportionment under paragraph 3 above, have regard to the extent to which, in his opinion, either or both—
(a)the actual expenditure of an individual authority has conformed (whether or not in the year for which the amount of the needs element is payable),
(b)the estimated expenditure of such an authority conforms,
with any guidance issued by him, before the start of the year to which the expenditure relates, as to what that expenditure ought to be.”.
(2)Schedule 1 to the said Act of 1966 is set out as amended by this section in Schedule 1 to this Act.