Part VIII Finance
Miscellaneous provisions as to finance and rating
168 Local financial returns.
(1)
Subject to subsection (3) below, every local authority and the chairman of the parish meeting of every parish not having a separate parish council shall make a return to the Secretary of State for each year ending on 31st March, or such other day as the Secretary of State may direct,—
(a)
of their income and expenditure or, in the case of the chairman of a parish meeting, the income and expenditure of the parish meeting;
(2)
Returns under this section shall be in such form, shall contain such particulars, shall be submitted to the Secretary of State by such date in each year and shall be certified in such manner as the Secretary of State may direct, and a direction under this subsection may impose different requirements in relation to returns of different classes.
(3)
If it appears to the Secretary of State that sufficient information about any of the matters mentioned in subsection (1) above has been supplied to him by a local authority or by or on behalf of a parish meeting under any other enactment, he may exempt the authority or the chairman of the meeting from all or any of the requirements of this section so far as they relate to that matter.
(4)
The Secretary of State shall as respects each year cause a summary to be made of the returns sent to him under this section and of any information supplied to him under any other enactment in consequence of which he has granted an exemption under this section and shall lay the summary before both Houses of Parliament.
F4(5)
In this section “local authority” means—
F5(a)
a billing authority or a precepting authority, as defined in section 69 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992;
(aa)
a combined police authority or a combined fire authority, as defined in section 144 of the M1Local Government Finance Act 1988;
(b)
a levying body within the meaning of section 74 of that Act; and
(c)
a body as regards which section 75 of that Act applies
169 Initial expenses of new authorities.
(1)
As soon as may be after the first election of councillors for a new principal area, each existing rating authority whose area or part of whose area falls within that new principal area shall, in accordance with arrangements made by the Secretary of State by regulations, cause the appropriate contribution to be paid into the county fund where the new principal area is a county and into the general rate fund where the new principal area is a district.
(2)
In subsection (1) above “the appropriate contribution”, in relation to an existing rating area or any part of such an area, means an amount equal to one quarter or such other fraction as the Secretary of State may by order prescribe of the product of a rate of 1p in the pound levied in that rating area, or, as the case may be, that part, for the year 1973-74, being—
(a)
in the case of the area of an existing county borough, that product as ascertained for the purposes of Part II of Schedule 1 to the M2Local Government Act 1966;
(b)
in a case where that product has been estimated by the rating authority for the purposes of section 12(2) of the M3General Rate Act 1967 (precepts by county councils, etc.), that product as so estimated;
(c)
in any other case, that product estimated by the rating authority in the same way as it would fall to be estimated for the purposes of the said section 12(2).
(3)
A statutory instrument containing an order under subsection (2) above—
(a)
may apply to all existing rating areas or may make different provision in relation to existing rating areas of different descriptions; and
(b)
shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(4)
The council of a new area may borrow for the purpose of meeting any expenditure incurred by them before 1st April 1974 and the council of a new district in Wales may borrow for the purpose of lending to the council of a community in the district to enable the latter to meet any expenditure so incurred.
(5)
With a view to providing sums which may be transferred by an order under section 254 below to one or more new local authorities any existing authority for an area outside Greater London may include in any rates made or precepts issued by them in respect of the last rate period before 1st April 1974 provision to meet contingencies or defray any expenditure which, if this Act had not been passed, would have fallen to be defrayed by the existing authority on or after that date and before the date on which the moneys to be received in respect of the next subsequent rate or precept would have become available.
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172 Miscellaneous amendments of enactments relating to finance and rating.
F8. . . Part II of that Schedule shall have effect for making amendments and modifications of enactments relating to local government finance and rating which are not replaced by Part I of that Schedule or the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act.