Local Government and Miscellaneous Financial Provisions (Scotland) Act 1958

2 Fixing of annual aggregate amount of general grants

(1) In fixing the aggregate amount of the general grants for any year the Secretary of State shall take into consideration—

(a) the latest information available to him of the rate of relevant expenditure (excluding, except in so far as the Secretary of State with the consent of the Treasury otherwise determines, any expenditure of a descriptor in respect of which no grant has been paid for any year ending before the sixteenth day of May, nineteen hundred and fifty-nine) and the current level of prices, costs and remuneration, together with any future variation in that level which can be foreseen ;

(b) any probable fluctuation in the demand for the services giving rise to relevant expenditure, so far as the fluctuation is attributable to circumstances prevailing in Scotland as a whole which are not under the control of local authorities; and

(c) the need for developing those services and the extent to which, having regard to general economic conditions, it is reasonable to develop those services.

(2) If it appears to the Secretary of State that during any grant period any unforeseen increase has taken place in the level of prices, costs or remuneration, and that its effect on the cost of providing the services giving rise to relevant expenditure is of such magnitude that it ought not to fall entirely on local authorities, the Secretary of State shall by order (made in the like manner and subject to the like provisions as a general grant order) increase the aggregate amount of the general grants for such year of that grant period (beginning either before or after the making of the order) as may be specified in the order.