(Secretary of State for
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local
Government): Local government will play a critical
role in making a success of Brexit at the local level. My
Department is committed to ensuring councils have the support and
the funding they need to prepare for an orderly exit from the EU
and do appropriate contingency planning.
Today I am announcing an additional £56.5 million to help
councils carry out their preparations.
Councils will receive £20 million this financial year as well as
£20 million to spend in the next financial year to fund
additional planning and capacity. Across the two years, all
district councils will receive £35,000, all county councils will
receive £175,000, all unitaries will receive £210,000 and all
combined authorities will receive £182,000.
£1.5 million will be allocated in 2018/19 only to local
authorities facing immediate impacts from local ports, with
details of the allocation and distribution of that funding to be
announced shortly.
I am retaining £10 million for allocation during 2019/20 to
respond to specific local costs that may only become evident in
the months after we exit the EU.
Finally, £5 million will be split between teams in my Department
and the local government sector for specific purposes such as
strengthening resilience preparations and supporting communities.
This funding will help councils to adapt to changes caused by
Brexit, while still protecting vital local services.
This will not be the only resources councils receive to fund
Brexit costs. Government has been clear that Departments will
assess and, if appropriate, fund any potential new burdens
arising on councils as part of EU Exit work they are undertaking.
As for councils’ overall funding, the provisional finance
settlement which I announced before Christmas provides extra
funding, with the confirmation that Core Spending Power is
forecast to increase from £45.1 billion in 2018-19 to £46.4
billion in 2019-20. This amounts to a cash increase of 2.8 per
cent and a real-terms increase in resources available to local
authorities. I will be returning to this House shortly, following
consultation, to announce the final settlement.
Table of overall funding allocations:
|
|
2018/19 (£m)
|
2019/20 (£m)
|
Total (£m)
|
|
Upfront funding for all councils*
|
20
|
20
|
40
|
|
Authorities affected by ports
|
1.5
|
|
1.5
|
|
Retained for specific local costs which
arise
|
|
10
|
10
|
|
Split between Departmental teams and local
government sector
|
|
5
|
5
|
|
Total
|
|
|
56.5
|
* Division by type of authority shown in table below
Table showing split of £40m upfront funding by type of
authority:
|
|
2018/19 (£k)
|
2019/20 (£k)
|
Total (£k)
|
|
Combined Authorities (11 including London
(GLA))
|
91
|
91
|
182
|
|
District councils
|
17.5
|
17.5
|
35
|
|
County councils
|
87.5
|
87.5
|
175
|
|
Unitary authorities*
|
105
|
105
|
210
|
* Unitary authorities will receive the sum of the county and
district allocations. Metropolitan Boroughs and London Boroughs
are unitary authorities.
