Extract from Estimates Day debate (Commons) on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Jul 2
Wednesday, 3 July 2019 08:00
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con):...We need to get
local government funding functioning properly. This is a really
serious problem. The Government wish to move to a new form of
funding—the core rate support grant—in local government in 2021.
That means that there are vital decisions that they need to make
quite quickly. The proposal is that councils should keep three
quarters of the revenue, down from 90% originally, but fundamental
decisions on how this will work are...Request free trial
Sir (The Cotswolds)
(Con):...We need to get local government funding functioning
properly. This is a really serious problem. The Government wish to
move to a new form of funding—the core rate support grant—in local
government in 2021. That means that there are vital decisions that
they need to make quite quickly. The proposal is that councils
should keep three quarters of the revenue, down from 90%
originally, but fundamental decisions on how this will work are
coming very late in the day. No council should be under financial
pressure, because of the tier splits, to move to 75% retention. We
need to decide what the distribution system should be.
If Westminster Council, for example, keeps 75% of
its rate support, it will be awash with money, whereas a council in
the north that keeps 75% will be in severe shortage. The councils
need to know. As the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon says,
it is only fair that the funding system for councils both for next
year and the year after are made very clear fairly soon...
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