Oral Answers to Questions

Adrian Bailey Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. The Bellwin scheme is only one part of the funding available for various issues from which areas affected by flooding will suffer. I am pleased to say that the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs will be addressing the matter of sea defences in a report to Parliament in the next few weeks, as the Environment Agency’s programme moves forward.

[Mr Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Lab/Co-op)]

9. What assessment he has made of the effect of the local government finance settlement on the most vulnerable communities.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Stephen Williams)]

The provisional local government finance settlement for 2014-15 includes protections for the most grant-dependent authorities. Councils facing the highest demand for services continue to receive substantially more funding. No council will see a reduction of more than 6.9% in overall spending power next year.

[Mr Bailey]

The elderly, infirm and immobile are often unseen, unheard and most dependent on local authority social care. My own local authority of Sandwell has been forced to cut £75 million from its budget by 2015 and now faces a further £25 million cut by 2017. The Government’s better care fund is totally inadequate to compensate. What is the Minister going to do about it?

[Stephen Williams]

The spending power in Sandwell is still significantly above that in many other local authorities. The spending power per head in Sandwell, where the hon. Gentleman’s West Bromwich West constituency lies, is £2,481, £900 more than in many districts in the south of England.