Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

A National Audit Office report this year showed that there is huge variation between the costs of and the activities delivered by local authorities throughout the country. The same report showed that there is no link at all between per pupil funding and the quality of the services delivered, according to Ofsted. Does my right hon. Friend agree that funding alone will not sort out the problems in either children’s or adult social care?

[James Brokenshire]

I agree with my hon. Friend and am grateful to him for highlighting the evidence that he rightly raised. We are working with the Department for Education on the review of relative needs and resources, including by jointly funding specific research on the need to spend on children’s services. We want to champion good practice and to ensure that it is there to drive change and improvement in children’s services. My hon. Friend is right that it is about delivery and not simply looking at the funding.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mrs Wheeler]

The hon. Gentleman poses a really interesting question. I will write to him with an answer.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Currently, town and parish councils are not compensated in the council tax formula grant for providing student discounts, which means that parish councils in villages with large student populations, such as Kegworth in my constituency, are providing services used by students for which there is no precept. Will the Minister look into this inequity?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Jake Berry)]

We will take this away and look into it. My hon. Friend makes a valid point. More widely, in our communities framework, we have come forward with a plan for expanding the number of parish councils in this country to ensure they play their full part in delivering for the communities they represent.