Andy McDonald
Main Page: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Clive Lewis (Norwich South) (Lab)
2. What recent assessment he has made of the fairness of local government funding.
Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)
17. What recent assessment he has made of the fairness of local government funding.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark)
The local government finance settlement reflects a detailed assessment of the needs and challenges of each area. We have announced a fair funding review and will work with local authorities to determine the appropriate funding needs of different types of areas as we move to 100% business rates retention by 2020.
Greg Clark
I am surprise to hear the hon. Gentleman ask that question, given that his county of Norfolk has benefited from £1.6 million through the transitional grant, which I would have thought that he would welcome. On what party colleagues have to say, he should take advice from Bury Council, which has said:
“The methodology is a welcome improvement on that employed for allocating revenue support grant reductions…and goes some way to redressing…years in which poorer metropolitan authorities have received an unequal share of…funding.”
The hon. Gentleman should talk to his party members as well as his constituents.
Andy McDonald
As a native Teessider, it cannot have escaped the Secretary of State’s attention that towns such as Middlesbrough have been hit hardest by his local government cuts, yet Middlesbrough has not had a penny from the transitional fund. It seems that this Government’s duty is only to those wealthier areas that voted Tory. Is he not ashamed of his callous and unfair treatment of his hometown?
Greg Clark
The hon. Gentleman should inform himself better about what is happening in the Middlesbrough local authority. For a start, as a result of the change in methodology, Middlesbrough gets an improvement in resources of nearly £4 million. I would have thought that he had read the consultation response that I received from Middlesbrough Borough Council. In response to the question,
“Do you agree with the proposed methodology for calculation?”,
the council said:
“Yes we would agree with the proposed methodology on the basis that this does not have a disproportionate impact generally across local authorities.”
The hon. Gentleman should inform himself before he comes to the House and asks questions.