Oral Answers to Questions

Emma Lewell-Buck Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jones]

I am aware that councils can build council housing. That is quite an interesting question, because more council houses were built during the past five years of the coalition Government than during the previous 13 years under Labour.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

4. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the local government grant formula in directing funding to areas of need.

[Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)]

15. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the local government grant formula in directing funding to areas of need.

[The Minister for Communities and Resilience (Mr Mark Francois)]

Councils facing the highest demand for services receive substantially more funding, including through the grant formula. In addition, with the introduction of business rates retention in 2013-14 there has been a deliberate shift away from keeping authorities dependent on grant and towards providing councils with the tools and incentives they need to grow their local economies and promote sustainable house building.

[Mrs Lewell-Buck]

I thank the Minister for his response, but that is simply not the case, is it? Extreme cuts in areas of need have put councils in an impossible situation. Some have found it so hard to protect essential services that they have had to use funding that had originally been allocated for local welfare assistance schemes. That means that, at times, there is nothing left for people who are in desperate need, such as care leavers, those who are homeless and those who are fleeing abuse. Does he really think that it is acceptable for councils to have to make those choices?

[Mr Francois]

The north-east and the north-west still have the highest spending power per household after London. The average spending power per household in the north-east is £2,313, and the figure for the north-west is £2,250. Those figures are both higher than the England—excluding Greater London Authority—average of £2,086. Spending power per household in the South Tyneside area will be £2,402 in 2015-16, which is more than the England—excluding Greater London Authority—average and also more than the metropolitan area average of £2,226, so I do believe that adequate resources are being provided.