Oral Answers to Questions

Helen Hayes Excerpts

Monday 14th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

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

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)]

We will shortly present our proposals for a sustainable and fair 2016-17 local government finance settlement to the House. We propose to continue our approach of transforming local authorities from being dependent on grant to benefiting from promoting local growth.

[Helen Hayes]

Spending on adult social care has fallen by £65 per person in the most deprived communities, whereas it has increased by £28 per person in the least deprived. In one of the councils I represent, the estimated shortfall in adult social care funding following the comprehensive spending review is £20 million, of which £2 million can be raised by increasing council tax by 2%. Is it not true that allowing an extra 2% rise in council tax merely devolves the blame without fixing the problem?

[Mr Jones]

In the provisional local government settlement that will come very shortly, we will announce changes to the local government finance system to rebalance support, including to those authorities with adult social care responsibilities, by taking into account the main resources available to councils, including council tax and business rates.