Local Government Finance
Debate between James Gray and George Howarth(11 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Howarth
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Sefton Central for making that point. I have a very great affection for Aintree library, because when it was in my constituency I used to hold surgeries there.
My hon. Friend is right. If he looks at the NAO report, “Financial sustainability of local authorities”, which was produced in January, he will see that the NAO points out that although 93 local authorities
“used reserves in 2011-12, the remaining 260 either made no changes to their reserves or added to them.”
There is an argument about the use of reserves, which the Government have made, but the NAO report goes on:
“There is evidence that local authorities are reducing services, for example in adult social care and libraries”.
Certainly in the Liverpool city region, in terms of reserves there is really nothing left other than what prudentially is needed.