John Healey
Main Page: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)(10 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Brandon Lewis
My hon. Friend has done a great deal by bringing this matter to the attention of Members and putting it on the record. What I say to councils, including the one in Brighton, is that they should do the right thing by their residents and freeze council tax to help hard-working people and families. We understand the pressures that all authorities face, and the division of funding demonstrates that we have tried to be fair.
John Healey (Wentworth and Dearne) (Lab)
How on earth can the Minister say that this settlement is fair when, three months ago, the Audit Commission, the local government expert, said that
“councils in the most deprived areas have seen substantially greater reductions in government funding as a share of revenue expenditure than those in less deprived areas”?
Is the Audit Commission wrong?
Brandon Lewis
As I said just a few moments ago, 10% of the most deprived areas of the country have an average spending power of £3,026 per household, compared with £1,900 for the least deprived 10% of areas. We must bear that starting point in mind. The most deprived areas have greater spending power. The average reduction in spending power this year is just 2.9%, with no council being more than 6.9% worse off. This is the highest level of protection that we have been able to offer councils in three years.