Local Government Finance
Debate between Liz Kendall and Lord Pickles(13 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Liz Kendall (Leicester West) (Lab)
Will the Secretary of State tell the House how much money councils will be getting from the NHS to spend not on social care but on public health?
Mr Pickles
There are two funds, which add up to just a smidgen over £2 billion. The co-operation of the Department of Health, and the move in which local authorities with social services departments will now have an opportunity to influence the local health scene, represent a considerable change of which Joseph Chamberlain would have been proud. This will put local authorities in their rightful place of being able to co-ordinate a vital part of public health provision.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Liz Kendall and Lord Pickles(14 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Pickles
In fairness to the standards boards, they are trying to take away some of the more frivolous and silly complaints, the lowest level of which was the complaint that Ken Livingstone had been rude to a journalist—the very thought sends shivers down my spine, of course. Even if Ken had been a little emotional that night, the right thing is for the people to decide; it is for the electors to decide, not a quango. That entire investigation cost £200,000 and it was utterly pointless. I am doing my bit by taking substantial sums away from the standards boards.
Liz Kendall (Leicester West) (Lab)
T7. Has the Minister assessed how the 28% cut in local authority funding over four years will affect women, who are more likely to use and work for local authority services?
Mr Pickles
We will of course be making a full assessment. I say to the hon. Lady that the correct figure is 26% and that if we had not taken this decision, we would be facing savage and uncontrolled cuts in local authorities, because of the Labour party’s failure. We have a plan—the Labour party does not.