Lord Harris of Haringey
Main Page: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)(11 years, 11 months ago)
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Baroness Hanham
My Lords, all I can say is that this is being done against the background of a formula which is pretty well understood. The average household spending power across the country is £2,000. The settlement is as fair as it can be in the financial circumstances.
Lord Harris of Haringey
The Minister tells us that she is presiding over this pure system of allocating resources between local authorities which is delivering fairness. Did Ministers change the formula for distribution so as to produce a result whereby, as my noble friend from the Dispatch Box pointed out, the most deprived areas are losing the most?
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, the formula has not been, as has been suggested, tinkered with; that is how it has come out. It is fair to point out that the local government settlement is not the only funding that local authorities get; there is also the new homes bonus and other contributions that local authorities can have. It is not just the settlement.