Local Authorities: Financial Difficulties Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Lord Laming
Main Page: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Laming's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
(10 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Lord Laming (CB)
My Lords, I am sure the Minister agrees that for 10 years, the Government made very severe cuts and, as the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, said, there was increased demand for social care services. The result is that the non-statutory services have borne all the cuts. Services for young people, family support and libraries—I could go on—have all been severely cut and continue to be so. I lend my support, for what it is worth, to the Minister. Local government finance really is in desperate need of a fundamental review.
Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)
I have already agreed that this will happen in the next Parliament under a Conservative Government. However, as we have heard from the noble Baroness opposite, not all councils have stopped non-statutory services. Many of them are running their businesses very efficiently and keeping all those services going.