Ruth Cadbury
Main Page: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)(9 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Greg Clark
We responded to what local authorities had said about the need to recognise the importance of social services. My hon. Friend’s borough council has both upper-tier and lower-tier responsibilities, and in respect of the activities that it is required to perform in order to discharge its social services responsibility, it will benefit from this allocation.
Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)
My best wishes for Christmas to you and all your staff, Mr Speaker.
I do not think that the Secretary of State answered the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol South (Karin Smyth). Let me repeat, according to the National Audit Office,
“The Department has a limited understanding of the financial sustainability of local authorities”.
The NAO advised the Department to
“look for evidence of financial stress in local authorities”
to assure itself that they were able
“to deliver the services they are responsible for.”
May I give the Secretary of State another opportunity to explain in detail—rather than repeating his mantra about a four-year budget—what work he did, before making his announcement, in order to understand the financial sustainability of different authorities?
Greg Clark
Every council has a statutory responsibility and a section 151 officer who is required to report, in real time, on the financial sustainability of the council. I have received no representations from a section 151 officer suggesting that a council is unviable. In recent years, the Local Government Association has been helping councils that require advice and assistance, and I expect that it will wish to go on doing so.