Steve Reed
Main Page: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Streatham and Croydon North)
Mr Francois
My hon. Friend will be aware that we have given councils greater powers, and the matter he raises is a local one. Perhaps we can have a discussion on it, but all I will say is that the council will have to make sure that it enjoys support from local people if it is going to undertake this. Councillors should ask not for whom the bell tolls, lest it tolls for them.
Mr Steve Reed (Croydon North) (Lab)
May I associate myself with the Secretary of State’s earlier comments on the atrocities in Tunisia and say what a pleasure it was to see him recently at the mayor-making in Croydon? Many people across local government hope the new Secretary of State will adopt a fairer approach than his predecessor. Over the past five years, Newham, which has very high levels of social deprivation, has lost more than £1,000 of funding per household while wealthier Elmbridge in Surrey has had an increase of more than £40 per household. How will his approach in future spending rounds put an end to this blatant unfairness?
Mr Francois
I thank the hon. Gentleman for welcoming me to my new responsibilities—at least that is what it said here. [Laughter.] I should explain, for his benefit, that I began my career in local government, serving on Basildon District Council, a robust place once described as the only local authority in the UK where at council meetings the councillors would actively heckle the public gallery. I also thank him for being nice to my boss. May I remind him that part of our approach is to give councils extra resources, and extra sources of resource, with which they can address issues? Local authorities now benefit from nearly £11 billion under business rates retention, with the scheme estimated to deliver a £10 billion boost to national GDP by 2020. By 2015-16, 94% of local authorities will see growth in business rates above their initial projections, which will be worth some £544 million. We are giving local authorities the methods to succeed.
Mr Reed
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for welcoming me to my position as well. As he seems to want people to believe that the Government’s approach is fair, why have the 10 councils with the most children in care lost three times more funding than the 10 councils with the fewest children in care?