Local Government Finance

The principal reason is this. In preparing for the spending review decisions that we took last year, we—with local government, including the Local Government Association—went through a detailed exercise in which we analysed the pressures that councils face in meeting population changes, service demands and people's rising expectations of local services. It was clear that, as many have told me, there are two main issues—social care and waste disposal—on which the analysis demonstrates that the pressures are likely to be greatest. The larger part of the increase in the core grant to local authorities this year is therefore going to authorities with social care and waste disposal responsibilities. That is one of the principal reasons why Lancashire county council has a larger increase than the district council.