Parliamentary search - Local Government Finance

Type

Parliamentary proceeding

Reference

471 c721-62

Session

2007-08

Department

Department for Communities and Local Government

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Local Government Finance Report (England) 2008-09.
Thursday, 24 January 2008
House of Commons papers
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

John Healey | 471 c735 (Link to this contribution) Let me give the hon. Gentleman some other figures then. If he takes the average council tax rises ac...

Robert Neill | 471 c735 (Link to this contribution) The Minister makes an interesting point, but it is a shame that he did not mention certain other fig...

Show all contributions (104)

Robert Neill | 471 c735-6 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on Saturday's result, because I would not want to see Wigan go dow...

Rob Wilson | 471 c736 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that fair funding is one of the main unresolved issues this evening? Let m...

Speaker | 471 c736 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before the hon. Gentleman responds, may I just say that these are very important and complex ...

Robert Neill | 471 c736 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. My hon. Friend's point brings me to an issue that I was going to add...

Robert Neill | 471 c736-7 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way in a few moments. I do not believe that anyone would say that that fits any set of...

George Mudie | 471 c732 (Link to this contribution) Given that 0.04 per cent. persuaded the Minister to take Leeds out of the working neighbourhoods fun...

John Healey | 471 c732-3 (Link to this contribution) I know Leeds well, although not as well as my hon. Friend. It has been successful in many areas in t...

David Howarth | 471 c732 (Link to this contribution) The Minister's point about migrants' burden on local government services being light may be true of ...

Robert Neill | 471 c734 (Link to this contribution) I will happily give way to the Minister—I am sure that he will say something nice.

Robert Neill | 471 c733-4 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for the usual courtesy that he showed in making the statement. I welcome one o...

John Healey | 471 c734 (Link to this contribution) I do not understand why the hon. Gentleman uses band D council tax figures, when fewer than one in s...

John Healey | 471 c721 (Link to this contribution) There is nothing wrong with the formula, which is the best and fairest way that we have established ...

John Healey | 471 c721 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That the Local Government Finance Report (England) 2008-09 (House of Commons Paper No...

John Healey | 471 c721 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to my hon. Friend, and then to the Liberal Democrats.

David Kidney | 471 c723 (Link to this contribution) It is true that the stability provided by a three-year settlement is welcome in Staffordshire. Howev...

John Healey | 471 c723 (Link to this contribution) The short answer is no. The slightly longer answer is that I am reluctant to get tempted into the te...

Philip Dunne | 471 c722 (Link to this contribution) The Minister says that he is confident about the fairness of his formula. How does he reconcile that...

John Healey | 471 c722-3 (Link to this contribution) Even by his standards, the hon. Gentleman has grossly caricatured and misrepresented the Department'...

Lord Field of Birkenhead | 471 c723 (Link to this contribution) I have had to express disappointment with eight of the Government's previous settlements as they aff...

John Healey | 471 c723 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate my right hon. Friend's remarks—although I am a little taken aback by them. I hope that ...

John Healey | 471 c722 (Link to this contribution) The principal reason is this. In preparing for the spending review decisions that we took last year,...

Mark Hendrick | 471 c722 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend mentioned inflation-busting increases. For Lancashire county council, which is based ...

John Healey | 471 c722 (Link to this contribution) I do indeed. A little later I shall talk about the importance of savings and efficiencies. I recogni...

Lord Beith | 471 c722 (Link to this contribution) On that very point, the three district councils in my constituency are at almost 1 per cent., going ...

John Healey | 471 c725-6 (Link to this contribution) I am aware of my hon. Friend's point. It was put to me by a number of local authorities that I dealt...

John Healey | 471 c725 (Link to this contribution) First, the hon. Gentleman is wrong about Newham having the highest formula grant settlement of all l...

Adrian Bailey | 471 c725 (Link to this contribution) May I further compound my hon. Friend's earlier astonishment by saying that my local authority, Sand...

John Healey | 471 c725 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend hits the mark in two respects. First, Newham will get a substantial increase in its o...

Robert Neill | 471 c725 (Link to this contribution) Before the Minister departs from the subject of London authorities, will he, first, take on board th...

Lyn Brown | 471 c724-5 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the continued increases of some 4 to 5 per cent. in local government finance by 2011. That...

David Burrowes | 471 c724 (Link to this contribution) How can this be a settlement for Enfield based on the principles of stability and fairness, when on ...

David Howarth | 471 c723 (Link to this contribution) The Minister mentioned pressures. Cambridge city council is another example of a district council wi...

Gwyneth Dunwoody | 471 c727 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has made great play of the need for transparency, openness and efficiency, and sugges...

John Healey | 471 c727-8 (Link to this contribution) The simple answer to my hon. Friend is that the matter concerned advice to Ministers and by traditio...

John Healey | 471 c728 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way one more time and then I will try to get off the first page of my notes.

John Healey | 471 c726 (Link to this contribution) I did indeed meet the hon. Gentleman and representatives from the offices of my two colleagues who s...

Simon Hughes | 471 c726 (Link to this contribution) The Minister was kind enough to meet the leader of Southwark council, the leader of its opposition g...

John Healey | 471 c726-7 (Link to this contribution) Resilience, to use the jargon, is a question of how homes and areas can be better protected against ...

David Drew | 471 c726 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend knows as well as anyone in this House that we in Gloucestershire are still recovering...

John Healey | 471 c727 (Link to this contribution) To be fair to my hon. Friend's council, I cannot judge whether its proposals for new civic buildings...

John Healey | 471 c731-2 (Link to this contribution) Short-term migration poses a genuine challenge to us all. The increasingly obvious phenomenon poses ...

Julia Goldsworthy | 471 c731 (Link to this contribution) To follow the question that the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr. Burrowes) asked, will the Mi...

Simon Hughes | 471 c730 (Link to this contribution) It is a consolation that the work will be done as the Minister has announced, although it is not nec...

John Healey | 471 c728-30 (Link to this contribution) It is joined-up government. The hon. Gentleman has received an inadequate briefing from Hillingdon c...

Nick Hurd | 471 c728 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way; he has been extremely generous in taking interventions...

Jim Cousins | 471 c731 (Link to this contribution) What my hon. Friend has just told the House genuinely advances the debate and shows a way out of an ...

John Healey | 471 c731 (Link to this contribution) In all honesty, I cannot give the hon. Gentleman the sort of guarantee or assurance that he seeks. S...

David Burrowes | 471 c731 (Link to this contribution) Will the search for more accurate population statistics mean taking full account of the impact of sh...

John Healey | 471 c730-1 (Link to this contribution) The Office for National Statistics has set out a programme of improvements, which will be accelerate...

Robert Syms | 471 c753-4 (Link to this contribution) I intend to make a few brief remarks about Poole borough council. It is an excellent, well-run counc...

Alistair Burt | 471 c756-8 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) on his performan...

Andy Slaughter | 471 c754-6 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to the Government for the increase in local government finance of 20 per cent. on aver...

John Healey | 471 c758 (Link to this contribution) It would be fair to say and would be acknowledged that I gave way a great deal during my opening spe...

Lord Pickles | 471 c758 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister give way?

John Healey | 471 c758-9 (Link to this contribution) At this stage, given that I gave way so much earlier, I shall not. I was talking about hon. Members...

Richard Younger-Ross | 471 c746 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware that in Devon the scheme has been extended in the past to allow the companio...

Julia Goldsworthy | 471 c745-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Whether the real cost of providing services is being recogn...

Robert Neill | 471 c753 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Jim Cousins | 471 c753 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I cannot give way to Conservative Members, because I must conclude my remarks. I m...

David Curry | 471 c750-2 (Link to this contribution) The first thing to say about this settlement is that it takes place under the iron hand of capping. ...

Jim Cousins | 471 c752-3 (Link to this contribution) I came to the debate thinking it likely that I would vote against the Government on the settlement. ...

Julia Goldsworthy | 471 c748 (Link to this contribution) We have proposed cuts to national income tax as compensation, so there would be a much clearer relat...

George Mudie | 471 c748-50 (Link to this contribution) I shall be quick, because a number of Members wish to make speeches. I raised my concerns in an int...

Julia Goldsworthy | 471 c746-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. I wonder whether there will be regional differences, because area...

Neil Turner | 471 c748 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady not accept that if the gearing were shifted, we would have to ask the local counc...

Neil Turner | 471 c742 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will be able to read my comments in Hansard.

Simon Hughes | 471 c745 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making it clear that migration and population are big issues just as much in count...

Neil Turner | 471 c743 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman provides just one example of what can happen, and we could all give other example...

Julia Goldsworthy | 471 c743 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Wigan (Mr. Turner), especially given his closing rema...

Andy Slaughter | 471 c744 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady cannot have it both ways. Is she saying that she opposes the substantial increases in ...

Julia Goldsworthy | 471 c744-5 (Link to this contribution) Of course I do not oppose those increases. All I am saying is that if we are talking about trying to...

Ben Wallace | 471 c742 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I understand that it is the custom of the House for an hon....

Speaker | 471 c742 (Link to this contribution) Obviously, the behaviour of hon. Members is a matter for them. I would just say to the hon. Member f...

Neil Turner | 471 c742 (Link to this contribution) In view of your good offices and good words, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I say to the hon. Member for Lancas...

Richard Younger-Ross | 471 c742-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good point about capping. Does he agree that the situation is even worse ...

Robert Neill | 471 c738-9 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will wish to applaud the steps taken by the current Conservative c...

Andy Slaughter | 471 c738 (Link to this contribution) I can give the figures from the top of my head. During the first nine years of Labour Government, Ha...

Julia Goldsworthy | 471 c739 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman knows what the 45 per cent. real-terms increase turns into once ...

Neil Turner | 471 c739 (Link to this contribution) Let me begin by correcting something that I said in a point of order last Wednesday. I said that the...

David Heyes | 471 c740 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend in welcoming the three-year settlement; it gives local authorities such ...

Neil Turner | 471 c739-40 (Link to this contribution) Whether it goes to schools or to the rest of local government, it is still a 45 per cent. increase f...

Neil Turner | 471 c740-1 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I do. We should look at the distance from target—the difference between the amount of money a l...

Ben Wallace | 471 c742 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry for intervening having just arrived, but I understand that the hon. Gentleman referred to...

Neil Turner | 471 c742 (Link to this contribution) Certainly.

Sharon Hodgson | 471 c737 (Link to this contribution) To clarify, I understand that my hon. Friend who spoke earlier represents Tyne Bridge. That constitu...

Robert Neill | 471 c737 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure whether the hon. Lady heard the observations of the hon. Member for Tyne Bridge, who s...

Sharon Hodgson | 471 c737 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. He mentioned the complexity of local government ...

Robert Neill | 471 c737-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes a valid point and it is compounded by the Department's announcement earlier this...

Julia Goldsworthy | 471 c737 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentioned the Minister's comments about increases to social services and waste au...

Robert Neill | 471 c737 (Link to this contribution) It seems that it is damper one side of the river than the other. All I can say to the hon. Lady is t...

Robert Neill | 471 c738 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for not mentioning Hammersmith, but I must tell him that the sta...

Andy Slaughter | 471 c738 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman might enjoy such a reference or he might be rather embarrassed by it, but he will...

Robert Neill | 471 c738 (Link to this contribution) I suspect that some reference to some part of west London is about to made.

Neil Turner | 471 c735 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will be pleased to know that I am not going to claim bragging rights as a result ...

Robert Neill | 471 c735 (Link to this contribution) I simply followed the practice that his Department has always used, including its press office, and ...

John Healey | 471 c724 (Link to this contribution) Quite easily. The hon. Gentleman cites his constituency of Enfield. I have the figures for his autho...

Rosie Cooper | 471 c727 (Link to this contribution) While I appreciate that the Government will have increased funding to local authorities by 45 per ce...

Ben Wallace | 471 c742 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

John Healey | 471 c731 (Link to this contribution) Again, I cannot give my hon. Friend the specific assurance that he seeks. However, the Government ma...

John Healey | 471 c732 (Link to this contribution) I have explained the reason for the main elements of the distribution. On migration in district coun...

David Clelland | 471 c721 (Link to this contribution) I have to challenge my hon. Friend on his comment about inflation-busting rises. He has said that th...

John Healey | 471 c724 (Link to this contribution) The settlement that I announced on 6 December included £212 million extra from central Government to...

Subjects

Finance

Grants

Local government finance

Local government services

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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