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Mr. Clifton-Brown: I thank the hon. Gentleman for allowing me to intervene, which I do in a constructive manner. The Environment Committee--an all-party Committee--spent a great deal of time examining the current SSA system. We concluded, on the basis of all the evidence that we heard--we heard evidence from all the experts--that, although the system was not perfect, it was the best yet devised. Today I have heard much criticism of the system from the hon. Gentleman and from his colleagues, but none of them has been able constructively to tell the House how they would reform it so that it is fair to all councils.
Mr. Trickett: It seems to me, as the new boy, that the duty of the Opposition is to oppose, and not necessarily to make detailed proposals--at least not at this stage. It is up to the Government to propose a system, to live with the consequences and to face the Chamber's probing.
Another matter that I should mention in reply to the Minister's intervention is differentials between affluent and deprived areas. Wandsworth and Westminster, for example, are manifestly more prosperous than Wakefield. In children's social services, however, Wakefield receives £112 SSA per resident child aged 0 to 17 years, whereas Westminster--hon. Members may be astonished to learn--receives £554, which is almost 500 per cent. more. How can that possibly be justified, even if it were not manifestly obvious that Wakefield's needs are at least as great as those of Westminster?
The way in which all the factors are aggregated compounds the insult to the authorities forming the Webber-Craig group. If Wakefield were to receive per head the same SSA and RSG as Westminster, today a Labour group meeting would not be considering £15 million in cuts and a 9 per cent. council tax increase. If it were to receive the same amounts, we would be facing no cuts and there would be an £825 refund to every household.
Mr. Robert G. Hughes:
Is that the policy that the hon. Gentleman has advocated?
Mr. Trickett:
I shall not give way again, because that was an extremely silly point. The point that I am trying to make--I do not think that the hon. Gentleman is listening--is that the system is operating in an entirely perverse manner. How can a system allow such a result? If Wakefield were to receive the same per capita levels of RSG and SSA as Westminster, we could give away £825 to every household in the district and provide current service levels. That demonstrates the problem.
Mr. Hughes:
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Trickett:
I will not give way again, because the hon. Gentleman's previous point was so absurd that I can
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I should like to make one final point on the system's perversity. An index is used in social services which shows money allocated for children at risk, and one of the factors is the number of homeless households comprising a child and pregnant woman. In the past year in Wakefield, 26 individuals in that category have been housed. However, the consequence of that efficient management of resources and humanitarian attempt to get people back into housing has been an SSA reduction of almost half a million pounds. It is a bizarre situation, when efficiency and humanity in housing homeless women have been rewarded by cuts and vicious attacks on the authority.
Sir Irvine Patnick (Sheffield, Hallam):
I follow the hon. Member for Hemsworth (Mr. Trickett) and note that many hon. Members from Yorkshire constituencies are present. With you in the Chair, Mr. Deputy Speaker, at least what we are saying will be understood.
As my hon. Friend the Minister will anticipate, I am still concerned about the funding for supertram. I have mentioned the issue before and I shall mention it again. I am convinced that, if the problems with supertram were remedied, it would assist Sheffield with its funding.
The council summons records the treasurer's report on 4 December that,
Over the years, Sheffield city council has compared itself with many cities. There is huge rivalry--as you are well aware, Mr. Deputy Speaker--between Sheffield and Leeds. Sheffield used to compare its funding with Leeds, taking into account facilities such as television centres. As soon as Leeds received less grant than Sheffield, the council moved its sights. I do not know how the council could have done this, but it then looked at Lancashire and started comparing itself with, of all places, Manchester. I thought that those on the council had taken leave of their senses. All along, Sheffield has looked around for a council that is receiving more grant and compared itself with that council.
The council summons gives the city treasurer's forecast that the city council will be £3.8 million overspent on its 1996-97 budget. As a result, it has put a stop to all non-essential expenditure, including staff overtime and many other items.
I read through the council summons report of the meeting on 29 January. It was like all my yesterdays again. Sheffield city council still carries on doing its great
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As many hon. Members from Yorkshire will know, Sheffield city council used to have its own defence policy, its own foreign policy and its own constitutional policy. From my reading of the council summons, it seems that not a lot has changed.
This year, the council will have written off a further £411,000 of its housing committee debts--that is the amount of rent that it has been unable to collect. Once upon a time, the debt stood at £10 million. I have not had an opportunity to check the latest figure. In addition, it is still owed a lot of council tax and community charge.
I remember looking through the invoices not paid by the county council when I was deputy chairman of the South Yorkshire residuary body. I discovered that, in the 1980s, there were still outstanding unpaid debts from 1972-74, when the council was set up. The figures were shown in the accounts every year. I frequently wondered whether the money would have been forthcoming if the council had sold those debts. History will never let me know.
The council summons also shows that it let 12 contracts for housing maintenance. One of the organisations that weighed in with a tender was, of course, the Sheffield works department. The value of the works--painting, repairs and heating maintenance--was £9.45 million. A private contractor submitted a lower tender. There is a lovely piece of legalese in the council summons, referring to
What does that say about how Sheffield city council works? It had design fees for a school estimated to be £50,000 on a contract of £275,000, with a Government borrowing approval of £177,000, but the £50,000 went up to £65,000 and the £275,000 went up to £343,143.
Many Opposition Members have made much of Westminster. Coming from Sheffield, I find many differences in Westminster: refuse collection here is done by private contractors; street repairs are done by private contractors; road sweeping is done by private contractors. Sheffield had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to bring such policies in. Road sweeping in Sheffield is still done by the local authority, whatever it wants to call itself, as is refuse collection.
I have listened to what Labour Members have said. If they think that the settlement is inadequate, they should provide some figures--such figures have been non-existent--on how much they would increase funding, and admit to the tax implications of that approach. Councils make decisions that determine the level of council tax. That is shown by the huge variations between bills. On average, band for band, Conservative councils cost nearly 50 per cent. less than Labour councils in 1996-97.
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I have heard nothing from the Opposition about how they think the Government should change their policy. In Sheffield, we carry on in our own sweet way. We have the regional assembly. As I have mentioned to the House before, suddenly, funding was found for that.
The Labour party is trying to reassure everybody about what it will do. The hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) said on BBC news on 6 January this year:
"Government grant to Sheffield has actually gone down in cash terms by £2.8 million and the Council Tax is likely to have to be increased at the capped level by 8.1 per cent."
Since then, he has recast the figure, and it could be lower.
"the quality criteria weightings for capability assessment, systems procedures, Council values/flexibility and user interface upon which the tenders have been evaluated"
and
"the quality points scored by the two lowest tenderers".
It came to pass that those tenderers were the works department and a private contractor. There are no prizes for guessing who was awarded the contract. Just in case it is not clear, the contract went to the works department.
"Councils are making their budgets at the moment and they're entitled to know where they stand. And I've made it quite clear that whatever settlement the Government forces through the House of Commons at the end of this month"--
I presume that that means today--
"will apply for the coming year--and that, of course, includes the capping limits which the Government has set."
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