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Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the (a) financial allocation and (b) out-turn expenditure of each of the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder areas in England was in 200405. [732]
Yvette Cooper: The details of the financial allocation and actual out-turn for Market Renewal Pathfinders for 200405 are set out in the following table:
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what safeguards his Department (a) recommends to and (b) imposes upon local authorities to ensure probity and transparency when publicly-owned assets are sold. [1345]
Mr. Woolas: Asset management guidance for local authorities is non-statutory and sets out in broad terms features of good management of assets. It does not cover issues of probity and transparency as authorities have an obligation to ensure that financial transactions comply with the law. Ultimately questions of probity in financial transactions are a matter for the District Auditor.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the (a) specific grants and ringfenced funding streams, (b) special grants and (c) non-ringfenced grants which the Government (i) allocated to local authorities in 200405 and (ii) expects to allocate in 200506. [1114]
Mr. Woolas:
The following table lists all grants allocated to local authorities in England in 200405 and grants allocated so far in 200506 within Aggregate External Finance (AEF) in addition to Revenue Support Grant and National Non-Domestic Rates. There are other grants outside AEF but these are not provided for an authority's core services and relate, in the main, to areas of funding which are passed on by local authorities, such as Learning and Skills Council grants for adult education and sixth forms.
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Mrs. Spelman:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average change in total Government grant per capita for (a) district councils, (b) county councils, (c) metropolitan councils, (d) unitary councils,
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(e) London boroughs, (f) fire authorities and (g) police authorities was in England in each year since 1997. [1118]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested is shown in the table.
The data used to calculate the changes are taken from data as reported by local authorities; they are outturn figures for 199899 to 200304 and budget estimates for 200405.
Changes between years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities. For example, the decrease for fire authorities between 200304 and 200405 is due partly to the lower levels of grant per capita received by combined fire authorities compared with other fire authorities. Before 200405 grants were not paid directly to combined fire authorities and so these were not included in the figures for earlier years.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to increase the level of local taxation. [1123]
Mr. Woolas: The level of the council tax in the coming financial years will depend on local authorities' spending decisions. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will work to ensure that improved local services are deliverable within the spending plans for local government. The Government will not hesitate to use the capping powers to deal with excessive increases.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is committed to supporting local authorities in delivering improvements in key public services without unacceptable council tax rises. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will continue to work closely with local government to ensure that levels of central grant are based on a realistic assessment of service commitments pressures faced by local government. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is looking to local authorities to deliver further efficiency savings, and will introduce three-year settlements to provide greater predictability for local authorities.
In the longer term, the Lyons Inquiry is looking to reform the system of local government finance to make it fairer and more sustainable.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans the Government have to introduce unitary local government in England. [362]
Mr. Woolas: At present there are no plans to reorganise local government in Englandthe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is however aware that there is some interest in unitary local government and will listen carefully to the debate.
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