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26 Jan 2009 : Column 118W—continued
| Specific and special Revenue grants | ||||||||||
| £ million | ||||||||||
| North East | North West( 1) | Yorks and Humber | East Midlands | West Midlands | East of England | Lon don | South East | South West | Total England | |
| (1) Includes Merseyside Source: Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn Summary (RS) returns. | ||||||||||
The definition of central Government grant used here is the sum of formula grant (revenue support grant, redistributed business rates and police grant) and Greater London Authority (GLA) grant. In past years, where applicable the SSA reduction grant and Central Support Protection Grants have also been included.
The definition of specific and special grants used here is Specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF), i.e. revenue grants paid for council's core services.
Figures exclude grants outside AEF (i.e. where funding is not for authorities' core services, but is passed to a third party, for example, rent allowances and rebates), capital grants, funding for the local authorities' housing management responsibilities and those grant programmes (such as European funding) where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
Comparison across years may not be valid owing to changing local authority responsibilities.
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment she has made of the effects of the economic downturn on the income of local authorities; and if she will review the level of revenue support grant paid to local authorities. [250916]
John Healey: The effects of the economic downturn on the income of local authorities was an issue identified in a recent report by the Audit Commission entitled ‘Crunch Time’, which looked at the impact of recent economic changes on local authorities' finances. The report found that councils are generally prepared for the impact of the economic downturn.
Following consultation with local authorities on the provisional local government finance settlement 2009-10, I confirmed our plans for the funding of local authority revenue spending through Formula Grant on 21 January which is now subject to parliamentary approval. Overall Government grant to local authorities will next year be £73.1 billion which provides an increase of 4.2 per cent. on a like for like basis. This is the second year of a three year settlement which provides councils with an additional £8.9 billion up to 2010-11 and gives them the certainty and flexibility they need to plan ahead and manage their budgets. We also expect authorities to deliver £4.9 billion net cash-releasing savings over that period, which can be used to improve services and control council tax pressures.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make it her policy to bring forward payments to local authorities in order to mitigate the amount of interest forgone by local authorities in meeting targets for payment of supplier invoices within 10 days. [251131]
John Healey: Local authorities are responsible for their own payment arrangements and in the present economic downturn many are taking steps to ensure invoices are settled promptly. In putting in place the first-ever three-year settlement last year, we gave councils an extra £8.9 billion and the certainty and flexibility they need to plan ahead and manage their budgets.
Non-Domestic Rates: Business
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidelines are used to determine business rates for companies placed into administration. [251106]
John Healey:
The determination of rates liability on a property occupied by a business does not alter if the
company is in administration. However, if the company owns an empty property it would not be liable for empty rates on that property whilst in administration.
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre
Mr. Maude:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what bookings
the QE2 Conference Centre has arranged at commercial rates for Whitehall-based government departments and agencies since February 2008. [250349]
Mr. Khan: The information is as follows:
| Booking | Department/agency | |
|
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