Written question asked by James Gray (Conservative) on Monday, 12 March 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 March 2001. It was answered by Baroness Hughes of Stretford (Labour) on Monday, 19 March 2001 on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Dept of the Environment Transport and the Regions

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, what steps he is taking to ensure that a future grant system will reflect the importance of community consultation to local democracy.

Answer: Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps he is taking to ensure that a future grant system will reflect the importance of community consultation to local democracy. [153848] Ms Beverley Hughes: Last September's local government finance green paper consulted on options for making the current grant distribution system for local authorities fairer. One option was to distribute grant on the basis of consideration of an authority's corporate plan. Clearly, such a plan would reflect community consultation processes. The other option was a grant distribution system based on formulae plus safety valve grant, targeted grant and local public service agreements (PSAs). Under such a system, local PSAs would provide the scope to reflect the priorities of the local community. A White paper will be published later this year setting out our decisions on the way forward. More generally, the green paper noted the welcome trend of consulting local taxpayers about local tax and spending decisions--and the Government are working with the Local Government Association to devise good practice in doing so.

Secondary information