Parliamentary Search

Legislative debate on Wednesday, 3 February 2010, in the House of Commons, led by John Denham. The answering member was Justine Greening.

Local Government Finance

Debate on a motion to approve the Local Government Finance Report (England) 2010-11 (HC 280), together with the draft Council Tax Limitation (Maximum Amounts) (England) Order 2010, which was laid before this House on 20 January). Agreed to on question.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
505 c367-409 
Session
2009-10
Department
Department for Communities and Local Government
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Julia Goldsworthy | 505 c397 (Link to this contribution) I think that my hon. Friend's point was that the situation is a bit similar to that of the council t...
Neil Turner | 505 c399 (Link to this contribution) I look at the figures for Mole Valley and I see that it will receive 30 per cent. more than the form...
Show all contributions (135)
Paul Beresford | 505 c399-400 (Link to this contribution) It might help the hon. Gentleman if he took half a day to come with me to some of the Mole Valley vi...
Neil Turner | 505 c397 (Link to this contribution) That is not my understanding of what the hon. Member for Richmond Park said—I will read Hansard. I b...
Paul Beresford | 505 c397-9 (Link to this contribution) One of the delightful things about this debate was that the Secretary of State launched it, which is...
John Howell | 505 c401-4 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes some powerful points with which I agree. The Local Government Association h...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c404 (Link to this contribution) Many of us have confessed our local government experience, and I probably have more to confess in th...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c401 (Link to this contribution) Does it not have a tremendously debilitating effect on both the quality of candidates and on voting,...
Paul Beresford | 505 c404 (Link to this contribution) Speaking as someone from Croydon or for central London, I believe that the removal of the business r...
Julia Goldsworthy | 505 c389-92 (Link to this contribution) As I was saying, one of the weaknesses in the current system is the fact that 75 per cent. of what l...
Neil Turner | 505 c392-3 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the settlement. It is an extremely good settlement for local government and builds on more...
Adrian Bailey | 505 c393 (Link to this contribution) I was chair of finance at Sandwell metropolitan council during those years. I reiterate my hon. Frie...
Neil Turner | 505 c393 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend replicates my account of my own experience, which is shared by many people who were c...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c393-4 (Link to this contribution) Would not local authorities be even more effective at economic development if we returned to them wh...
Neil Turner | 505 c394 (Link to this contribution) The proposal to return business rates to local government has a lot of merit, but it should not be c...
Justine Greening | 505 c394 (Link to this contribution) Our concern is that the Government have abandoned the process. There is no comprehensive review and,...
Neil Turner | 505 c394 (Link to this contribution) The Government have not abandoned that process. Clearly, we have a problem with the comprehensive sp...
Speaker | 505 c394 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I just gently say to the hon. Gentleman, as I said to the hon. Member for Croydon, Centra...
Neil Turner | 505 c394-7 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Perish the thought that I would ever do anything to earn your wrath and ire....
Andrew Pelling | 505 c407 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely interested to hear that similar projects are being pursued elsewhere in London. It ha...
Bob Spink | 505 c407 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman may be surprised to learn that the same problem occurred in Castle Point a few ye...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c407-8 (Link to this contribution) A worrying trend is being revealed in this debate. It is incumbent on local authorities to be concer...
Barbara Follett | 505 c408-9 (Link to this contribution) We have had a most interesting debate that has, at times, ranged far more widely than the 2010-11 lo...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c404-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has demonstrated his long-standing experience of local government, along with a r...
Andy Slaughter | 505 c406 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has identified an interesting trend. The proudest boast of the leader of Hammersm...
Lord Whitehead | 505 c384 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend reflect on the consequences for balancing of having a freeze on council tax? Wha...
Phyllis Starkey | 505 c384 (Link to this contribution) As I am the Chair of a Select Committee and not a Minister, I can say what I feel on this matter. If...
David Heath | 505 c383-4 (Link to this contribution) I share the hon. Lady's experience of being a council leader under the Conservatives, so I can certa...
Phyllis Starkey | 505 c383 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady should look at the data she cites. The Welsh Assembly—it believe it was my party, but ...
Julia Goldsworthy | 505 c385 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the opportunity to discuss the settlement. When I saw that the Secretary of State in his p...
Phyllis Starkey | 505 c385 (Link to this contribution) Far be it from me to complain about your spoiling my fun, Mr. Speaker. I shall save the remainder of...
Speaker | 505 c385 (Link to this contribution) Order. In the short time for which I have been in the Chair, the hon. Lady has expressed herself wit...
Phyllis Starkey | 505 c384-5 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. My hon. Friend is a great expert on local government finance and I entirely agree with h...
Justine Greening | 505 c383 (Link to this contribution) We have already had a revaluation in Wales, which did raise more council tax, so the hon. Lady shoul...
Phyllis Starkey | 505 c382-3 (Link to this contribution) I want to make a few observations and I will try to be brief because I know that many hon. Friends w...
Lord Whitehead | 505 c388 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Lady on her relatively numerate presentation, in comparison with what was sa...
Julia Goldsworthy | 505 c388 (Link to this contribution) I will come to that, but the point I am trying to make is that this situation is urgent. Council tax...
David Heath | 505 c388 (Link to this contribution) I am very worried about one of the two district councils in my constituency, Mendip district council...
Julia Goldsworthy | 505 c388 (Link to this contribution) I shall be coming to that point later, but basically the Conservative proposals would have the effec...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c389 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady was quite right to underline how she is talking about the urgency of reform. She menti...
Julia Goldsworthy | 505 c388 (Link to this contribution) That prompts a question about the motivation of such individuals in wanting to control a council. Is...
Speaker | 505 c389 (Link to this contribution) Order. As this is the third time, may I remind the hon. Gentleman that the debate goes through the C...
David Heath | 505 c385 (Link to this contribution) We would have been very pleased to have had that stability in Somerset, were it not for the incoming...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c388 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady talks about uncertainty. If the Liberal Democrats had leverage over an incoming Govern...
Speaker | 505 c372 (Link to this contribution) Order. Perhaps the Secretary of State could now concentrate on the proposals that the Government are...
John Denham | 505 c372-3 (Link to this contribution) You have been characteristically generous, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I shall make progress. We are ...
Paddy Tipping | 505 c372 (Link to this contribution) What advice would the Secretary of State give to Tory-run Nottinghamshire county council, which is d...
John Denham | 505 c372 (Link to this contribution) I would say to that county council that there is clearly no source of money to pay for the promises,...
Paddy Tipping | 505 c372 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
John Denham | 505 c372 (Link to this contribution) I shall, but then I must make some progress, because I know that a number of hon. Members wish to sp...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c372 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is clearly hitting the target as regards the Conservative party's rather soft...
John Denham | 505 c372 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman might have welcomed the extra £20 million in all grants that his local authority ...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c372 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
John Denham | 505 c372 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman, because he has been asking for some time.
John Denham | 505 c371-2 (Link to this contribution) No, because I am just going to make the point—[Interruption.] The hon. Lady had the opportunity to a...
John Denham | 505 c371 (Link to this contribution) We have no plans or preparations for a revaluation of council tax.
Justine Greening | 505 c371 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
John Denham | 505 c370-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend may be aware that her local authority has received an extra £18 million this year. Sh...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c371 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
John Denham | 505 c371 (Link to this contribution) In a moment. The Opposition's council tax plans are, as The Observer said on Sunday, "mired in conf...
Justine Greening | 505 c371 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is doing a great job of setting out to the public the fact that we will hel...
Phyllis Starkey | 505 c369 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend talks about floors and ceilings. Does he agree that, although councils, including my ...
John Denham | 505 c369 (Link to this contribution) The increase in Bolton is something like £13 million in the coming year. That is a significant amoun...
John Denham | 505 c369 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree that Government help has been limited. It is possible that when my hon. Friend the Mi...
Brian Iddon | 505 c369 (Link to this contribution) I realise that we are moving towards target according to formula funding, but is it right that my au...
John Denham | 505 c369 (Link to this contribution) I shall take a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes, South-West (Dr. Starkey). ...
John Denham | 505 c368 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend raises an important point. We had occasion, before Christmas, to raise concerns with ...
Baroness Kramer | 505 c369 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is vaunting the significant amounts of additional money that his Government have made a...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 505 c368 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend mentions that councils are free to spend their money with fewer strings attache...
John Denham | 505 c367 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That the Local Government Finance Report (England) 2010-11 (HC 280), which was laid b...
Speaker | 505 c367 (Link to this contribution) With this we shall discuss the following motion, on council tax:"That the draft Council Tax Limitati...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c379 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady give way at that point?
Justine Greening | 505 c379 (Link to this contribution) Councils are under so much pressure that they are being pressed to go out to their local communities...
Justine Greening | 505 c379 (Link to this contribution) That is one of the reasons we would urge Ministers to match our council tax freeze, instead of sayin...
Justine Greening | 505 c379 (Link to this contribution) So our policy is absolutely funded.
Justine Greening | 505 c378-9 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady has completely misunderstood the funding for the council tax freeze. She has eve...
Hazel Blears | 505 c378 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady's party has said that it would fund the council tax freeze partly by abolishing unelec...
Justine Greening | 505 c378 (Link to this contribution) We have said that it will be up to local authorities and local regions to decide whether their regio...
Brian Iddon | 505 c378 (Link to this contribution) In Bolton, the regional development agency has been very helpful to local companies. This evening, M...
Justine Greening | 505 c378 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State fails to recognise that the decrease for those companies is funded by increas...
Justine Greening | 505 c378 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to respond to the Minister. We have some real concerns about business rates and we are w...
John Denham | 505 c378 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Lady be clear that she is suggesting, as she did in questions last week, that the reval...
Justine Greening | 505 c377 (Link to this contribution) No, I really must make some progress—
Lord Whitehead | 505 c377 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady give way to me?
Justine Greening | 505 c377 (Link to this contribution) I guess that we would all love to know whether the Liberal Democrats would go ahead with their local...
Julia Goldsworthy | 505 c377 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is doing a good job of highlighting the problems with the council tax, which since its...
Justine Greening | 505 c377 (Link to this contribution) No, I wish to make some progress. That revaluation comes on top of the business rate rises that have...
Speaker | 505 c378 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Lady has clearly decided that at present she will not give way to anyone.
Justine Greening | 505 c377 (Link to this contribution) The Housing Minister has left the Chamber, but I propose that the hon. Lady talks to him. Only last ...
Justine Greening | 505 c375-6 (Link to this contribution) People reading Hansard tomorrow will see from that response that there is no ruling out of a revalua...
John Denham | 505 c375 (Link to this contribution) I repeat to the hon. Lady what I said earlier. We have no plans, and we have made no preparations, f...
Justine Greening | 505 c375 (Link to this contribution) I will not, actually. I have not even quite finished dealing with the intervention by the right hon....
Speaker | 505 c376 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I please bring the House back to order? We are discussing the Government's proposals.
Justine Greening | 505 c376 (Link to this contribution) We have always said that it would start in the first full financial year after the election.
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 505 c376 (Link to this contribution) I would be grateful if the hon. Lady helped me. She said that the data on the council tax freeze hav...
Justine Greening | 505 c376 (Link to this contribution) No, I am not going to give way—not today, thank you. What we need is a new approach to local govern...
Justine Greening | 505 c376 (Link to this contribution) That is very helpful, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is interesting that Government Back Benchers are pres...
Karen Buck | 505 c373 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend join me in encouraging the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminste...
John Denham | 505 c373-4 (Link to this contribution) Having set out the challenge to local government, whereby we need to ensure that every taxpayer's po...
Speaker | 505 c373 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are certainly not straying into the subject of Regional Select Committees.
Justine Greening | 505 c374-5 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Secretary of State for outlining the Government's proposals on local government finance....
Speaker | 505 c374 (Link to this contribution) I now have to announce the results of Divisions deferred from a previous day. On the motion relating...
Justine Greening | 505 c375 (Link to this contribution) We have already published all those data. I am sure that it is wonderful for Ministers to try to pic...
Hazel Blears | 505 c375 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has started her contribution with a lot of talk about certainty. I am sure that she wo...
Speaker | 505 c381 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I remind hon. Members that we are now discussing local government finance? That is the ma...
Justine Greening | 505 c381 (Link to this contribution) Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was making the point that part of the funding settlemen...
David Chaytor | 505 c381-2 (Link to this contribution) In view of the hon. Lady's comments about transparency and accountability, can she give an absolute ...
Justine Greening | 505 c382 (Link to this contribution) We are very supportive of moves to ensure that transparency is developed and improved in councils. W...
Andy Slaughter | 505 c379 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The hon. Member for Croydon, Central (Mr. Pelling) was on...
Speaker | 505 c379 (Link to this contribution) Order. That is not a point of order for the Chair, and the hon. Member for Croydon, Central (Mr. Pel...
Justine Greening | 505 c379 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. That is of concern to many London councils, which face a shortfall...
Justine Greening | 505 c380 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises some interesting points. The first was about council tax and the pressures...
Justine Greening | 505 c379 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Member for Croydon, Central (Mr. Pelling) wants to intervene, I will be delighted to giv...
Andrew Pelling | 505 c379-80 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Lady simply could not see or hear me—that is why I came across to the Labour...
Justine Greening | 505 c381 (Link to this contribution) No, I am going to make some more progress. I am conscious of the time and the fact that other Member...
Justine Greening | 505 c380-1 (Link to this contribution) I have just said what we would hope to do on council tax. We want to give local communities the abil...
Adrian Bailey | 505 c380 (Link to this contribution) I have listened with interest to the hon. Lady's arguments. In the absence of ring-fencing, could sh...
John Howell | 505 c400 (Link to this contribution) I spoke in a similar debate a year ago when we discussed the previous financial settlement. I strugg...
Andy Slaughter | 505 c381 (Link to this contribution) It is wonderful to hear an Opposition Front-Bench spokesperson, however sincerely or not, talking ab...
John Denham | 505 c367-8 (Link to this contribution) Before I come to the main body of my remarks, may I say that it was and is the intention that the Un...
Mark Field | 505 c373 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State will realise that for many local authorities one of the biggest clouds on the...
Julia Goldsworthy | 505 c386-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right: that is an odd paradox. One would have thought that any incoming council wo...
John Denham | 505 c371 (Link to this contribution) Oh, the database! A standard, routine contract is put out to tender every few years to update the va...
Karen Buck | 505 c376-7 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady share my concern that while she is focusing on council tax—I agree that nobody wa...
John Denham | 505 c373 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a perfectly fair point. Usually in this annual debate, the concern is that ...
Subjects
Council tax Local government finance Local government services Revenue support grant Formula grant
Legislation
Council Tax Limitation (Maximum Amounts) (England) Order 2010
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk