Originally published @ 12:19 pm, Wed 16th Jun 2010
David Cameron, running for election was clear. He’d make extra efficiency savings of £6,000 million this year. Front-line services would not be affected.
Well, he is not keeping to those commitments. Reductions in finance to local government announced on Thursday and Friday are significant and not targeted at inefficiencies.
They are targeted against the poor. Instead they target the are based grants that were provided to help those areas that needed most help.
In the case of Nottingham City, this means a reduction of £10 million.
We now know that this is a feature of mainstream Conservative thinking. Their local government minister said on the day the reductions were announced “Those in greatest need ultimately bear the burden of paying off the debt which this country has been left"
Other details of cuts are coming through and the Nottinghamshire Police have to carry £2m of reductions and the NHS in Nottingham will carry many millions.
With the announcements of revised figures we know these reductions were not necessary. The projected borrowing for this year is £10,000 million less than the Labour Government had projected for this year and £8,000 million for the next year.
Cameron has grasped at the reduction in projections for growth next year. Surely re-iterating the significance of what Labour was saying – secure the economic growth and then pay off the debt.
It was thought that the Liberal Democrats understood this. But their enthusiasm for the reductions exceeds anything that might have been expected for the sake of a coalition and is more reflective of their “Orange Book”.
So not necessary, targeted against the poor, not required following the publication of revised figures and I’m advised the manner of the announcements has been chaotic.
Nottingham had a full council meeting on Monday and took an emergency report publishing what is known so far (see copy below).
In summary, the following reductions have been applied to Nottingham City Council:
Grant
Reduction £m
Department for Education - ABG
2.778
Supporting People Admin - ABG
0.218
Working Neighbourhoods Fund
1.217
Prevent - ABG
0.066
Cohesion - ABG
0.018
Road Safety revenue - ABG
0.185
Home Office total - ABG
0.054
Total ABG
4.535
Transport specific schemes
2.720
LAA Reward Grant
2.619
TOTAL REDUCTION
9.874
We’ve also lost on the money allocated to fix pot-holes.
NOTTINGHAM CITY COUNCIL – 14 JUNE 2010
REPORT OF THE DEPUTY LEADER/PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR RESOURCES, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND REPUTATION
GRANT REDUCTIONS - In year savings imposed on local authorities
1 SUMMARY
1.1 Details of the in-year cuts in specific grants that are required by the overall cut of £6.2bn in public spending were released on 10 June. An analysis by local authority has been received and this forms the basis of the information provided in this report.
1.2 In summary, the following reductions have been applied to the City Council:
Grant Reduction £m
Department for Education - ABG 2.778
Supporting People Admin - ABG 0.218
Working Neighbourhoods Fund 1.217
Prevent - ABG 0.066
Cohesion - ABG 0.018
Road Safety revenue - ABG 0.185
Home Office total - ABG 0.054
Total ABG 4.535
Transport specific schemes 2.720
LAA Reward Grant 2.619
TOTAL REDUCTION 9.874
1.3 This requirement represents a cut of 24% in the Department for Education funding, 29% of Preventing Extremism, 27% of Road Safety and the whole of the Supporting People Admin grant. The reduction in LAA Reward Grant represents the withholding of the second half of the payment due to the Council and will have a significant impact on the Council’s partners.
1.4 In addition, an analysis of the information made available indicates that, of the £878m revenue grant reductions to be applied nationally, only 51% has been identified to individual councils. For capital, this figure is 74%.
1.5 Other reductions not yet notified relate to major transport projects. In this case, the Department for Transport has stated that it intends to discuss the deferral of selected major schemes on a bilateral basis with individual local authorities. As no final decisions have been made on which projects will be deferred and by how much, no details have yet been announced.
2 RECOMMENDATIONS
It is RECOMMENDED that:
(1)Comments: TABLES NEED RE INSTATING
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