No estimate of the effect of cancellation of property developments on revenue from non-domestic business rates has been made.
The commitment to offer free personal care at home to those with highest needs is expected to cost up to £670 million per full year. The Government, through the Department of Health, will provide the bulk of this funding (£420 million per full year). It is right that councils play their part, and the remainder of the funding will come from efficiencies in local government. However, it is not for central Government to micro-manage the budgets of local authorities. They are best placed to make decisions on how to fund this important commitment. It is for this reason that the additional funding being provided by central Government will be distributed on a non-ringfenced basis. The Department of Health is consulting separately on the formulae that will be used for distributing the grant to councils.
The Government are investing an unprecedented £450 million in supporting local government to deliver transformation, improvement and efficiency in the three years to 2010-11. With this support, local government has shown the capacity to generate significant levels of efficiency. Since 2004-05, local government has delivered £4.5 billion in efficiency savings. Last year alone, as part of the Government's efficiency drive, local authorities reported a £1.7 billion saving on their £5.5 billion target between 2008-09 and 2010-11. Work is already under way through Total Place and Smarter Government to identify new ways of maintaining high quality local services in a time of public expenditure constraint. And at a time when prices are falling everywhere, local government will be given a 4 per cent. increase in total government grant next year.