Local Government Finance Mrs. Lait To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the revenue grant to local authorities was, excluding education funding, in each year since 1997-98. John Healey Formula grant, which comprises Revenue Support Grant, redistributed business rates, principal formula Police Grant, SSA Reduction Grant (SSA Review), SSA Reduction Grant (Police Funding Review) and Central Support Protection Grant, where appropriate, is an unhypothecated block grant i.e. authorities are free to spend it on any service. This, together with the method of calculating the distribution to authorities, particularly floor damping, means that it is not possible to say how much grant has been provided for any particular service such as education. The following table shows the amount of formula grant provided to all local authorities since 1997-98. Prior to 2006-07, the services covered by formula grant included schools; from 2006-07 onwards support for schools has been funded through the Dedicated Schools Grant. The table therefore also shows the total amount of Dedicated Schools Grant provided to authorities in 2006-07 and 2007-08. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Current year's Formula Grant)|Dedicated Schools Grant|Total | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1998-99 |35,436.867 |— |35,436.867| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1999-2000|37,110.829 |— |37,110.829| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2000-01 |38,516.380 |— |38,516.380| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2001-02 |40,024.446 |— |40,024.446| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002-03 |40,323.132 |— |40,323.132| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003-04 |43,894.370 |— |43,894.370| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004-05 |46,124.222 |— |46,124.222| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005-06 |49,015.925 |— |49,015.925| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2006-07 |24,813.914 |26,573.838 |51,387.752| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2007-08 |25,633.008 |28,031.350 |53,664.358| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note that it is not possible to compare these data directly due to transfers in funding and function. Mrs. Lait To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding is being provided to each participating budget pilot area; and what the source of this funding is. John Healey According to data from the local authorities concerned, the funding which has been available for allocation under participatory budgeting in pilot areas, and its source, is set out as follows. This funding covers more than one financial year: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Area |Funding source |Amount (£) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Bradford |Neighbourhood Renewal Fund |779,531 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Safer and Stronger Communities Fund |309,967 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Newcastle |Neighbourhood Renewal Fund |260,507 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Sunderland|New Deal for Communities in East End and Hendon |130,000 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |New Deal for Communities (including re-profiled funds) |23,000,000 (of which 2,350,000 was re-profiled.)| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |East Area Committee, Local Authority Funding |20,000 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Salford |Local Authority Transport capital programme, “other minor works” funding devolved to Claremont and Weaste Community Committee|100,000 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Manton |Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder |50,000 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Lewisham |Neighbourhood Renewal Fund |37,500 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Local Authority core funds (spending priorities for these funds to be decided in September) |7,500 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The funding to be available for allocation in the remaining four areas is being agreed. Mrs. Lait To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether councils taking part in the participatory budget pilots are receiving additional funding from central Government. John Healey No. However the Department sponsors the Participatory Budgeting Unit, a Third Sector project managed by the Church Action on Poverty, which is involved in the pilots. A grant of £210,000 over three years from 2004 to 2007; and an additional £30,000 for this current year until March 2008, have been awarded by the Department for funding the Unit's core costs. Mrs. Lait To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many of the pilots taking part in the participatory budget pilots were already engaged in participatory budgets prior to the recent announcement by her Department. John Healey Five of the participatory budgeting areas identified by the Secretary of State earlier this month were already engaged in the pilot process.