Local Authorities: Icelandic Banks

Mr. Tom Harris
16. To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment she has made of the effect on local authorities of the collapse of Icelandic banks.

John Healey
This money is not lost, but at risk. I have made regulations to enable English authorities to postpone any possible budgetary impact of the capital loss until 2010-11 and to protect the public from potential service cuts or council tax increases this year.

CLG has published a statistical release on local authority Icelandic Bank Investments as at 31 December 2008. This includes a full list of English local authorities affected. Revised figures were published on 6 April 2009 and are available at:

http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/stats/iceland.htm