Local Government Finance Paul Rowen 15. To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will enable local authorities to finance expenditure from their projected future efficiency savings. Ms Rosie Winterton Local authorities can already finance expenditure from projected future efficiency savings provided they are satisfied the expenditure falls within the terms of the Prudential system. This allows local authorities to borrow for any capital expenditure without Government consent, provided that they can afford the borrowing costs. Mr. Stewart Jackson To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much and what proportion of the funding allocated to his Department was allocated to local authorities in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. Mr. Malik The following tables give the amounts and proportions of my Department’s funding to local authorities in 2008-09 and 2009-10. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |All figures (£ million) | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Financial years |Communities and local government DEL|Of which: funding to local authorities|Proportion of funding to local authorities (percentage)| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2008-09 |11,412 |5,339|47| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2009-10 |12,895 |5,726|44| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Note:Figures exclude administration costs| ||| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |All figures (£ million)| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Financial years |Local government DEL |Of which: funding to local authorities|Proportion of funding to local authorities (percentage)| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2008-09 |24,913 |24,568|99| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2009-10 |25,737 |25,506|99| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Note:Proportion of funding allocated to local authorities in 2008-09 are outturn figures for both main and local government departmental expenditure limits.| ||| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------