Kramer quizzes Denham on Local Government Finance

12.24.00pm GMT Sat 6th Feb 2010

• [Feb 03] Susan Kramer (Richmond Park, Liberal Democrat): THE Minister is vaunting the significant amounts of additional money that his Government have made available, but is he aware that some councils are outliers, whose increases in cash per head can be counted in pennies? Richmond is a good example, with an increase of 87p per head. Many councils, like Richmond or Kingston, have had to go deep into their pockets to fund primary school places because Government help has been so limited. The number of children affected is very significant.

John Denham (Southampton, Itchen, Labour): I do not agree that Government help has been limited. It is possible that when my hon. Friend the Minister winds up, she will be able set out how much Richmond has received over the years. However, I acknowledge that there is an underlying point, and that it is an inescapable part of the settlement. Almost inevitably, the funding formula that we have will reveal that some authorities are further from the formula target than others. Each year, the grant settlement is designed to make progress towards that target, but we must have a floor system that regulates the rate of change that takes place each year. Some authorities are affected by that, but it is very difficult to design a system that does not have some element of that sort.

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