Asked by: Lord Wakeham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the estimated financial contribution of central government to local government (1) for the year ending 5 April 2016, and (2) for each of the years to 5 April 2020, in the light of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The local government departmental expenditure limit (LG DEL) is £11.5bn in 2015/16 with the Spending Review announcing that it will reduce to £5.4bn by 2019/20. With forecast increases to other sources of local government income, overall local government spending will be higher in cash terms by 2019/20 than in 2015/16, an estimated rise from £40.3bn to £40.5bn.
The total financial contribution made to local authorities by central government will be dependent on the grants made available by individual government departments. As departments will not yet have determined how much funding will be made available as grant across all years, it is not possible to provide a definitive end of parliament total.