Local Government Finance
Debate between George Howarth and James Gray(11 years, 2 months ago)
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Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)
It is Sefton Central. My right hon. Friend used to represent part of Sefton Central when his constituency was Knowsley North and Sefton East.
Sefton council faces a total cut of £116 million for the period 2011 to 2014, and like Knowsley council it has no choice other than to cut services, including the library service in Aintree village, which is relied upon by many elderly and vulnerable people. The Government said that councils should resolve these problems by use of reserves. I am sure that my right hon. Friend will agree that that is an incredibly short-sighted approach, as those reserves can only be used on one occasion and once they are gone they are gone.
Mr Howarth
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Sefton Central for making that point. I have a very great affection for Aintree library, because when it was in my constituency I used to hold surgeries there.
My hon. Friend is right. If he looks at the NAO report, “Financial sustainability of local authorities”, which was produced in January, he will see that the NAO points out that although 93 local authorities
“used reserves in 2011-12, the remaining 260 either made no changes to their reserves or added to them.”
There is an argument about the use of reserves, which the Government have made, but the NAO report goes on:
“There is evidence that local authorities are reducing services, for example in adult social care and libraries”.
Certainly in the Liverpool city region, in terms of reserves there is really nothing left other than what prudentially is needed.