Matt Warman
Main Page: Matt Warman (Conservative - Boston and Skegness)
Greg Clark
It is always a pleasure to come to Bromley, and I hope I will be able to do so again with my hon. Friend in the future. We will make sure that Bromley benefits from around £2 million in transitional grants for each of the next two years. I know from looking at the representations that have been made by London boroughs that that will be a big help in helping them to manage the more difficult first two years of the settlement.
Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)
May I thank the Secretary of State for listening to the vocal representations from across Lincolnshire, including from my neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins)? At those meetings, he heard that it is not just rurality but sparsity of population that is important. Will he confirm that the new, revised settlement takes those conditions into account and tell us what it means for Lincolnshire?
Greg Clark
I will indeed. Lincolnshire is in a particularly ambitious phase of its history, and it is looking to negotiate a substantial devolution deal. As a rural and sparsely populated county, as he said, it faces particular pressures, so the additional funding it will receive is in the order of £5 million during the year ahead, and that will be widely welcomed across the county.