Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Robert Neill and Graham P Jones
Robert Neill
I have in front of me the letter that Capita sent to all local authorities in the country, and it points out that the reforms are deliverable if we can bring forward the regulations and detailed schemes in time. To that end, we have set up an officer-level working group to discuss these matters with officials from the local government sector.
Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)
8. What assessment he has made of the effect of the number of properties in the private rented sector on young people attempting to purchase a home.
Local Government Finance Bill
Debate between Robert Neill and Graham P Jones(12 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Robert Neill
Greater Manchester is protected, because the top-up does not change between the reset periods, save that it is uprated by RPI. So Greater Manchester, as a top-up authority, will be protected from instability. That will be the way with any top-up authority, so Greater Manchester’s situation will not be affected by what happens in its districts, because it is a top-up authority and it has the protection of the RPI uplift until the next reset. That is the answer to that point.
I hope that for those reasons the hon. Member for Derby North will reflect on the fact that his amendment is not the appropriate means of addressing the problem. IRMP does not compare like with like at all, and if we funded to IRMP we might reach the perverse situation in which the locally consulted delivery document drove the funding centrally. That has never been the case; it never was under the hon. Gentleman’s party in government; and it would be illogical. I hope that on reflection he will not press his amendment.
Robert Neill
The hon. Gentleman has not intervened in the debate before, so with respect I will press on to the next point. He has only just come into the Chamber, so I will give way to those hon. Members who have been present and listening to the debate throughout.
On new clause 2, I understand the issue that the hon. Member for Derby North raises, but I hope that he will not press it to a vote, either. I take on board the concerns that he and others have raised about the impact that might occur when there is a major redevelopment and, for a period, a consequential loss of business rates income. None of us would wish to create a perverse disincentive to such major redevelopment. It is fair to say that, if it were to cause a significant loss of income, it would qualify for the safety net, which would be capable of picking things up. I have already said that we will consult on the calculation of the safety net.
I am concerned about the new clause, because it would give 100% indemnity up-front for an early years’ loss of income, so the risk is that it could indemnify delay and inefficiency in such important redevelopment schemes. There is a strong incentive for a local authority itself—alongside the other good reasons that most local authorities have—to get on with things quickly, and for it to press its private sector partners in a redevelopment scheme to do so, if it knows that there is no up-front, 100%, no-questions-asked indemnity.
Local Government Finance Bill
Debate between Robert Neill and Graham P Jones(12 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Robert Neill
The hon. Lady must simply not have been listening to my hon. Friend the Member for Poole (Mr Syms), who made the point perfectly that our proposal is a desirable and a good thing. I know it is difficult for her to get this point, but two things are involved. First, we are giving an incentive back to local authorities. Secondly, we are giving local authorities an additional tool in the box of their financial levers. I would have thought that she would have recognised that from her long experience in local government.
Robert Neill
I will give way once to the hon. Gentleman and then I shall make some progress.
Graham Jones
The Minister talks about business growth, but given the changes in the national planning policy framework does he agree that this measure may be an incentive to develop commercial premises on greenfield sites, more so than in the past, and that it might override planning priorities?
Robert Neill
Absolutely not, and to see that the hon. Gentleman has only to think about two things, the first of which is planning policy. Any planning application has to be in accord with the planning policies that are set out—both in the local plan and in our new national planning policy framework—which give protection against ideas such as he mentions. Secondly, we cannot create a market and demand where there is none, although perhaps he does not get that fact, and so neither of the things he mentions would occur. Our approach enables and incentivises local authorities to work much more closely with their business communities on an ongoing basis.
It is very surprising to hear such a degree of criticism from Labour Members, because they need only look at what is done in most of the United Kingdom’s competitor countries to see that, in general, a closer alignment of local funding mechanisms with local business growth advantages the local economy. That is a basic proposition and they just do not seem to want to take it on board.
Robert Neill
I shall deal with both those points and give a little detail as to why the suggestion that we are rushing is not well-founded. It is worth remembering that the Government consulted widely on this proposal, and let me deal first with the point about business rate retention.
Last year, we set out a detailed consultation document outlining our proposals, and the local government information unit has recognised that we have amended a number of our proposals on tariffs, set-asides and top-ups to reflect those matters. We issued eight highly detailed technical papers, to which we received some 461 substantial responses. The idea that there has not been very full engagement with the local government sector simply does not hold water. Indeed, there have been collaborations and discussions between officials of my Department and the local authority organisations throughout the process. To deal with the design of the systems and the regulations that go with them we have set up an official-level working group, which includes representatives of the Department, the Local Government Association, the Society of District Council Treasurers, the Society of County Treasurers and the other financial bodies—so the point is specifically being worked on. The timetable is challenging, but the ability to return a proportion of the business rates to local government is a really important tool, not only to give local authorities greater resilience in their funding streams, but for ensuring national growth.
Robert Neill
I have given way to the hon. Gentleman once already.
It is also worth remembering, in the context of other points made, that we are sticking to the existing timetable that applies to the local government finance settlement process. I understand the frustrations of my hon. Friends the Members for Bradford East (Mr Ward) and for Portsmouth South (Mr Hancock) about the suffering that everyone in local government has undergone in the past few years, but I do not think that keeping the current flawed floor blocks and formula grant model for another year would benefit anyone. I can certainly assure them that we will work with the local government sector and the professional members and officers as we go forward.
Before the new scheme is introduced in April 2013, local authorities will be consulted on their baseline funding at the end of 2012, and after a debate in this House, where scrutiny will be provided, they will receive their final settlement early in 2013. So there is no change to the current timelines that local authorities have to work on. Of course there is plenty of precedent for developing regulations as the Bill is taken forward, and they, in turn, will be subject to scrutiny in this House. This is an enabling Bill, just as the Local Government Finance Bill was in 1988; we are following the precedent.
Robert Neill
My hon. Friend specifically gave the example of his own council. The point that the hon. Gentleman and many other Opposition Members do not get is that the Bill is not just about dealing with the short-term issues of one-year funding settlements. It is about creating a system that certainly has an element of equalisation in it, because as we all know, all local government finance systems going back many years have always had a degree of equalisation. The hon. Member for Sheffield South East, the Chairman of the Select Committee—
Robert Neill
I will make a little progress before I give way again.
The hon. Member for Sheffield South East took us a little way down memory lane with GREAs and SSAs. There has always been an element of equalisation and that will continue. The rather complicated and highly prescriptive process that is built into the amendments does not improve on what is set out in the Bill. Indeed, it would undermine some of the key objectives of the Bill.
The hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) and her hon. Friends are seeking to place what we regard as an unnecessary requirement on the Secretary of State to undertake multiple and frequent assessments of needs. That undermines the key objective of long-term certainty which provides the incentive and also stability in a local authority’s funding. As it is, the needs and resources elements are taken into account at the setting of the baseline. The baseline is set and then it runs forward. They are taken into account. Some people say, “Go back to a previous year on the baseline”, even though that would involve more out-of-date data and formulae. Many would say that that was not fair.
Localism Bill
Debate between Robert Neill and Graham P Jones(12 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Graham Jones
I thank the Minister for his intervention, but I think that his answer is more smoke and mirrors. I am asking where the judicial framework is, and his answer is that there is none, but there is a legal framework, within which we all operate. If that is the case, why do we have standards in public life? It is because that is a judicial element that governs and reflects the service that we all give—but we encounter problems when people make decisions that are not in the best public interest, but in their own personal or prejudicial interests.
Robert Neill
Is the hon. Gentleman suggesting that every voluntary organisation that receives public funding should be subject to a standards regime? Surely he would accept that although neighbourhood forums, for example, propose the neighbourhood plan, there are other safeguards, in terms of the referendum, consistency with the local authority’s strategic plan and national policy, and a test of soundness, to deal with such matters. A standards regime would be grossly disproportionate in such cases.
Graham Jones
I am grateful to the Minister for trying to clarify that. Many of the organisations to which the Government give money have robust frameworks, but we are talking about a group of individuals who might, in the example of Peel ward, live on an ordinary street near me. They are not subject to the controls, charters, rules or regulations of any organisation. They are outside that, and not part of any judicial framework, so I do not think that he is right. I accept that there is a grey area between who we give money to and how far we should hold them to account in public life. None the less, when someone who lives two streets away from me and is not involved in any organisation can get involved in spending £17,000, might misspend it and cannot be held to account, there is definitely a void. I take the Minister’s point, but I am raising a concern that he has failed to answer.
Robert Neill
Surely the hon. Gentleman accepts that the local authority remains the accountable body, and the normal district audit and other regimes apply to it. I appreciate the sincerity of his point, but I earnestly urge him to think again, because he is missing the point, which is not as grave as he might think.
Graham Jones
I appreciate that, but, having a lot of experience in local government, I think that the Minister is missing the point: there is no judicial framework, so somebody can go out and do something, and if there is a complaint by another member of the public about those actions there is nowhere for it to go, so the complaints that we get now could continue. If that is going to happen in planning policy, we will have some problems, so we need a substantive framework and an opportunity for people to bring into public debate the decisions that the individuals on those bodies make.
Further to that point, I am concerned that there is no robust framework for standards, and again I bring local government experience to that point. A lot of vexatious complaints are politically motivated—[Hon. Members: “Yes!”] I hear the cheers from Government Members; I do not know where such complaints are coming from, but they certainly did not come from the Labour side in my local authority. Regardless of that, those who have worked in local authorities know that many complaints are politically motivated, and they need to be removed. That is a serious and substantive point, and simply having a non-elected chair but an elected committee is not acceptable. When we look around local government, we find that even that has failed. There needs to be an unelected, unaccountable—sorry, accountable—[Interruption.] I hope the record is corrected. There needs to be an accountable but non-elected body, because that, more than anything, will stop a lot of vexatious complaints. The Government would be doing themselves a favour if they introduced such a framework into local government.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Robert Neill and Graham P Jones
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Robert Neill)
I am delighted to work with the hon. Gentleman and to discuss his charter—I should be delighted to join him in a pub, if need be. The Government are determined, through our planning reforms and the Localism Bill, to give communities an opportunity to acquire those assets that genuinely can be viable.
Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)
Conservative-run Lancashire county council has increased day-care charges from £5 to £30 starting from this month. Does the Minister think that the residents and elderly of Lancashire will see a 600% improvement from that Conservative council?