Clause 17 - External funds
Local Government Bill
2:45 pm
Mr Christopher Leslie (Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office; Shipley, Labour)
I can. The provision concerns the prudential borrowing regime that we are seeking to establish. In ensuring that a local authority is able to make its own assessment of how affordable its borrowing commitments are, we are saying that external funds and pension funds should not be classed as part of that, even though in their normal course of activities they would involve capital transactions. The clause concerns the normal affordability of capital and borrowing for a local authority. That is why the existing arrangements will continue in clause 17. The existing system works well and we want that to continue, so it is necessary for us to make that clear in the Bill.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 17 ordered to stand part of the Bill.