Clause 4
Sustainable Communities Bill
10:00 am
Phil Woolas (Minister of State (Local Government & Community Cohesion), Department for Communities and Local Government; Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
I am absolutely sure because Iam speaking for the Government with collective agreement. We see such a proposal as facilitating the local area agreement process outlined in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill, which is currently before the House. It is a useful addition to those powers.
I want to outline how we see the local spending reports working and their purpose. The new clause goes further than the Bill’s original wording and is more satisfactory to all concerned. I shall explain why. The local spending report would cover all public expenditure in each local authority area in so far as it is possible to define it. It could cover both current and future spending. The decision about how regularly the report should be produced—whether yearly or three-yearly in line with current spending review periods, or less often—is not defined, but its purpose is to inform decisions. I imagine that producing a report yearly may be the most convenient way forward, even if the decisions about the allocation of the spending are made over a longer period.
A central part of the Government’s policy towards local government financing, for which there is strong support across the councils, as represented by theLocal Government Association, is that multi-year settlements—three-year settlements—are very desirable, bringing predictability of finances and therefore better decision making, and scope for efficiencies. I envisage local spending reports being produced to inform those three-year spending periods. Local area agreements cover three-year periods, with the next round running from 2008 to 2011, but that does not necessarily tie the local spending reports to three years, and it may be that one would want to produce figures annually for each of the agencies and authorities mentioned.