Local Government Finance

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:36 pm on 22 November 2000.

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Photo of Angus MacKay Angus MacKay Labour 2:36, 22 November 2000

The Executive is committed to working in partnership with local government, to renewing local democracy and to improving services to the people of Scotland. This morning, I announced the Executive's plans to give councils a power of community initiative and to support community planning. During this afternoon's debate, I will describe the most radical reform of the local government finance system for 20 years.

The spending review announcement in September provided for a further £1.2 billion increase in support to local government in the next three years. That will support record levels of spending on key services and will offer the potential for sustained improvements across the full range of local authority responsibilities.

Devolution has given us the opportunity to reconsider how we fund local government and to consider new ways of supporting and working with local authorities to deliver people's priorities for modern and effective local services. I am pleased to reaffirm that we have agreed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities a historic renewal of the system of local financial partnership between central and local government. We will put in place a modern framework for supporting local government, and we will move away from the annual arguments about funding. Instead, we will focus on how local authorities can plan better the way in which they use their resources.

The spending review process allows us to consider our spending priorities and how best to deliver our policy commitments over a full three-year period. Local government should have the same certainty in planning its expenditure. Next month, we will announce the first ever firm revenue and capital grant allocations for each local authority, for the next three years. We will have the flexibility to increase allocations when new burdens or policy commitments arise.