FINANCE SETTLEMENT FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES

That this House notes the concern that this year's funding cuts have already had a disproportionately negative impact on more deprived communities and that the forthcoming Local Government Finance Settlement could follow that same pattern; further notes that the abolition of the Working Neighbourhood Fund will hit deprived areas particularly hard and those very same authorities' greater reliance on central Government grants increases their vulnerability to funding cuts if the focus remains on that single source; further notes that the top slicing of the Formula Grant to fund the Government's Council Tax Freeze will move resources away from more deprived areas with relatively low tax bases and less income generating capacity than the more affluent; considers that the achievement of a fair settlement needs to move away from the focus of reductions on formula grant and that mitigations need to be put in place to ensure that all authorities see a comparable reduction in total resources, not just formula grant; and calls on the Government to deliver the promise of the Comprehensive Spending Review to `limit as far as possible the impact of reductions on the most vulnerable in society and on those regions dependent on the public sector'.