Issue - meetings

Specific Grants

Meeting: 16/03/2011 - Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Item 131)

131 Specific Grants pdf icon PDF 93 KB

Minutes:

The Director of Finance presented a report which compared the Specific Grants received in 2010/2011 with those now announced by the Government for 2011/2012. It identified the movement in the grants between the two years and the implications arising from those grants that had ceased or been reduced. He commented that Government financial support to local authorities in the form of grant assistance essentially comprised general grants and specific grants. The main general grant was the Formula Grant, announced in the Local Government Finance Settlement, which was available to support all Council services. Specific grants had reduced in number in recent years and were issued to support specific services or projects by a range of Government Departments. The main grants were the Dedicated Schools Grant and the Housing and Council Tax Benefit Grant.

 

The Director commented that the general assumption was that as the grant was provided for a service or project, then the ending of the grant would result in that service or project ceasing. Chief Officers had considered the implications of the grants ceasing/reducing as part of the preparation of the budget. The Director set out the latest position on reductions and ceased grants, the main areas being Social Care Reform/Stroke Strategy, Early Intervention, Housing Market Renewal (HMR) and Waste Infrastructure.

 

In response to a question from a Member as to which areas of Wirral would not now receive HMR funding, the Director indicated that the Interim Director of Corporate Services was confident that all statutory responsibilities would be met. The Cabinet had approved a bid of £600,000 to facilitate the continuation of services but the programme would be considerably reduced.

 

It was moved by Councillor P Davies and seconded by Councillor A Jones –

 

“That this Committee deplores the cuts in Wirral’s specific grants, amounting to a reduction of £10.1m. The cuts to these grants will impact on the quality of services to some of the most vulnerable members of the community.

 

Committee asks the Cabinet to produce a detailed report on the impact of the reductions in these grants and what action they intend to take to mitigate the effects”.

 

It was moved as an amendment by Councillor P Gilchrist and seconded by Councillor A Brighouse –

 

“That Committee requests that factual information on these issues be presented to future meetings of appropriate Overview and Scrutiny Committees, with appropriate information on the distribution of grant spending”.

 

The amendment was put and carried (6:4)

The amendment, then becoming the substantive motion was put and carried.

 

Resolved (6:4) (Councillors P Davies, D Dodd, A Jones and J Stapleton voting against) – That Committee requests that factual information on these issues be presented to future meetings of appropriate Overview and Scrutiny Committees, with appropriate information on the distribution of grant spending.