News Round-Up: Funding guidance, Council tax powers, Brexit damage, Estate sharing funds, Edinburgh PFI payments
0Single pot guidance published
The government has published guidance on assurance frameworks required from local authorities in order to access devolved single pot funding. The local assurance framework should set out the key roles and responsibilities in decision making including which body or bodies have the authority to set budgets and make investment decisions. Any divergence from the framework will need to be agreed by accounting officers from the Department for Communities and Local Government and other relevant departments.
Report calls for greater council tax support powers
Councils should be given a wider range of powers over their local council tax support schemes, according to an independent review on behalf of government. The review, by former Conservative MP Eric Ollerenshaw, said: “Devolving at least part of the prescribed scheme for pensioners, and the single person discount, could significantly improve a council’s ability to both manage financial risk.”
Estate rationalisation pot up for grabs
Bidding for allocations of up to £500,000 to support office-sharing projects within the public sector are now open. The cash is available through the government’s One Public Estate programme, which was granted £31m in November’s Autumn Statement. Launched in 2013, the programme currently supports 112 councils in England.
Labour councils ‘hit harder by cuts’
The Labour Party has released data it says shows that councils under its control are being harder hit by cuts than Conservative-controlled authorities. Labour councils are set to see falls in spending power of 21% on average, compared to a 13% fall for Tory councils, the party said. Jon Trickett, Labour’s shadow communities secretary, said: “Local government is under enormous pressure because of politically motivated Tory cuts that hit the poorest hardest.”
IMF: ‘Brexit could cause severe damage’
A vote by the UK to leave the European Union could do severe regional and global damage by disrupting established trading relationships, according to the International Monetary Fund. In a report this week, the IMF said: “Negotiations on post exit arrangements would likely be protracted, resulting in an extended period of heightened uncertainty that could weigh heavily on confidence and investment, all the while increasing financial market volatility. A U.K. exit from Europe’s single market would also likely disrupt and reduce mutual trade and financial flows, curtailing key benefits from economic cooperation and integration, such as those resulting from economies of scale and efficient specialization.”
Edinburgh withholds schools PFI payment
City of Edinburgh Council is withholding payments under a PFI deal after it was forced to shut 17 schools due to safety fears. The authority is refusing to pay the latest £1.5m payment, saying it is entitled to do so under the provisions of the contract. A spokesperson quoted in the Guardian said: “We will not be paying them that this month. We are applying all the contractual terms, and those include deductions for non-availability [of the schools].”
