News Roundup: Banks ratings, Business rates, Academies bill, Scottish Councils appointment…

Ratings ‘could suffer under ring-fencing rules’
New rules on ring-fencing could lead to lower credit ratings for UK banks, according to ratings agency Standard & Poors. In a report released this week, S&P said that the new rules, set to be introduced in 2019, could lead to a “very material erosion of resource fungibility”. It added that “more expensive and less freely available credit may well be the price of having safer banks”.

Ministers consider business rate avoidance powers for councils
The Department for Communities and Local Government has released a discussion paper on the avoidance of business rates. The paper seeks views on giving local authorities general or more specific anti-avoidance powers. These might include allowing councils to withhold reliefs and exemptions “where they reasonably conclude that the main purpose or one of the main purposes of the ratepayer’s occupation or arrangements is to receive the relief or exemption, and/or that the arrangements or occupation is contrived or artificial”.

Government ignores concerns over accounts timetable
The government has confirmed that it intends to bring forward the date by which accounts must be published to July as from the accounts for the year 2017-18, in the face of opposition. Responses to a consultation on the issue this week found that “only a handful of the 106 responses to this question were broadly in favour of the proposal and even then emphasised the need for radical simplification of current audit requirements and other measures to make it achievable”. However, the government responded by saying it believed “a more timely closedown process would increase public interest in local authority accounts”.

Councils hit by £22m academies bill
Councils have had to subsidise the government’s academy schools programme to the tune of £22m, according to figures from the Local Government Association. Research from the body said that councils have had to divert the cash from their budgets to cover the conversion costs, which can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds per school. David Simmonds, chairman of the LGA’s children and young people board, said it was not right that “consultants and lawyers are making good money handling these conversions when local taxpayers expect this money to go towards other local priorities, whether that is improving other schools or fixing potholes”.

Scottish councils appoint shared finance officer
Shetland Islands Islands Council has appointed Aberdeen City Council’s head of finance as its new senior finance officer. Steve Whyte will now be jointly employed by both councils and divide his time between the two. Savings made through the shared arrangement will cover the costs of flights and overnight accommodation required by Whyte to carry out the role, the council said. Whyte has been employed with Aberdeen City Council since it was formed in 1996 and previously worked for its predecessor, Grampian Regional Council.