Content

Impact of the
Government’s Autumn Statement on Local
GovernmentFinance
 
Councillor Richard Henry
moved and Councillor Jeannette Thomas
seconded the motion set out in the agenda papers.
 
During the debate, Councillor
Henry agreed to accept a suggested re-wording of the second
paragraph of the motion from “Conservative-Liberal Democrat Alliance
government” to “Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition
government”.
 
Following further
debate, and upon the re-wording motion being put to the vote, it
was RESOLVED that:
 
1.     
This Council notes with deep concern
the significant impact of de-funding local government by
Conservative-led governments since 2010.
 
2.     
This Council recognises that local
government in England has been actively stripped of funding under
successive Conservative-led governments, including the
Conservative-Liberal Democrat Alliance government. All English
local authorities have been forced to cut spending on nearly every
aspect of their services since 2010. Poorer areas have been hit
disproportionately, leading to councils having to make harsh cuts,
including to services such as parks, libraries, refuse collection,
and children's centres. Following the Chancellor’s Autumn
Statement, the Chair and leaders of the
four main parties in the Local Government Association (LGA) wrote
an open letter to the Chancellor warning of “low financial resilience across the sector
following a 27.0 per cent real-terms reduction in core spending
power1 since 2010/11. The Local Government
Association estimates that there is a “funding gap” of
almost £3bn over the next two years.
 

3.   
This Council notes that since 2010,
several councils have issued Section 114 notices (under the Local
Government Finance Act 1988) and more look likely to follow. Both
the Local Government Association (LGA) and the County Councils
Network (CCN) undertook surveys of their member councils
immediately after the Autumn
Statement. The Local Government Association reported findings of a
"growing financial crisis”, with almost one in five of its
members at risk of running out of funds either this year or
next.

4.   
A report by The National Audit Office (NAO) have published data
that shows Stevenage’s Core Spending Power has reduced by
64.5% in real terms when comparing 2010/11 to
2020/21.  The Council’s own government funding reduced
by £5.3Million to 2019/20 and the need to fund inflationary
pressures has meant the Council has had to find over
£14Million of savings to stay financially resilient. This
Council has had to make some very hard decisions – and those
decisions get harder and harder each year as we are cut to the
bone.  It has
to stop.
 

5.   
This Council:

 

a.     
Condemns the reduction of funding to local
government since 2010 by successive Conservative-led governments
and calls for immediate action by the current Government to provide
a sustainable funding model for the sector, thereby stopping this
assault on local democracy.

b.     
Calls on the Chancellor to listen to the
voices of the leaders of the Local Government Association (of which
Stevenage Borough Council is a member) in their letter of 13
October, 2023 and, in
particular:

· 
Address funding sufficiency and certainty
issues faced by councils.

· 
Take steps to strengthen the local
government workforce.

· 
Strengthen councils’ role in key
national policy areas such as housing and net zero.