£10.85bn for Local Government

6 Feb 2015 01:58 PM

Council Tax freeze for eighth consecutive year.

In 2015-16, the Scottish Government will provide councils with a total funding package worth over £10.85 billion, Deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary John Swinney announced yesterday (Thursday, February 5).

The Scottish Government is providing an overall funding settlement and package of measures to help maintain and develop the services on which the people and businesses of Scotland depend.

Yesterday’s Order will seek Parliament’s approval for the distribution and payment of £9.8 billion out of the revenue total of almost £10 billion, with the remainder paid out as specific grant funding for which separate legislation already exists and other funding to be distributed later.

The Deputy First Minister said yesterday:

“In 2015-16, the Scottish Government will provide councils with a total funding package worth over £10.85 billion to deliver services that enrich our nation.

“This Government has worked closely, and will continue to do so, with councils to agree an overall funding settlement and package to help maintain and improve these services.

“The Scottish Government is focused on securing economic growth, tackling inequality and protecting our public services and it’s great news for Scottish households who will be spared a raise in council tax for the eighth consecutive year. The £70 million to fund the council tax freeze will be added to individual local authority settlement totals for those councils who agree to freeze council tax in 2015-16. This will be made available in a further Order that I will bring to this Parliament next month.

“I will also use the second Order to distribute the funding for the Discretionary Housing Payments amounting to £35 million for next year which will enable this Government to fully mitigate the effects of the UK Government’s imposition of the spare room subsidy or bedroom tax and any further changes required as a result of the teacher numbers funding arrangements. I will also use the second Order to switch the £11 million between non domestic rates and general revenue grant as set out in the Budget Bill yesterday.

“This Government has been clear and consistent in our commitment to maintain teacher numbers. We know that the quality and capacity of our teaching workforce is critical to ensuring every child and young person has the best possible education and an equal opportunity to succeed.

“To help ensure delivery of the teacher numbers commitment, and in recognition of the general budget pressures authorities are facing, I announced yesterday a further £10 million for 2015-16 – a figure proposed by COSLA – in addition to the £41 million previously allocated to support this commitment.

“In order to protect that investment in teacher numbers this total resource of £51 million will only be available to local authorities on a council by council basis if they are prepared to sign up to a clear commitment to protect teacher numbers. Clearly any council that chooses not make and deliver on that commitment will not benefit from that funding. We will continue discussions on the delivery of the teacher number commitment with partners, including local government.

“In December, I confirmed that we will continue to match the English poundage rates for 2015-16 and reaffirms this Government’s commitment to maintaining the competitive advantage enjoyed by Scottish businesses since 2007.

“As a result of our decision to match the UK Government’s cap on the business rates poundage increase to 2 per cent, as explained yesterday I have allocated a compensating amount from the associated Barnett consequentials to match this reduction in income. By reducing the distributable Non Domestic Rates and increasing the General Revenue Grant total by the same amount will ensure that all 32 local authorities receive exactly the same total funding as set out in the Order before Parliament today.

“Our extensive package of business rates reliefs also continues, worth around £618 million in 2015-16, offering enduring support for Scottish businesses. And our Community Empowerment Bill proposes the power for councils to offer further rate reliefs in their local areas.”

For information on the budget presented to parliament recently, please see:http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Health-and-Education-at-heart-of-budget-159b.aspx

For opening remarks from the Deputy First Minister, please see: http://news.scotland.gov.uk/Speeches-Briefings/Local-Government-Finance-Scotland-Order-2015-15af.aspx

Notes To Editors

INFORMATION GIVEN TO MEMBERS: LOCAL GOVERNMENT REVENUE FUNDING 2014-16
BREAKDOWN BY LOCAL AUTHORITY ON A LIKE-WITH-LIKE BASIS
Local Authority	2014-15 Budget Adjusted*	2015-16 Budget Adjusted*
	£ million	£ million
Aberdeen City	327.969	337.989
Aberdeenshire	406.050	414.723
Angus	201.224	205.231
Argyll & Bute	205.534	203.971
Clackmannanshire	95.396	96.567
Dumfries & Galloway	292.368	293.138
Dundee City	291.882	293.461
East Ayrshire	226.331	230.203
East Dunbartonshire	180.615	186.084
East Lothian	169.637	171.811
East Renfrewshire	174.324	179.712
Edinburgh, City of	746.193	739.252
Eilean Siar	103.622	101.915
Falkirk	277.381	282.331
Fife	634.570	638.090
Glasgow City	1263.388	1259.461
Highland	454.229	456.180
Inverclyde	167.043	169.348
Midlothian	151.321	154.616
Moray	154.552	160.372
North Ayrshire	267.725	275.142
North Lanarkshire	623.602	625.735
Orkney Islands	68.712	70.472
Perth & Kinross	247.967	250.131
Renfrewshire	311.506	313.259
Scottish Borders	205.960	208.699
Shetland Islands	86.367	86.595
South Ayrshire	201.428	204.280
South Lanarkshire	568.718	570.062
Stirling	165.095	167.739
West Dunbartonshire	188.665	189.724
West Lothian	305.686	308.716
Scotland	9,765.062	9,845.009
Undistributed
Teachers Induction Scheme	27.509	27.600
Criminal Justice Social Work	86.450	86.450