§ Mr Ian Liddell-GraingerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans the Government has to absorb rural policing funds into the main formula by increasing the sparsity factor. [76947]
§ Mr. DenhamThe option to incorporate the £30 million rural policing fund into the main formula and to increase the sparsity component to one per cent. was one of a number of options for change that were included in the local government finance formula grant distribution paper in July.
We are taking into account all responses received during the consultation period and are considering carefully the impact of implementing each of the changes. We shall announce our conclusions shortly.