HC Deb 17 December 2003 vol 415 cc953-4W
Mr. Tyrie

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) if he will estimate what the level of grant increase to West Sussex County Council in 2004–05 would be if calculated on the basis of increase in population; [143861]

(2) what the level of grant increase would be to West Sussex County Council in 2004–05 if calculated on the basis of increase in population; and by how much this would differ from the revised level of settlement following the announcement in the Pre-Budget Report. [144631]

Mr. Raynsford

The increase in formula grant (i.e. Revenue Support Grant plus Redistributed Business Rates plus Police Grant) for West Sussex County Council would be £7,581,434.

This has been calculated as follows:

  1. Total grant for England in 2004–05 minus total grant in 2003–04 on a like for like basis i.e. £46,116,848.766— f43,705,512,675—£2,411,336,091;
  2. Mid-2002 population estimate minus mid-2001 population estimate for West Sussex County Council i.e. 755,855754,254 = 1,602;
  3. The result of (b) multiplied by the Share of Assumed National Council Tax given in Annex B of the draft Local Government Finance Report (England) 2004–05 i.e. 1,602 * 0.740845 = 1,186.833690
  4. The result of (c) is then divided by the sum of (c) for all authorities i.e. 1,186.833690 / 377,482.000000 0.003144
  5. The result of (d) multiplied by the result of (a) i.e. 0.003144 * 2,411,336,091=7,581,434

Please note that the mid-2001 population estimate used was that published by the Office for National Statistics on 10 October 2002, since these were the population estimates used in the calculation of the 2003–04 Formula Spending Shares. Following the approval by Parliament of the 2003–04 Local Government Finance Settlement, the mid-2001 population estimates were revised. An Amending Report for 2003–04 to reflect the revised mid-year estimates will be submitted to the House for approval in due course.

Since in all areas of England council services are supplied by more than one type of authority the change in population in an area has to be divided between the authorities supplying services in an area. For the purpose of the above calculation we have used the share of assumed national council tax given in Annex B of the draft Local Government Finance Report (England) 2004–05 to split the change in population between types of authority.

The proposed increase in grant for West Sussex in 2004—05 is £17,132,188, this is an increase of 4.5per cent. on the 2003–04 formula grant on a like-for-like basis.

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