HC Deb 11 March 2004 vol 418 c1712W
Mr. Andrew Turner

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what additional grant is to be paid to the Isle of Wight Council in 2004–05 following his decision to add £1 million to the grant for 2003–04. [160646]

Mr. Raynsford

In 2003–04, during the final consultation on our proposed formulae changes, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister accepted the Isle of Wight's argument that their New Earnings Survey sample size was too small for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to reliably calculate a separate area cost adjustment (ACA) for the island. As a result the Isle of Wight received the same ACA as Hampshire in the 2003–04 settlement. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister used the same methodology to calculate the ACA for the 2004–05 settlement when the Isle of Wight once again received the same ACA as Hampshire.

The Local Government Finance Settlement was approved by the House of Commons on 5 February 2004.