§ Lord Greavesasked Her Majesty's Government:
What would have been the total cost this year if the ceilings applied to the new formula grant scheme for local authorities in England, broken down by class of authority, had not been applied and floors had been maintained. [HL4666]
§ Lord RookerThe White PaperStrong Local Leadership—Quality Public Services announced our intention of having floors and ceilings within the local government finance settlement. The floors ensure that all authorities receive a reasonable increase in grant each year on a like-for-like basis. These must be paid for within the total amount of grant that goes to authorities each year. If there had been no ceilings then the full cost of the floor would have to have been met by the scaling factor.
The total cost of floors for each floor and ceiling group for 2004–05 is tabled below:
Floor and ceiling group Cost of the floor (£ million) Authorities with education and PSS responsibilities 96.876474 Police Authorities (including GLA police services) 106.181443 Fire Authorities (including GLA fire services) 11.554286 Shire Districts 38.032617 All Authorities 252.644820