§ Lord Greavesasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will allow local authorities in England, which are not receiving the full amount of revenue support grant implied by the new needs-based formula allocation system as a result of "ceilings" in grant payments made under the transitional regime, to levy additional council tax without being capped, in order that they can spend closer to, or at the level that is implied by, the new formula. [HL4744]
§ The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker)It is premature to speculate about the level of government funding that will be available to local authorities in 2005–06, as the proposals for the provisional local government settlement for 2005–06 have not yet been announced.
No decisions on capping in 2005–06 and beyond have been made. But the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has made it clear that we expect to see significantly lower council tax increases next year and will take even tougher capping action in 2005–06 if that proves necessary.