§ The Minister for Local Government, Regional Governance and Fire(Mr. Nick Raynsford)The December 2001 White Paper "Strong Local Leadership, Quality Public Services" (CM 5237) included a commitment to
work with local government with the aim of introducing a safety valve grant in 2004–05. The grant will be available to authorities with high levels of council tax and low unit costs, but which do not benefit from the new grant formulae.The concept behind the safety valve mechanism was that there might be a small number of authorities whose circumstances do not fit adequately into national funding formulae and as a result experience severe underfunding.
We have been unable to find any authorities that qualify for a safety valve grant. After taking technical advice from local government, which pointed strongly against a mechanism we no longer intend to introduce a safety valve grant.