REDETERMINATION APPLICATION OF SHEFFIELD CITY COUNCIL

Motion Text

That this House supports the redetermination application of Sheffield City Council, made with the backing of all three political parties; notes that the alternative will be even further cuts in school budgets and services for the elderly and disabled and that the Government's capped budget level for the city will place the city, financially, in a worse position than that which the Government itself recognised as inadequate during the 1994 redetermination process; further expresses the view that the financial problems of the city are due to an unfair standard spending assessment and grant system and an arbitrary capping level; and calls for a thorough overhaul of the standard spending assessment system to ensure that all councils receive their fair share of national resources, the abolition of capping as undemocratic and the transfer of the business rate back to local authorities to ensure a higher level of local accountability and responsibility.