Agenda item

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain concerning the provisional local Government Finance and Police Finance settlements.

The Chamberlain reported that the draft police settlement recently announced by the Home Office was more generous than anticipated.

For the local government settlement, he added that 2019/20 will be the final year of the multi-year agreement where Government agreed to a four-year funding deal in return for publishing a corresponding efficiency plan. There remains a great deal of uncertainty regarding Local Government funding after March 2020. Members expressed concern about arrangements after this period; clearly, political sentiment was moving against more funding for London at the expense of other areas in England and Wales, and the Corporation, with the Policy and Resources Committee at the vanguard, would need to work with the Boroughs in defending London’s interests in this new environment.

It was also particularly concerning that deprivation indicators were potentially going to be diluted in the future funding formula; if this came to fruition, it would have a significant impact on neighbouring boroughs, with a knock-on impact for the City an inevitable result.

The Chamberlain added that given the wider political direction, officers had kept the mid-term forecasts (when factoring in the settlement) deliberately prudent.

RESOLVED – that the Committee noted the Report