Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 06 February 2014
06 Feb 2014 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2014 [Draft]
Although, in many ways, Parliament’s consideration of the local government finance order is something of a formality, it is important to mark the extent of the funding problems that Scotland’s local authorities face.
I do not pretend for a moment that Mr Swinney has not had to deal with cuts in his budget, but time and again ministers have passed on the pain to local government—a move that has been exacerbated by a council tax freeze that is now completely underfunded by the Scottish Government. That has, inevitably, resulted in reduced local services and the loss of more than 30,000 jobs in our councils.
In written evidence to the Local Government and Regeneration Committee, Unison told us:
“No one disputes that the Scottish Government has to manage a difficult budget imposed by Westminster. But within that budget there are choices to be made and councils are clearly the losers.”
That is borne out by the figures, with £637 million having been cut from the local government budget since 2008-09.
In my region—North East Scotland—the impact of the settlement is acute. Willie Rennie was right to point out the particular difficulties that Aberdeen City Council faces, given its underfunding situation.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott)
Con
Good afternoon, everyone. The first item of business is a debate on motion S4M-08916, in the name of John Swinney, on the draft Local Government Finance (Sco...
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth (John Swinney)
SNP
The draft finance order that we are considering today seeks agreement on the allocation of revenue funding to local government for 2014-15 to enable local au...
Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
Yesterday’s debate on the budget resulted in Labour and the Scottish National Party agreeing that we would bin the bedroom tax. I warmly welcome that. In the...
Mark McDonald (Aberdeen Donside) (SNP)
SNP
The Labour Party issued leaflets in Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath saying that it backed the freeze and would continue to do so. Did it run them past the member...
Sarah Boyack
Lab
Absolutely. When we look at the budgets that are being set across the country, we see that the choice between keeping the council tax freeze or losing even m...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
You should be drawing to a close, please.
Sarah Boyack
Lab
Last year, we warned about the removal of local control of policing and this year we have seen cuts without consultation in police counters and control rooms...
Cameron Buchanan (Lothian) (Con)
Con
With the Parliament’s approval of the Scottish Government’s budget yesterday evening, I can confirm that the Scottish Conservatives will support the order, a...
Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP)
SNP
The leader of the Opposition has been using the term “real world” quite a lot of late, but I think that, sometimes, the Opposition sees the real world as som...
Sarah Boyack
Lab
We would be equally keen to hear what the SNP is going to do to make local government finance fairer. It promised to do that in its past two manifestos, but ...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
I will tell Sarah Boyack how we could make almost everything fairer—by voting for an independent Scotland on September 18. That is the reality of the situati...
Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
I want to give the lie to this concept of a fixed budget. I believe that in 1997 the Scottish people voted for tax powers. The power to vary income tax by up...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
The last thing that one would want to do to the people of this country at this moment would be to raise the basic rate of income tax. If we had control over ...
Willie Rennie (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD)
LD
That was a rather excited contribution from Kevin Stewart. It takes a Fifer to point out that not once did Kevin Stewart mention the fact that his finance se...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
The finance secretary most certainly did that. There have been changes in the three-year settlement, as Mr Rennie knows. However, let me ask Mr Rennie—
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
Is this a speech or an intervention?
Kevin Stewart
SNP
Will Mr Rennie support me in calling on Aberdeen City Council’s leaders to ask COSLA for a change to the funding formula to take account of population change...
Willie Rennie
LD
I will intervene on Kevin Stewart’s intervention so that I can devote some of my four minutes to what I hoped I would be able to say. That was a long-way-ro...
Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Although, in many ways, Parliament’s consideration of the local government finance order is something of a formality, it is important to mark the extent of t...
Mark McDonald
SNP
Will Richard Baker give way?
Richard Baker
Lab
If I have time later, I will give way to Mr McDonald, although I might not have time. From a dwindling pot, Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council ...
Dennis Robertson (Aberdeenshire West) (SNP)
SNP
Will Richard Baker give way?
Richard Baker
Lab
I will give way if I have time later. That second point—on investing in the local economy—is pertinent to the debate because the cabinet secretary promised ...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
Will Richard Baker give way?
Richard Baker
Lab
I will take a brief intervention from Mr Stewart.
Kevin Stewart
SNP
If memory serves me well, the Labour Party in Aberdeen rejected the business rates incentivisation scheme when the Government first proposed it, just as it r...
Richard Baker
Lab
Mr Stewart tries to blame the councils, as Mr Swinney did yesterday. I will come on to exactly why that is wrong. The fact is that ministers have moved the ...
John Swinney
SNP
I am glad that Cameron Buchanan is on the Conservative front bench today, because we heard an eminently more sensible contribution and stance than usual. I h...
Willie Rennie
LD
The funding floor is 85 per cent.
John Swinney
SNP
Yes, Mr Rennie, it is 85 per cent, because we have gone through the basis of the calculation that is undertaken in all of these approaches. Mr Baker has a b...