Speeches by McMahon.

“It is very difficult for central Government to make an absolute assessment of the cost of delivering services, given that councils’ delivery models are so different and their cost bases are so variable. That makes it difficult for Government to have a funding formula that can meet that, which is why we always take fund…”

“Not in the way that you describe it, which is essentially the hypothecation of a local income tax model. It is not something that we are looking at.”

“Agreed.”

“I think it is a matter of fact that the localisation of the council tax support scheme for working-age households has led to a genuine postcode lottery. I usually avoid using that phrase, because it does not allow for local variations that are legitimate. But on this front, it is a matter of fact that you can be in a v…”

“In there is our starting point, with the work that we are doing on the funding formula, which is to accept—I have said this in this Committee—that it is a matter of fact that there are areas that have had to go to council tax in the absence of central Government funding, just to be able to keep up with demand. But even…”

“If it worked, there probably should be an overlay. The multi-year settlement will allow councils to plan for the medium term for the first time in a decade. In that planning and being able to step back from the immediacy of setting an annual budget that just holds, there will be councils that say, “Actually, over that …”

“But my point is that we need to take that in the round. And as Nico said, there are so many different Government Departments that have a view on this, or even hold the ring on some of the regulations around it, and that needs to be worked through the system. We then need to have an eye on what it means for the fee-payi…”

“I would consider that in the round, because what we cannot do is to have a sales, fees and charges policy that is about Milton Keynes car parking rates.”

“Councils are all in different positions. There definitely will be examples of councils that have sold everything they can sell, by and large. The libraries have gone, the youth centres have gone, the Sure Start centres have gone. Any kind of low-hanging fruit in terms of operational premises, like depots, have been rat…”

“I will let Nico comment on how it features in the round.”

“Thankfully, we have not had any section 114s this year as a result of financial distress. We touch wood every day that it has not happened yet, because we recognise that the system is very fragile. We also recognise that we have supported more exceptional financial support cases, because of the different approach that …”

“I would say that, a decade ago, councils were almost directed by the previous Government to be enterprising, to be entrepreneurial, and to go out and make their own luck in the world, but that has consequences. I should say that the relationship between central Government and local government is one of trust and respec…”

“In a way it is both, isn’t it? They are the delivery arm of government. They are on the ground in communities and they are marshalling frontline workers to deal with the social and economic challenges that the country faces. They are also, I think, the part of government that can unleash community potential, whether th…”

“From the infancy of local government in England, councils have always played a bit of a role in supporting local economic development. Many of the commercial assets that councils hold are not held purely as commercial investments. They might have a commercial return on that investment, but they are primarily about supp…”

“First of all, I completely recognise all those pressures. They are pressures that we are alive to, first in terms of dealing with the underlying causes that are leading to those pressures, and secondly in supporting local government to bridge to what will be a more sustainable footing. There is no doubt that the impact…”

“Wales is a nation; it is not a council. There is a difference between doing it on a national footprint and doing it council by council. On an issue like this, which is so fundamental to the funding of local public services and to individual households, in terms of the bill that is passed on to them, as a Government you…”

“We probably ought to avoid trying to reinvent the wheel. There were more than adequate examples during the last Labour Government of what good, early, family-based and neighbourhood-based intervention can be. Perhaps the problem in politics is that it takes a long time to prove the concept, and a young person may have …”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) for securing this important debate and raising the question of Havering borough’s place in relation to devolution in Essex. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for championing his area and for the very clear passion that he has for the place he represents. On…”

“As things stand, a normal service has returned to most streets at most times. The accumulated waste that was building up—which was not acceptable at all—has been removed. Some 26,000 tonnes has been removed; in most places at most times, the collection of bins is taking place as normal, and over 100 trucks a day are le…”

“In a way, that question shows a misunderstanding of why Birmingham is in the situation it is in. It makes no more sense to say that Birmingham’s problems are because of its size and scale than it would to say, “Look at the debt liabilities built up by some of the smallest councils in the country, which have borrowed ma…”