Nicholas Soames’s Question to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; Brandon Lewis MP on Local Government Finance on Monday, 18th March, 2013.

Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con): What plans he has to close the funding gap between urban and rural local authorities. [148139]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis): I recognise the case that has been made for funding for rural authorities. In February we made some adjustments to the financial settlement for 2013-14 and confirmed changes to sparsity top-ups.

Nicholas Soames: I thank my hon. Friend for that answer, but does he agree that rural authorities are due to receive, on average, a 5.58% reduction in formula grant, which is more than two percentage points greater than urban authorities, which are due to receive, on average, a 3.54% reduction? Is not that actually extremely unfair and not a sensible way to encourage growth in the rural economy?

Brandon Lewis: This year we changed the sparsity levels within the banding so that the reduction for rural areas is not as great as that for urban areas, thereby slightly narrowing the gap. I appreciate that Members who represent rural areas have made a strong case this year for going even further, which is why we brought in £9 million-odd in extra finance to help local authorities servicing those rural communities with deprivation.

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