Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what weighting he gives to the additional cost of delivering services in rural areas when calculating formula grant. [84695]
Robert Neill MP; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State: The following table shows the judgmental sparsity top-ups, which reflect the additional cost of delivering services in rural areas, included in the relative needs formulae in the 2011-12 settlement.
| Relative needs formula | Percentage allocated using judgmental sparsity top-up |
| Local authority education functions | 12.5 |
| Older people’s personal social services | 0.43 |
| Police | 0.5 |
| District-level environmental, protective and cultural services | 3.7 |
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