Councils across England are to benefit from a £2.7bn increase in central government funding, which local government minister, John Healey, described as ‘inflation-busting'. This, together with further funding increases outlined for the following two years would, according to the minister, give councils ‘the certainty needed to manage their budgets effectively'. Councils would also have responsibilities to put money in their own coffers by making efficiency gains of 3%, like the rest of the public sector, for the next three years. This could ‘free up' as much as £4.9bn to be invested in public services, or to keep council tax bills low. The announcement confirms core grant funding next year, which is part of the first-ever, three-year settlement, delivering 1% real-terms increases each year for the next three. ‘Today's settlement is fair and affordable, giving every council the resources to deliver high-quality public services, and the certainty to manage their budgets for the next three years,' Mr Healey said. ‘By 2010-11, councils will have benefited from 13 straight years of inflation-busting increases in funding from central government.' The Government has also announced provisional allocations of 61 specific grants from eight central departments in December, confirmation of which will be announced shortly.
