Agenda item

Sarah Pickup, Deputy Chief Executive of the LGA, spoke to the Board about the LGA’s strategy on fiscal devolution, as outlined in paragraphs 7, 12, 17 and 23 of the paper before the Board.

She said that LGA officers have been framing the Spending Review as an opportunity to push for early implementation of 100 percent business rates retention. She noted that she has liaised with council Chief Executives on this matter, and then invited members to air their thoughts.

Members discussed:

·         The number of programmes certain local authorities will need to cut in order to present central government with revenue-neutral proposals for fiscal devolution.

·         The importance of addressing the issues of redistribution, equity and proportionality prior to getting into the details of business rates retention, as these wider goals should frame the discussion.

·         The importance of areas who have bid for 100 percent fiscal devolution creating viable plans for redistribution.

·         The need to make clear that any extra taxes raised through fiscal devolution are required for councils to fulfil their current responsibilities, rather than a reason to devolve further responsibilities.

·         The need to consider how to redistribute locally in a self-sufficient model of tax and spend.

Charlotte Taylor, Public Affairs and Campaigns Adviser, updated the Board on the progress of the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill. She summarised the changes that have been made to the Bill in light of the LGA’s efforts, as detailed in paragraphs 9 and 10 of the paper before the Board. She noted that most of the issues of key relevance to the LGA were addressed on the first day of the Committee Stage, with a number of favourable amendments being agreed. The next opportunity to get further amendments on key LGA issues is the Report Stage.

Members discussed:

·         The importance of ensuring that the final Bill takes the form of enabling legislation, and the central role that Board members can play in pushing for this by keeping up to date with, and shaping, the LGA’s main asks.

·         The value of face-to-face interactions between Board members and their local MPs in order to maintain momentum behind the devolution agenda.

·         The political value of local authorities shaping their devolution requests around previously successful devolution models and aiming towards some degree of standardisation across devolution requests, whilst acknowledging that standardisation has risks as well as political benefits.

Action

Members expressed a wish to stay informed about the research that the Resources portfolio has commissioned on business rates devolution.

Members asked for the LGA’s briefings on the Devolution Bill to be circulated to the Board.

Members said that they would contact their local MPs to promote the Board’s views regarding the development of the Devolution Bill.