According to a government source, the fund allocation – as announced by Mr Meacher on July 18 2002, is merely waiting a “stamp of approval” from Parliament before it can be distributed. The liklihood is, said the source, that “this will be done by the end of this year.”
Confusion
However, a lack of clarity regarding when the proposed 40million funding will be allocated is causing confusion amongst council officers.
Speaking earlier this month, Councillor Kay Twitchen, cabinet member of the environment for Essex county council and chair of the waste executive at the LGA, expressed frustration at the lack of clear information.
“When I asked the government when we’ll be seeing this funding coming to local authorities, they responded with ‘sometime this year’, but when I asked did they mean calendar or fiscal year – there was no accurate response.
“Councils need to know when they are receiving funding to allow them to plan ahead,” she said.
“A ‘special grants report’ has been produced on this, which then has to be agreed by Parliament. This won’t happen until Parliament is fully up and running after its recess period. We also need to get a time slot agreed for debate before this can happen, and then we can get the money out to local authorities as agreed,” said the source.
SSA
Payment will be distributed on a Standard Spending Assessment basis, which is something most local authorities use as a standard means of allocating funding, and is based on social and demographic factors such as population per ward. The funding will therefore not be distributed according to the amount of stock-piled fridges a council has reported.
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