The Formula Grant Review is the Government’s review of how funding – for example through SSA (Standard Spending Assessment), is allocated to English authorities. As it stands, understanding the Grant Review is complicated, according to Andy Doran policy officer at LARAC, who said: “There are 1.4million variations to the funding formula that could happen and the question is about whether waste management should have its own specific allocation – currently it is funded in a block alongside libraries, leisure and trading standards and the decision on how much to give to waste is taken locally or politically.”
Mr Doran addresses the issues regarding this funding in letter to be sent out today to Formula Grant Review member, Gary Meyler and comments on the new proposals for allocation of funds to English local authorities.
Within his letter, Mr Doran comments: “Currently, on average waste management accounts for approximately 20% of the expenditure defined with the EPCS (Environmental Protective and Cultural Services) block of the SSA. This percentage, says Mr Doran is larger than some other areas of funding specific with EPCS SSA sub-blocks such as fire services.”
This level of funding, LARAC says, bears little resemblance to the work required, whilst any additional powers and costs have been allocated to waste collection and disposal authorities such as Landfill Tax should also be considered by the Government under this review.
Mr Doran goes on to say that research conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers has shown that the rate of increase in waste disposal expenditure has been in the order of 230% over the period of 1991/2 to 1999/2000, adding that, “it is well documented that waste costs are set to escalate as the impact of environmental legislation, scarcity of disposal option and environmental taxation increase.”
He concludes: “The main objective of a separate waste sub-block would be to allow the identification of appropriate level of funding at a national level that could then be allocated at the local level.
“At a national level, such a sub-block with the review and forward planning of waste management expenditure as authorities’ expenditure relative to SSA could be transparently compared.”
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