All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 491 contributions
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Mark Griffin
I guess that the ultimate test of whether councils have autonomy is whether there is any clawback. If you decided to continue charging for music tuition, could the Government claw back the funding that it provided for that? Would that apply for anything else—for free school meals or any other initiative—if councils did not spend the money on what the Government had asked them to spend it on?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Mark Griffin
In Wales, additional funding for allotments has been allocated, and you know why that is: the benefits that you stated are clear to see. Is the Government monitoring the impact that that additional funding is having in Wales, and is it considering following that path?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Mark Griffin
Thank you.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Mark Griffin
I appreciate what the cabinet secretary says about the political and financial cost of meeting that ask. My question was more about the assessment of the quantum of the ask and whether that was reasonable.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Mark Griffin
Part 9 of the 2015 act placed new duties on local authorities. Will the minister set out what funding went alongside those new duties for councils to increase the provision of allotments and community growing spaces?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Mark Griffin
Finally, the budget shows that 12 per cent of local government’s budget is from in-year transfers from other budgets. That is £1.5 billion, which is significant. Will you set out in a bit more detail what the make-up is of that £1.5 billion? What proportion of that spend is directed spend and what proportion can local government spend freely, on whatever it sees fit?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Mark Griffin
At the time, and in subsequent years.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Mark Griffin
Good morning. All 32 directors of finance wrote to Scottish ministers and set out what they felt were more than £1 billion of additional budget pressures on local government for 2023-24. Cabinet secretary, have you and your officials had the chance to meet the directors of finance to discuss the assessment of the make-up of that £1 billion and to compare it with the budget allocation for next year to see whether the allocation meets the pressures that they set out?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Mark Griffin
As well as setting out the £1 billion budget pressures, the directors of finance set out what they felt the impact of not meeting those pressures would be, which is services reducing or stopping, or staff numbers going down. We have seen examples of that with local authorities starting to produce their savings packages, some of which have been pretty severe. What assessment has been made of the 32 savings packages that are emerging, and what the impact will be on other public services such as health or social care as a result of reducing the services that were previously provided by local authorities?
11:00Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Mark Griffin
Year on year, has consideration been given to increasing the allocation to local government to allow it to increase the provision of allotments or community growing spaces?