Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what further steps he plans to take to allow local authorities to use capital receipts from the sale of its assets to fund local authority services; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones

The time limited flexibility, recently introduced by the government, allows local authorities to use capital receipts to fund the revenue costs of any project that is designed to generate ongoing revenue savings in the delivery of public services. Such projects will deliver an ongoing benefit for taxpayers.

Parliament has decided that capital receipts cannot normally be applied to finance revenue expenditure. This is consistent with the fundamental principle that long term assets should not be used to finance immediate costs. I have no plans to seek approval from Parliament to revoke this principle and allow local authorities to use capital receipts to fund ongoing service delivery.