Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the level of financial reserves of local authorities.
Mr Marcus Jones
Local authorities are responsible for managing their own finances. They are required by statute to have regard to the level of reserves needed for meeting estimated future expenditure when calculating their annual budget requirement.
In making their assessment, they must have regard to the good practice guidance produced by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.
Where authorities have maintained significant revenue reserves, this will give them room to manoeuvre on their finances in future years.
Authorities should consider dipping into their revenue reserves where it can be sensible to provide and protect front line services for local tax payers.
My Department publishes statistics on the level of reserves held by each authority, based on reports from them, which are available at:
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