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<p> </p><p><em>[Holding Reply: Monday 1 July 2013]</em></p><p>The Government is taking
considerable steps to devolve power and freedom to local government and Local Enterprise
Partnerships.</p><p>Through the Localism Act, councils now have the general power
of competence that enables them to do anything that an individual might do, apart
from that which is specifically prohibited. In addition we have radically reformed
the local government finance system putting levers and incentives in the hands of
local authorities, for instance:</p><p>· The removal of ring-fencing from local government
grants has given councils the freedom and flexibility over the money they receive
and allows them to work with their residents to decide how best to make their spending
decisions to fit their local priority needs.</p><p>· rewarded places that deliver
growth, through the New Homes Bonus and Business Rate Retention.</p><p>· Local authorities
now directly retain 50% of business rates locally which amounts to nearly £11 billion,
instead of returning it to Whitehall.</p><p>· We established five pilot Rural Growth
Networks aimed at tackling the barriers to economic growth in rural areas, such as
a shortage of work premises, slow internet connectivity and fragmented business networks.
These pilots expect to create up to 3,000 new jobs and support up to 700 new businesses,
offering a local approach to local problems. We will share the lessons they learn
with other Local Enterprise Partnerships and Local Authorities to help them promote
growth in other rural areas.</p><p>We have also given councils the ability to borrow
against their Housing Revenue Account.</p><p>Through the city deals programme we have
devolved powers and responsibilities to 26 cities. For example we have:</p><p>•provided
levers to deliver the skills and jobs that local businesses and people need;</p><p>•created
joint investment programmes; and</p><p>• devolved greater financial powers and incentives
to invest in growth to all cities.</p><p>As we made clear in our response to Lord
Heseltine's review of Growth, we intend to go further. We have committed to negotiating
Growth Deals with every Local Enterprise Partnership through which we will allocate
the Local Growth Fund and negotiate broader powers, freedoms and flexibilities where
a strong case for decentralisation can be made. The Local Growth Fund brings together
funding from skills, housing and transport and we have committed £2 billion in 2015/16
and it will continue to be at least £2 billion a year up to 2021. The Local Growth
Fund includes:</p><p> </p><ul><li>over £6 billion of transport funding;</li><li>£300
million of additional Housing Revenue Account borrowing;</li><li>£50 million of Local
Infrastructure Funding for housing developers; and</li><li>£300 million skills capital
funding.</li></ul><p>We are also for the first time putting £5 billion of European
Structural Investment Funds for the 2014-20 period under the strategic direction of
Local Enterprise Partnerships, bringing the total resource (including the Local Growth
Fund) under the control of Local Enterprise Partnerships to over £17 billion up until
2020.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p>
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