Consultation Responses

For the three years from 2005-06, the Government distributed £1bn to local authorities in England and Wales through the Local Authority Business Growth Incentives scheme (LABGI). The scheme is designed to give local authorities an incentive to encourage local economic and business growth.

In the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review, the Government announced that a further £150m would be made available for this purpose (£50m in 2009-10 and £100m in 2010-11). The Government published an Issues Paper in October 2007 – Building better incentives for local economic growth1 – which set out the lessons learned from the first three years of the LABGI scheme, and sought views on reform to further improve the scheme for the future. In consultation with its Finance Officers Group, the Association responded to this consultation.

As a result of operating LABGI, as well as the responses to the 2007 Issues Paper, the Government published a further consultation paper in September 2008 which set out to build on LABGI and maintain its focus on incentivising economic development, but also embrace the overall direction of policy as it has evolved since LABGI was introduced. The reformed scheme will apply to English local authorities for 2009-10 and 2010-11. The Government intends that, in the longer term, LABGI will be mainstreamed as a permanent part of the local government finance system. It will be subject to review (with further consultation on proposals for improvement and adjustment as necessary), and to decisions made during future spending reviews.

In consultation with its members, the Association submitted the following response to Government.

View the response here.