Fairer Funding for Devon
Full Version
Devon Labour believes that the calculation methods used to allocate resources to local government are unfair and fail to take into account the demands of a sparsely populated county, with an ageing population and a large network of public highway to maintain. There is no justification for Devon still receiving less than the national average per pupil for education, and less than the average per person for health services. A decade of Tory austerity has led to a reduction of funding to Devon County Council of 62% since 2010 and the county has seen an unprecedented level of underfunding for young people with special education needs and disabilities over the past two years.
Labour will campaign for fairer funding for Devon by:
- • Lobbying Government for use of fairer funding formulae, in particular for education and social care allocations
- • Working to ensure Devon makes the best of Brexit opportunities and is compensated for loss of EU grants
- • Championing public services – resisting and reversing privatisation
- • Supporting further devolution of budgets to locally accountable bodies
- • Encouraging joint working with city and district councils, and other public bodies to deliver more efficient working practices