Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations, which may be cited as the Local Government (General Grant) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, shall come into operation on 1st April 2003.

Interpretation

2.  In these Regulations –

“domestic net annual values” means the net annual values of properties used wholly or mainly for domestic purposes as construed in accordance with Articles 39 to 39B of the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977(2);

“employment deprivation scores” means the employment domain scores contained in the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure, published in July 2001 by the Department of Finance and Personnel;

“expenditure” means net expenditure (excluding depreciation and bank interest) averaged over the latest three financial years, provided by district councils;

“grant” means the resources element of general grant payable to a district council for a financial year;

“gross penny rate product” means the income that may be raised from one penny of district rates on rateable and derated properties, as determined by the Department on the basis of data provided by the Department of Finance and Personnel;

“income deprivation scores” means the income domain scores contained in the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure, published in July 2001 by the Department of Finance and Personnel;

“population” means the population determined by the Department of Finance and Personnel on the basis of mid-year home population estimates for local government districts, and provided by the Department of Finance and Personnel to the Department;

“population density” means mid-year home population estimates per kilometre squared, provided by the Department of Finance and Personnel;

“private household data” means the number of households within each local government district provided by either the Department of Finance and Personnel or the Northern Ireland Housing Executive;

“tourist bed-nights” means the number of tourists staying in Northern Ireland overnight but excluding Northern Ireland residents, provided by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board; and

“travel to work data” means employment statistics, based on census of employment and labour force surveys, provided by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.

General Grant

3.  The Department shall calculate the amount of resources element of general grant payable to a district council for a financial year, in accordance with the formula described in the Schedule.

4.  The Department shall use data, in the formula and measures applied to population to calculate the additional needs of a district council, based on the latest information available to the Department in the financial year ending on 31st March 2003 and on 31st March in each third successive financial year thereafter.

5.  A district council shall for each financial year, provide the Department with the details of the expenditure identified in Part III of the Schedule by 31st July of the financial year immediately following that year.

Regulations 3 and 5

SCHEDULE

PART Igeneral grant formula (the resources element)

1.  For the purposes of this Schedule –

(a)a district council’s wealth means its share of the Northern Ireland gross penny rate product, as calculated in accordance with this Schedule;

(b)a district council’s needs means its share of the Northern Ireland adjusted population (including the additional needs of a district council) as calculated in accordance with this Schedule.

2.  The formula –

(a)to determine a district council’s entitlement to grant –

(b)to calculate the proportion of grant payable to a district council, the total of negative variances shall be calculated and each district council’s negative variance (if any) expressed as a percentage of the total –

PART IImeasures applied to adjust for additional needs

3.  Measures applied to adjust for additional needs are –

(a)deprivation;

(b)an influx of additional population; and

(c)sparsity.

4.  Measures, weighted in accordance with paragraph 6, to the extent specified in paragraph 5(1), which shall be applied to population data, to adjust for –

(a)deprivation, are –

(i)income deprivation scores; and

(ii)employment deprivation scores and domestic net annual values;

(b)an influx of additional population, are –

(i)tourist bed-nights; and

(ii)travel to work data;

(c)sparsity, are –

(i)population density; and

(ii)private household data.

Extent of adjustment

5.—(1) For the purposes of paragraph 4, the extent of adjustment made to the population of a local government district shall be in the same proportion as the total Northern Ireland expenditure on each key service relative to specified needs is to the total Northern Ireland expenditure.

(2) The key services to which sub-paragraph (1) relates are –

(a)community services;

(b)economic development;

(c)refuse collection;

(d)street cleansing; and

(e)tourism.

Population Adjustment Methodology

6.  The Department shall adjust population to address –

(a)deprivation in a local government district, by taking the following steps –

(i)application of the employment scores with a 100 percent weighting, making an adjustment of the proportion that community services expenditure is to total expenditure;

(ii)application of the employment scores with a 50 percent weighting and domestic net annual values with a 50 percent weighting, making an adjustment for each of the proportion that economic development expenditure is to total expenditure;

(iii)application of the income scores with a 50 percent weighting, making an adjustment of the proportion that tourism expenditure is to total expenditure;

(b)an influx of additional population into a local government district, by taking the following steps –

(i)application of tourist bed-nights factors with a 50 percent weighting, making an adjustment of the proportion that tourism expenditure is to total expenditure;

(ii)application of tourist bed-nights factors with a 50 percent weighting and travel to work factors with a 50 percent weighting, making an adjustment of the proportion that street-cleansing expenditure is to total expenditure; and

(c)sparsity in a local government district, by taking the following step –

application of mid-year population density data with a 25 percent weighting and private household data with a 75 percent weighting, making an adjustment of the proportion that refuse collection expenditure is to total expenditure.

7.  The total adjustment which the Department shall make to the home population of a local government district shall be the sum of the results, which may be positive or negative, of the adjustments made in accordance with paragraphs 6(a), 6(b) and 6(c).

PART IIIexpenditure proforma

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations introduce a new formula for determining the resources element of general grant payable by the Department of the Environment to district councils, (Regulation 3 and the Schedule).

The Regulations require –

(a)the Department to use data in the formula, based on the latest information available to it in the financial year ending on 31st March 2003 and on 31st March in each third successive financial year thereafter, (Regulation 4); and

(b)district councils to provide certain details of expenditure for each financial year, by 31st July of the financial year immediately following that year, (Regulation 5).

The Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure (ISBN 1 899203 43 5) is available from The Stationery Office (TSO), 16 Arthur Street, Belfast, BT1 4GD