Just as Westminster ‘devolves’ certain powers to the Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ‘devolves’ certain of these powers to Local Councils These councils are elected locally Therefore they know the needs of their own area Some services they provide are mandatory and some are discretionary

These services are services that the council must provide Education Police Fire Brigade Social Work Cleansing etc

Swimming Pools Gala Days Flood control Twin Towning Rural Lighting

Local Government in Scotland is organised on a unitary basis This means that each council is responsible for providing all services Scotland now has 29 councils on the mainland and three island authorities Our authority is Glasgow City Council

80% of LG cash comes in a grant from the government. This is known Aggregate External Finance (AEF) The second is the Council Tax The third is by Private Public Partnerships The fourth is by government charges Local authorities have four ways of raising money

Aggregate External Finance This comes from money the government has raised in taxation from ordinary people and businesses. eg Income Tax Value Added Tax (VAT) etc Around 80% of LG revenue Previously known as the Revenue Support Grant

Council Tax Replaced the Community Charge (Poll Tax) in 1993 Paid by most housholds based on the Councils valuation of the property Single person households get 25% reduction Band H - Value £212,000 Tax -£2090 Band B Value £30,000 Tax £812 Band E Value £70,000 Tax £1,227

Public Private Partnership Used for large expensive projecte like schools LG arranges for a business partner who wlii provide the cash for building LA’s pay a rent and run the establishment

Charges for Selected Services Charges for School meals Hire if skips Rural sanitation charges Entries to leisure centres

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE Used for large expensive projects like leisure centres, schools etc So expensive that the money has to be borrowed from financial institutions Permission to borrow has to be received from the Government

Local Government takes a partner such as a bank The bank would finance and design the new building (school etc) Council leases the building and manages the school

Consists of annual running costs of council WAGES TELEPHONE & HEATING STATIONARY REPAYMENT OF LOANS