Electoral Administration Bill

Let me be clear: the £10 million I referred to earlier is for the establishment of the CORE national scheme. I am now describing the costs of the proposals in the Bill, the costs that are pertinent to local government and what we have sought to do about them. The sum of £19.9 million has been transferred into the revenue support grant to cover the new burdens imposed on local authorities by the measures in the Bill and the secondary legislation package. An additional £1.2 million has been transferred to the National Assembly for Wales for the implementation of measures in Wales. The noble Lord did not ask me about ring-fencing, but he will know that this funding will not be ring-fenced. That is an important part of the way in which the Government approach local government. There are many circumstances for obvious and right reasons in which local government prefers not to be tied by being ring-fenced. The Scottish Executive has approximately £2.9 million in Barnett that is consequential for the implementation of measures which extend to Scotland. I had this information ready for the noble Baroness, Lady Carnegy of Lour; she is not here, but I trust that she will read it in Hansard. That is the clear answer about the arrangements in the Bill that provide for local government.