Should local business rates fund local public health? There’s not a simple answerBack in March I suggested that the then Chancellor’s surprise announcement of a sugar levy in the budget drew attention away from what might turn out to be a far bigger – if seemingly more obscure – issue: the potential switch of the Department of Health local government public health grant to business rate funding, as part of a wider Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) consultation on how to increase the share of local government funding from local business rates rather than central government grants.
The principle of stronger reliance on local funding, as opposed to government grants, is one that local government has long argued for, given the UK is one of the developed world’s most fiscally centralised states. The argument goes that a government serious about devolution needs to devolve the means of raising revenue alongside the responsibilities for spending it. And moving more central government grant funding streams into business rates will create the incentive for local areas to focus on economic growth and the benefits that brings. The King's Fund
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