Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the proportion of young people who wish to study A-levels and are unable to do so due to transport or distance barriers in Knowsley constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not collect this information. It is possible that some schools in Knowsley have gathered anecdotal information on this via information and guidance sessions with students. However, this is not recorded for submission to the department.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the evidential basis is for the inclusion of the Remoteness Adjustment within the Area Cost Adjustment of proposed funding formulas.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On Thursday 20 November, we published the government response to the Fair Funding Review 2.0, which sets out the government’s plan to introduce a fairer and evidence-led funding system. In doing so, we will target a greater proportion of grant funding towards the most deprived places which need it most, ensuring the best value for money for government and taxpayers.
We will apply a remoteness adjustment to the Adult Social Care Formula, but not to formulas more broadly. The government recognised in the last consultation the case in principle for the impact of a remoteness adjustment on costs.
On balance, taking into consideration the available evidence and the views of stakeholders, the government has made a judgement that remoteness should be accounted for when assessing the cost of delivering adult social care services.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the inclusion of housing costs in the Indices of Multiple Deprivation does not disadvantage more deprived areas with lower housing costs, particularly those with higher Council Tax rates.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On Thursday 20 November, we published the government response to the Fair Funding Review 2.0, which sets out the government’s plan to introduce a fairer and evidence-led funding system. The government has used the most robust and up to date evidence available. On this basis, we are now using data from the recently published 2025 Indices of Multiple Deprivation in our assessment of need. The Indices are an Accredited Official Statistic produced by MHCLG.
The government has an important role as an equaliser for local government income, directing funding towards the places that are less able to meet their needs through locally raised income. The government will apply a resource adjustment which accounts for the differing Council Tax raising ability between local authorities.
We are proposing that the resource adjustment achieves the objective of full equalisation. This provides funding in a way that supports local authorities to offer a consistent level of service to their residents.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to implement Council Tax equalisation as part of proposed funding reforms; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of those reforms on councils with lower ability to raise local revenue.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On Thursday 20 November, we published the government response to the Fair Funding Review 2.0, which sets out the government’s plan to introduce a fairer and evidence-led funding system.
As part of this, the government is clear that it has an important role as an equaliser for local government income, directing funding towards the places that are less able to meet their needs through locally raised income. The government will therefore apply a resource adjustment which accounts for the differing Council Tax raising ability between local authorities which will be implemented as part of the 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement and will be phased in over three years.
The resource adjustment achieves the objective of full equalisation. This provides funding in a way that supports local authorities to offer a consistent level of service to their residents regardless of their tax base.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) potential merits of continuing the Recovery Grant within the Local Government Finance Settlement and (b) the criteria used to determine its future inclusion.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government introduced the £600 million Recovery Grant in 2025-26 to support those local authorities facing higher need and demand for services, and which are least able to fund their own services through income raised locally.
Following a large number of representations on the importance of this funding, the government confirmed in the local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29 on 20 November that we would maintain all existing Recovery Grant allocations from 2025-26 across the multi-year Settlement. The government agrees – after years of funding cuts to local government, in which the most deprived places suffered the most – that the recovery is not over.
We will also provide a Recovery Grant Guarantee to upper tier authorities which were in receipt of the Recovery Grant. This will be capped at £35 million per authority over the multi-year period. These upper tier authorities will see an above real-terms increase, except for where the cap is applied.
We will publish provisional local authority allocations at the upcoming provisional multi-year Settlement in December. Proposals and allocations will be subject to consultation and the usual Parliamentary process.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Recovery Grant on local authorities' ability to maintain essential services and introduce new support measures for residents.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government introduced the £600 million Recovery Grant in 2025-26 to support those local authorities facing higher need and demand for services, and which are least able to fund their own services through income raised locally.
Following a large number of representations on the importance of this funding, the government confirmed in the local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29 on 20 November that we would maintain all existing Recovery Grant allocations from 2025-26 across the multi-year Settlement. The government agrees – after years of funding cuts to local government, in which the most deprived places suffered the most – that the recovery is not over.
We will also provide a Recovery Grant Guarantee to upper tier authorities which were in receipt of the Recovery Grant. This will be capped at £35 million per authority over the multi-year period. These upper tier authorities will see an above real-terms increase, except for where the cap is applied.
We will publish provisional local authority allocations at the upcoming provisional multi-year Settlement in December. Proposals and allocations will be subject to consultation and the usual Parliamentary process.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Recovery Grant on local authorities in areas with high levels of deprivation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government introduced the £600 million Recovery Grant in 2025-26 to support those local authorities facing higher need and demand for services, and which are least able to fund their own services through income raised locally.
Following a large number of representations on the importance of this funding, the government confirmed in the local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29 on 20 November that we would maintain all existing Recovery Grant allocations from 2025-26 across the multi-year Settlement. The government agrees – after years of funding cuts to local government, in which the most deprived places suffered the most – that the recovery is not over.
We will also provide a Recovery Grant Guarantee to upper tier authorities which were in receipt of the Recovery Grant. This will be capped at £35 million per authority over the multi-year period. These upper tier authorities will see an above real-terms increase, except for where the cap is applied.
We will publish provisional local authority allocations at the upcoming provisional multi-year Settlement in December. Proposals and allocations will be subject to consultation and the usual Parliamentary process.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ensuring that the Fair Funding Review will ensure that the most deprived areas of the country will see the biggest increases in funding.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government published the local government finance policy statement Local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29 - GOV.UK and government response to the Fair Funding Review 2.0 on Thursday 20 November which set out the government’s plans to introduce a fairer and evidence-led system, that will realign funding with need and deprivation.
The government has used the most robust and up to date evidence available. On this basis, we are now using data from the recently published 2025 Indices of Multiple Deprivation in our assessment of need.
We expect that by 2028-29, the top 10% most deprived authorities will see a significant increase in their Core Spending Power per head, compared to the least deprived.
We will publish provisional local authority allocations at the upcoming provisional multi-year Settlement in December. Proposals and allocations will be subject to consultation and the usual Parliamentary process.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what methods of transport Knowsley A-level students use to get to school; and what the (a) times and (b) costs of their commutes are.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not hold the level of data requested.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of Knowsley A-level students have commutes exceeding 45 minutes each way.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not hold the level of data requested.