Oral Answers to Questions

Bell Ribeiro-Addy Excerpts

Monday 28th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[James MacCleary (Lewes) (LD)]

16. What assessment she has made of trends in the costs of delivering statutory local government services in rural areas.

[Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill) (Lab)]

17. What steps she is taking with local authorities to help ensure that they have adequate resources to fund local services.

[Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)]

21. What steps she is taking to help ensure the financial sustainability of local authorities.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jim McMahon]

We will of course publish a White Paper on the English devolution Bill. It will set out an ambitious programme for a power shift from this place and Whitehall to combined authorities, to local government and, of course, to communities. We are absolutely committed to that top-to-bottom power shift. We recognise that parish and town councils have a role to play.

[Bell Ribeiro-Addy]

Rising demand, rising costs and 14 years of Conservative public sector cuts mean that many local authorities and services are at breaking point. My own borough of Lambeth, a deprived inner-London area with higher demand for social housing and temporary accommodation, and for social, public and youth services, has been particularly affected, which has been quite challenging. Will the Minister commit to an emergency increase in funding to combat the immediate crisis for local authorities, and, in the long term, to a much-needed update of the funding formula to better reflect local need?

[Jim McMahon]

Like every Member of the House, my hon. Friend will know that those 14 years have taken their toll, and that it will take more than three months to repair that, but we are absolutely committed to repairing the foundations, and our multi-year financial settlements will give security. Of course, we recognise that the demand-led pressures in many places are the back-end of a bigger problem. Temporary accommodation relates to the housing crisis that needs fixing. The same applies to children’s services and adult social care.