Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nigel Mills and Rishi Sunak

Monday 23rd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

14. What steps his Department is taking to ensure fairness in the allocation of funding to local government.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Rishi Sunak)]

We are undertaking a fair funding review of local authorities’ relative needs and resources to address concerns about the fairness of the current system, and I am pleased to say that we are making good progress in collaboration with the sector in order to introduce a simple, fair and transparent funding formula.

[Nigel Mills]

Councils across Derbyshire have suffered under the previous funding formula, and I welcome the consultation and the fact that Derbyshire is one of the business rate retention pilots. Does my hon. Friend agree that local councils could achieve a double whammy by encouraging local growth and creating more jobs, and also by raising their own funds through the increased business rates?