Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the average waiting time for SEND assessments in each local authority in England.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

Information on the number and percentage of education, health and care (EHC) plans issued within the statutory 20 week deadline, with and without statutory exceptions to that deadline applying, is part of the latest statistical release published on 26 June 2025 at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans/2025.

The table linked below shows the number and proportion of plans issued within, and over, the statutory 20-week deadline, excluding where statutory exceptions to that deadline apply, for each local authority in England during the 2024 calendar year: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/adbf152d-5d22-42d2-c78b-08de38576300.

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 he has made of the financial sustainability of local authorities projecting significant drawdowns from reserves within the next three years.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government considers reserves to be an important part of the resources available to local authorities.

We encourage local authorities to consider how they can use their reserves to maintain services in the face of pressures, taking account, of course, of the need to maintain appropriate levels of reserves to support their financial sustainability and future investment.

Data from the 2024-5 financial year can be found on gov.uk here.

Further information about an individual local authority's reserves can be found in the financial accounts published by that authority. The government will continue to monitor the level of local authority reserves.

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 impact of above inflation council tax increases on the delivery of local public services in a) England and b) Leicester.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Department has not made specific assessments on the impacts of council tax increases on the delivery of local public services. It is for individual councils to set their own level of council tax. The government intends to maintain a core 3% referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept and will consult on this at the provisional local government finance settlement. Local authorities who wish to set their council tax level above the referendum threshold must obtain the approval of local voters.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to i) support local authorities in managing temporary accommodation costs and ii) ensure value for money in capital investment programmes.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government has increased funding for homelessness services to over £1 billion, including a £50 million top up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant announced in December 2025. We are also investing £3.5 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years, through more flexible multi-year funding arrangements that enable councils to invest more in prevention.

We are also providing £950 million capital for the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund - the largest round of the fund to date - to support local authorities in England to increase the supply of better-quality temporary accommodation and to support resettlement.

At Autumn Budget 2025, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury announced he will work across government to improve the value for money of homelessness services and achieve better outcomes so that we can improve the supply of good-value-for-money and good-quality temporary accommodation and supported housing.