Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that local authorities have adequate resources to effectively respond to local anti-social behaviour issues.

The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides a range of flexible tools and powers to local agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour. Local areas decide how best to deploy these powers depending on the specific circumstances of each individual case.

The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022-23 makes available an additional £3.5 billion to councils, including funding for adult social care reform. This is an increase of over 4% in real terms, which will ensure councils across the country have the resources they need to deliver key services. In total, we expect Core Spending Power to rise to £53.9 billion in 2022-23, against £50.4 billion in 2021-22.

The Government is also providing around £1.6 billion additional grant in 2022-23. This includes additional funding for Supporting Families and Cyber Resilience, which will be distributed outside of this Settlement. We are allocating most of that funding through the provisional Settlement, including through a one-off 2022/23 Services Grant to councils to spend on vital frontline services, worth £822 million.

This funding will be given to councils to spend as they see fit, recognising that councils are placed to deal with local issues. The Government aims to publish a final settlement confirming allocations to individual local authorities in February 2022.