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 asylum-related social care costs on (a) council tax levels and (b) core service provision.

The government is committed to ensuring that funding is targeted effectively at the places and services that need it most. This includes committing to multi-year allocations for each council through the 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement and moving to a more up-to-date assessment of each council’s needs and resources. The final 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement will make available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026-27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26. The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities.

Local authorities report revenue expenditure and financing through the following data collection, which is publicly available and includes data from each financial year since 2019-20: Local authority revenue expenditure and financing - GOV.UK.