Local Government Services

(asked on 26th January 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to local authorities of tackling backlogs in locally-delivered services.


Answered by
Neil O'Brien Portrait
Neil O'Brien
This question was answered on 31st January 2022

Local authorities, who know their areas’ needs best, are best placed to determine how to deliver services locally.

Councils have been essential to the national response to COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic, we have committed over £13 billion to local authorities to tackle the impact of COVID-19 on their services, over £6 billion of which is un-ringfenced in recognition that they are best placed to decide how to meet the major COVID-19 pressures in their local areas, as well as providing compensation for lost income.

The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, published on 17th December 2021, makes available an additional £3.5 billion to councils, including funding for adult social care reform. This is an increase in local authority funding for 2022-23 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 from £50.4 billion in 2021-22 to up to £53.9 billion in 2022-23.

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