Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of Government funding for (a) refuse collection and (b) environmental health.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the Government department responsible for allocating funding to local authorities. Defra officials work closely with those in MHCLG and also regularly meet local authority colleagues to support them on other non-fiscal challenges they face with the delivery of waste and environmental health services during the pandemic.

The Government is providing over £7.2 billion emergency funding to help authorities deal with COVID-19 pressures. £4.6 billion of this is un-ringfenced and so can be used by local authorities to meet local pressures as they see fit - including refuse collection and environmental health issues.

In addition, councils' core spending power rose by over £2.9 billion this financial year?even before additional emergency funding was announced.