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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Questions 245 to 259 of his evidence to the Treasury Committee on 25 April 2018 on The Work of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what drivers of cost he has identified among local authorities in England.

The Government is conducting a review of the relative needs and resources of local authorities in England, with a view to setting fresh baseline funding levels in 2020-21. In line with the principles that were set out in the consultation paper published in December 2017, we are committed to implementing an approach that is as simple and transparent as possible, while recognising this should not be at the expense of accuracy and fairness.

We are working closely with local government representatives to consider the drivers of local authorities’ costs, the relative resources available to them to fund local services, and how we should account for these in a way that draws a more transparent and understandable link between local circumstances and resource allocations.

The December 2017 consultation was an important opportunity for all local authorities to tell us about the factors which drive costs for the services they deliver on a day to day basis. We received over 300 responses to the consultation, which are now being carefully considered as we progress this review.