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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Fair Funding Review includes consideration of rural indicators.

The Government is undertaking a review of the relative needs and resources of local authorities in England. We are working closely with local government representatives and others to examine all of the available evidence for the costs faced by authorities. This includes how factors such as rurality, sparsity and other geographical features affect the cost of delivering services across the country, and how to account for these in a robust manner.

Our aim is to consult on all aspects of the review in the Spring, and implement the review in 2021-22.