Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of funding provided to Halton council between 2010 and 2025 on public services in that area.

Halton Borough Council will receive £4.5 million from the Recovery Grant in 2025-26. The Recovery Grant is targeted towards areas with greater need and demand for services and less ability to raise income locally. This grant is the first meaningful step towards long overdue funding reform but the government is clear that this is not comprehensive reform. The metrics in this grant will not be as sophisticated as the fully updated assessment of need we are consulting on, and deprivation is the best available proxy.

This Government recognises that council funding has been under pressure since 2010. Detailed information on core spending power and settlement funding for Halton Borough Council from 2015/16 to 2020/21 can be viewed here.

Due to changes in the function and financing of local government, comparable data on Core Spending Power is not available prior to 2015/16.