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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment the Government has made of the effect of covid-19 on the adequacy of local authority finances.

The Government announced a further £1.6 billion to support councils in delivering essential front line services, on 18 April. This funding recognises the additional costs and pressures which councils are facing as they respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

This package of support takes the total given to councils to help their communities through this crisis to over £3.2 billion, an unprecedented level of additional financial?support in recent times. It means councils will be able to continue to support the most vulnerable people during the pandemic, deal with immediate pressures and provide additional support across a range of vital services.