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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what criteria his Department used to determine that £1.6 billion was required by local authorities in emergency covid-19 funding.

This Government has now made £3.2 billion available to local authorities through an un-ringfenced grant so they can address any pressures they are facing in response the Covid-19 pandemic, across all service areas.

Since we announced an initial £1.6 billion on 18 March we have kept funding needs under review, using monthly data collections and our conversations with councils and their representative bodies to refine our assessment.

The additional £1.6 billion announced on 18 April is based on?our?latest?and best?assessment of?the distribution of?additional Covid-19 pressures. The additional funding is un-ringfenced, recognising that local authorities are best placed to decide how to meet the major Covid-19 service pressures in their local area.