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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what further steps he plans to take to give councils greater flexibility and control over budgets; and if he will make a statement.

We have already given councils greater control by offering a 4-year settlement, and by the end of the Parliament, local government will retain 100% of business rates raised locally. Devolution Deals have awarded Mayoral Combined Authorities with greater flexibilities over investment funding through the Single Pot; this local control will only increase with devolution of the Adult Education Budget from 2018/19, subject to readiness conditions in Deal agreements. The Government believes that these policies fundamentally change the way local government operates, to give councils greater flexibility and control over budgets.