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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to increase the local government settlement in line with inflation or above, ahead of the local government finance settlement; and if he has had discussions with local authority leaders about their ability to (a) plan for (b) provide public services without this information; and if he will make a statement.

The Local Government Finance Settlement makes available £54.1 billion in 2022/23 for local government in England, an increase of up to £3.7 billion on 2021/22.

Inflation forecasts are higher than they were at the Spending Review. How that interacts with the finances of local government is not straightforward. We are working closely with local government to understand the impact of inflationary pressures. My department speaks regularly to local government and their representatives to understand their financial position.

Local authorities will receive support through the government's Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which will provide a discount on energy prices this winter for local authorities whose bills have been significantly inflated by the global energy crisis.

The Government recognises how important certainty is to local authorities, and we aim to provide that whenever possible. We will be announcing the 2023/24 Local Government settlement in due course.