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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the details of any memorandum of understanding between his Department and Surrey County Council in relation to funding for social care; and if he will make a statement.

As part of the statutory draft Local Government Finance Settlement consultation, the Department for Communities and Local Government discusses local government funding with councils across the country, of all types and all political colours. This happens every year, and necessarily involves councils making direct representations to the Government.

DCLG will publish the final settlement later this month, and the House of Commons will then vote on it. This is entirely transparent, and detailed funding figures for every council are published as part of that process.

Whilst the final settlement has yet to be approved, the Government is not proposing extra funding to Surrey County Council that is not otherwise provided or offered to other councils generally. There is no ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ between Government and Surrey County Council.