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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of reductions in local authority funding on levelling up.

We have not reduced local government funding. We are making available £54.1 billion to local government in England through this year's Settlement, an increase of up to £3.7 billion from last year, including over £1 billion specifically for adult social care pressures.

Through this year’s settlement, the most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 14% more per dwelling in available resource than the least deprived areas.

For Lancashire County Council, this represents a cash-terms increase in Core Spending Power of up to 8.2% compared to last year, worth £71.8 million.

For Lancaster City Council, this is a cash-terms increase of up to 3.9% and for Wyre Council, this represents a cash-terms increase in Core Spending Power of up to 6.8%.