Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of her Department's support for (a) Halton Borough Council and (b) other smaller councils.

This Government will work hand in hand with councils like Halton and ensure the sector gets back on its feet by moving towards multi-year funding settlements, ending competitive bidding processes and reforming the local audit system.

Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged.

The department will work with local government leaders to ensure they are better able to fulfil their statutory duties.