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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans his Department has to support councils in delivering the levelling up agenda during current levels of material, energy and labour price inflation; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing councils with additional funds to compensate for those increased costs.

The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, announced in December, makes available an additional £3.5 billion to councils, including funding for adult social care reform. This is an increase in local authority funding for 2022-23 of over 4% in real terms, which will ensure councils across the country have the resources they need to deliver key services.

Local authorities have the flexibility to use funding in a way that responds to local needs, and can prioritise based on their own understanding of the needs of their communities.