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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding has been allocated to local authorities in England to support the work of fire and rescue services in each year since 2010.

The funding that MHCLG allocates to local authorities in England is confirmed each year as part of the annual Local Government Finance Settlement. The Department publishes this data and the funding for both stand-alone Fire and Rescue Authorities and local authorities with fire and rescue responsibilities can be found online at the links below. The Home Office is the responsible department for fire services and provides in addition a number of specific grants to Fire and Rescue Authorities.

These publications show funding allocations but of course this Government believes that local authorities are best placed to know where the spending pressures lie in their local area. This funding is not ringfenced specifically for fire and rescue services, and local authorities may choose to spend the funding as they see fit. Each local authority is accountable to its local electorate for its spending.

This year’s settlement provided the largest year on year increase in Core Spending Power for local authorities in almost a decade: £2.9 billion or an average 4.4 per cent real terms increase.

* The methodology for presenting local authority funding changed in 2015 and to go further back to 2010 would show an inconsistent series.