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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to support local authorities to manage increased costs for the purchase or lease of trucks in response to alleged price fixing by truck manufacturers.

Local authorities should not lose out as a result of illegal anti-competitive activity. Civil claims for damages or other redress arising from infringements of competition law may be brought before the High Court or the Competition Appeal Tribunal, which is the UK’s specialist judicial body for determining competition law disputes

On 16 December, the Government announced the provisional Settlement, which makes available an additional £3.5 billion to councils. 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. In total, we expect Core Spending Power to rise from £50.4 billion in 2021-22 to up to £53.9 billion next year.