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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 9 September (HL17590), whether the 2019–20 local government finance settlement was higher than the 2018–19 settlement.

I can confirm that the 2019-20 local government finance settlement was higher than the 2018-19 settlement. Core Spending Power increased from £45.1 billion in 2018-19 to £46.2 billion in 2019-20, a cash-increase of 2.5% and a real-terms increase in resources available to local authorities.