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

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the public sector equality duty pursuant to the Equality Act 2010 regarding the financial resources of local authorities.

The Department takes its duties as set out in the Equality Act 2010 very seriously, and has due regard to the Act when taking decisions throughout the policymaking process.

The government sought views, as part of the provisional local government finance settlement 2025-26, on the impact of the Settlement proposals on persons who share a protected characteristic. A summary of the government's response to the consultation can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-provisional-local-government-finance-settlement-2025-to-2026/outcome/provisional-local-government-finance-settlement-2025-to-2026-consultation-summary-of-responses#impacts-of-these-proposals.

We also asked for views in our consultation on local authority funding reform regarding the impact of the proposals on protected characteristics. The government will publish a response to this consultation late Spring 2025.