Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to (a) stabilise local government finances and (b) increase the level of funding in order to allow previously closed services to resume and closed buildings to re-open.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to fixing the foundations of local government, redirecting funding towards the services and places that need it most. The final 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement makes available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026-27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26. In parallel, we delivered the fair funding review reforms through the first multi-year Settlement in a decade. As a result, nine in ten councils will now receive funding that broadly matches their assessed relative need by the end of the multi-year Settlement, up from around a third before our reforms.
Last month, the Government announced £91 million in additional funding to accelerate local councils’ transformation plans in areas such as homelessness, adult social care, children’s services and SEND. This investment reflects a turning point in how the Government intends to support councils to manage their financial position, with an emphasis on long-term prevention over short-term fixes.
The Government’s Pride in Place Programme will provide up to £5.8 billion over 10 years to support 284 neighbourhoods experiencing the highest levels of deprivation. In each place, the local Neighbourhood Board will work with the community to decide how this funding is spent, ensuring investment reflects local priorities.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to improve local government finances and fund public buildings and services, in the context of budgetary cuts under the previous Government.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to fixing the foundations of local government, redirecting funding towards the services and places that need it most. The final 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement makes available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026-27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26. In parallel, we delivered the fair funding review reforms through the first multi-year Settlement in a decade. As a result, nine in ten councils will now receive funding that broadly matches their assessed relative need by the end of the multi-year Settlement, up from around a third before our reforms.
Last month, the Government announced £91 million in additional funding to accelerate local councils’ transformation plans in areas such as homelessness, adult social care, children’s services and SEND. This investment reflects a turning point in how the Government intends to support councils to manage their financial position, with an emphasis on long-term prevention over short-term fixes.
The Government’s Pride in Place Programme will provide up to £5.8 billion over 10 years to support 284 neighbourhoods experiencing the highest levels of deprivation. In each place, the local Neighbourhood Board will work with the community to decide how this funding is spent, ensuring investment reflects local priorities.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of increasing the level of resources and funding for councils ahead of the Budget.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It would not be appropriate to comment on individual measures ahead of the Budget. The Chancellor will take decisions through the usual Budget process and set out the Government’s fiscal plans at the Budget.
The Department will continue to work closely with local government and other government departments to understand specific pressures facing local government ahead of the Budget and other fiscal events.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the estimate of the funding gap for English councils in the financial year 2027/28 in UNISON's publication entitled Bridging the Gap, published on 14 September 2026.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department will continue to work closely with local government and other government departments to understand specific pressures facing local government ahead of the Budget and other fiscal events.
The Government is committed to returning the local government sector to a sustainable position. We are delivering fairer funding, targeting money where it is needed most through the first multi-year Settlement in a decade. By the end of the multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement, the government will have made available a 24.3% increase in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England, worth £16.6 billion, since coming into power in 2024-25.
The government is investing in service areas with escalating costs. We have made over £4.6 billion of additional funding available to adult social care in 2028-29 compared to 2025-26, and invested investing £2.4 billion in children’s social care prevention and de-escalation.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to his oral contribution of 8th September 2026, Official Report, Column 911, whether his Department will undertake a specific review process to consider whether a) extant and b) new applications for arms exports licences might materially contribute to the occupation.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have conducted a full review of extant export licences going to Israel to assess whether they might make a material contribution to Israel's unlawful occupation. We have not suspended additional extant licences, at this stage because licences for items that might materially contribute to the occupation have already been suspended because of Israel's conduct in the Gaza conflict. However, we now have in effect an 'additional lock' on relevant licences. We will not now approve licences for items that might be used in Gaza or that would make a material contribution to the occupation.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that every local authority has access to adequate methods for identifying women experiencing rough sleeping.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On his first day in office, the Prime Minister launched an urgent national drive to end rough sleeping. We have announced £442 million new funding to support this ambition, taking total investment in homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years to over £4 billion.
The Government recognises that women experiencing rough sleeping are often less visible and may be at greater risk of violence, abuse and exploitation. Local areas are encouraged to work proactively with specialist women’s services, domestic abuse and violence against women and girls services, health partners and community organisations to identify and support women who may be sleeping rough or at risk of doing so. Further guidance on how local authorities are expected to support women through the Rough Sleeping Programme can be found here: Rough Sleeping Programme Guidance - GOV.UK
You can find data about the number of women sleeping rough in England on gov.uk here. Since June 2025 we have included a question on the number of women sleeping rough in our monthly rough sleeping survey. The annual rough sleeping snapshot also includes data on the number of women estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in England. In addition to our official rough sleeping statistics, we continue to gather information from a variety of sources to understand women’s rough sleeping, including the Women’s Census.
Through the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund, we are providing £37 million over three years to support specialist organisations that work with women facing some of the greatest barriers to accessing support.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Fracture Liaison Services are currently operating across the Liverpool City Region; and what steps her Department is taking to improve Fracture Liaison Service provision across the region.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) database currently has no FLS recorded in the Liverpool City Region, but on the wider issue raised, I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 20 July in response to Question 18686.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to establish a Fracture Liaison Service in Liverpool; and when she expects people in Liverpool to benefit from such a service.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) database currently has no FLS recorded in the Liverpool City Region, but on the wider issue raised, I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 20 July in response to Question 18686.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues in the Department for Transport regarding Skills England’s live review of maritime apprenticeship standards.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises the importance of maritime apprenticeships in helping employers develop a skilled workforce. Ministers and officials engage regularly with colleagues across Government on matters relating to skills and workforce development, including sectors of strategic importance such as maritime.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with (a) Skills England, (b) employers and (c) trade unions to help increase the (i) range and (ii) uptake of seafarer apprenticeships in maritime communities.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government recognises the importance of maritime apprenticeships in helping employers develop a skilled workforce and in creating opportunities for people in maritime communities to enter rewarding careers at sea. Skills England works with employers and sector bodies to develop and maintain a range of maritime apprenticeship standards, ensuring they reflect employer needs.
To increase apprenticeship opportunities, the Government is introducing a £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for non-levy paying employers who recruit 16 to 24-year-olds as new apprentice employees. In addition, apprenticeship training is now fully funded for all eligible under-25s at employers of all sizes, helping more young people access opportunities in sectors such as maritime.