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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment has been made of the potential impact of increased energy costs on local authority finances; and if he will make a statement.

As we have set out previously, we recognise that councils are facing higher costs. At the Autumn Statement, the Government announced significant additional resources for local government, making available approximately £6.5 billion of taxpayer subsidy for local government to deliver core services in 2023/24 and 2024/25 in addition to what was agreed at the 2021 Spending Review.

In addition, the Energy Bill Relief Scheme is providing a discount on energy prices this winter for councils whose bills have been significantly inflated by the global energy crisis.