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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimates he made of the costs incurred by English local authorities in responding to the covid-19 outbreak when preparing the 2020 spending review.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, we have worked closely with local authorities to understand the pressures they are facing. Local authorities have completed monitoring returns to assess the impact the pandemic is having on their finances which shows that the estimated additional expenditure up to the end of October 2020 is £4 billion. Based on this, we have allocated £7.2 billion directly to local authorities, with £4.6 billion of this being unringfenced money for authorities to spend how they see fit.

Furthermore, at the Spending Review on 25 November, the Chancellor announced estimated funding of around £3 billion of additional support for Covid-19 pressures next year. The Chancellor also confirmed that Core Spending Power is forecast to rise by 4.5 per cent in cash terms in 2021-22 - a real terms increase. This package means local authorities will be able to access an estimated additional £2.2 billion to support Adult and Children’s Social Care and to maintain universal services.