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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether restrictions are placed on the deployment by local authorities of funding and pest control services for rat or other pest infestations in social housing.

Pest control services for rat or other pest infestations will be a normal part of an authority’s statutory management and maintenance responsibilities where they are the landlord. Where such expenditure takes place concerning the council’s own housing stock it should be debited to their Housing Revenue Account. The Housing Revenue Account is a ring-fenced landlord account, which means that the authority can only credit or debit it for income and expenditure on its own housing and housing-related stock.

Where the authority performs this function for non-housing assets, or for any property not owned by the authority, the costs fall to the authority's General Fund. The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23 makes available an additional £3.7 billion to councils, including funding for adult social care reform. The majority of this funding is un-ringfenced in recognition of local authorities being best placed to understand local priorities, such as pest control.

Guidance on the operation of the Housing Revenue Account ring-fence can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/operation-of-the-housing-revenue-account-ring-fence/operation-of-the-housing-revenue-account-ring-fence