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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of local authorities in England that have invested in funds of (a) Greensill Capital and (b) Archegos Capital Management.

Under the Prudential Framework, which governs how councils borrow and invest, local authorities are free to determine their own capital strategies and have wide freedoms to invest provided they do so within the bounds of the Framework. This is on the basis that authorities are best placed to make local capital decisions and to ensure their own prudent financial management. It also ensures that councils remain accountable for their decisions

The Government has responsibility for the Prudential Framework to ensure it remains fit for purpose in driving sound investment decisions and constraining risk. However, the Government does not play any role in local decision making. Commensurate to its stewardship role, the Government does collect aggregate data on local authority investments, but does not collect data on investments in individual funds.