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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies of the findings of a report by the University of Liverpool and published in The Lancet Public Health entitled Local government funding and life expectancy in England: a longitudinal ecological study.

In the last year, our focus has been making sure councils continue to get the support they need during the pandemic, driving forward recovery and renewal plans and maintaining critical services. Once the pandemic is through, we will take stock of the demands faced by councils and the resources available to meet them and will decide on the timetable for future funding reform. Final decisions will be taken in the context of this year's Spending Review.