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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) financial and (b) other support has been provided to Luton Borough Council since March 2020.

In this year's Settlement, the Government made available an increase in Core Spending Power in England from £49 billion in 2020-21 to up to £51.3 billion in 2021-22, a 4.6% increase in cash terms. This recognises the resources councils need to meet their pressures and maintain current service levels.

This saw Luton Borough Councils Core Spending Power increase from £154.7 million in 20/21 to £161.78 million in 21/22, a 4.5% increase.

The Government also allocated more than £12 billion directly to councils since the start of the pandemic, with more than £6 billion of this un-ringfenced, recognising that councils are best placed to deal with local issues.

Luton Borough Council received £19.4 million in additional Covid funding in 20/21 and saw this figure increase to £26.3 million in 21/22.

We have recently published figures for emergency funding for local government in 2020-21 and additional support in 2021-22 online and can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-emergency-funding-for-local-government.

To further support Luton Borough Council, the Secretary of State agreed to provide additional financial support, on an exceptional basis. This support takes the form of a flexibility to use capital resources to fund the revenue budget, equating to additional support of up to £35 million in 2020/21.

The Secretary of State is also minded to give permission for the flexibility to be applied to a total not exceeding £14 million in 2021/22, subject to the outcome of an external assurance review.