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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with parish council representatives on the Local Government Finance Settlement Technical Consultation; and if he will make a statement.

During the consultation period, both I and officials at the department met a variety of representatives from the parishes sector to discuss the Local Government Finance Settlement 2017-18 Technical Consultation. This included a meeting between the minister and representatives from the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), as well as several official-level meetings with representatives of the NALC, the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC) and a variety of larger parishes. The minister also spoke at the NALC’s annual conference via video link on 19 October, and an official spoke at the SLCC’s annual conference on 14 October.