Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether levels of deprivation in (a) Goldsworth Park, (b) Canalside ward and (c) other areas are taken into account when deciding levels of funding allocated to local authorities.

In the 2025-26 Settlement, the new, one-off, Recovery Grant, worth £600 million, was targeted towards areas with greater need and demand for services, with deprivation used as a proxy for this, and less ability to raise income locally. The metrics used are based on the most recent publicly available data, including the IMD 2019 which is made up of 33,000 lower layer super output area (LSOA) scores. We have used this LSOA data to determine allocations for the Recovery Grant, noting the importance of considering the variance between all small areas that make up an authority. This grant is the first meaningful step towards funding reform starting to correct the unfairness of the current system.

The government is planning to use the best available evidence to assess differences in the need for local government services – including deprivation – and resources available to local authorities. We will set this out in more detail through further consultation following the Spending Review, and welcome views from local government representatives and the public.