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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he will publish the number of second homes, and any other relevant statistical assumptions, that the Department has used for each of the next three financial years (2026/27 to 2028/29) in calculating the council tax base for (a) Westmorland and Furness Council and (b) Cumberland Council as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement.

The Department does not identify the number of second homes in forecasts of council tax base, or calculations of the Local Government Finance Settlement.

Council tax base figures are used in the calculation of local authorities’ Fair Funding Allocations within the Local Government Finance Settlement, and the calculation of Core Spending Power.

Fair Funding Allocations use council tax base data from 2024, prior to the introduction of the second homes premium, meaning they are unaffected by local decisions to implement the premium. The tax base for each authority is published on gov.uk here.

The methodology note for calculating Core Spending Power, which is the government’s longstanding presentational measure of the resources available to local authorities through the Local Government Finance Settlement, is available on gov.uk here. The published statistical tables are available on GOV.UK: 2021-22 Council Tax Levels Statistics Table 9; Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2025 to 2026 (revised). The government believes it is right to continue to calculate Core Spending Power in line with the approach used at previous Settlements.