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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will have discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on ensuring that local government is funded to cover increased cost pressures facing the sector as part of the upcoming Medium Term Fiscal Plan.

The Spending Review settlement took into account a wide range of cost pressures. We announced around £1.6 billion additional grant for local government in 2022/23, including funding for Supporting Families and Cyber Resilience. The Local Government Finance Settlement made available £54.1 billion in 2022/23 for local government in England, an increase of up to £3.7 billion on 2021/22.

We acknowledge that inflation forecasts are higher than they were at the Spending Review. How that interacts with the finances of local government is not straightforward. For example, some councils will have energy contracts expiring soon, whereas others will be fixed for some time. We are working with local authorities to more fully understand the nature of the issues that have emerged in recent months, considering the issue of rising inflation along with other challenges such as energy price rises and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Chancellor will set out further details of it’s the government’s Medium-Term Fiscal Plan on Monday 31 October. The OBR forecast will also be published on that date.