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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department is taking steps to give local authorities greater flexibility in respect to grant funding.

The Government was elected on a manifesto that stressed a partnership approach with local authorities and an intention to stabilise the funding system, moving away from wasteful competition and towards multi-year funding settlements.

We want to have better join up across interconnected policy areas and investment programmes, reducing burdens for local authorities and fund bidders.

We have been working closely with local authorities and delivery partners to inform best practice in future design and recognise the importance of supporting local capacity and capability, realistic delivery timelines and working in partnership to design future delivery arrangements. As part of this, we are also committed to deepening existing combined authority devolution settlements and widening devolution to more areas, incentivised through new powers over transport, adult education and skills, housing and planning and employment support. We will also continue to offer support for combined authorities working on their local growth plans. Those are the principles we will seek to apply as we plan future local funding.