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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support district councils respond to the covid-19 outbreak.

My Department has been working closely with district councils and sector representing organisations throughout the response to this crisis to understand the challenges they face. We also recognise the excellent work already being done up and down the country by all councils to support their communities during the crisis.

On 16 July 2020, my Department confirmed allocations for individual councils from the £500 million of additional support for coronavirus related spending pressures. The funding has been distributed between district and county councils to reflect the pressures they have reported. This is in addition to the £3.2 billion announced in April, taking the total given to councils to help their communities through the crisis to over £3.7 billion in unringfenced funding, an unprecedented level of additional financial support in recent times.

We have a number of established engagement channels in place to help ensure effective communication, feedback and information sharing and to provide support and latest guidance for councils;

• MHCLG ministers and officials regularly attend District Council Network (DCN) Covid-19 teleconferences
• MHCLG COVID-19 webinar is a regularly held teleconference, chaired by the Secretary of State and myself. All council leaders and chief executives are invited.
• Since 18 March, district council chief executives have received a daily bulletin from MHCLG. The MHCLG Coronavirus Bulletin contains information on the most recent central government announcements, guidance, letters and communication materials related to coronavirus.