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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of defragmenting local government funding on the delivery of the levelling up agenda.

Local authorities are important partners in delivering our levelling up ambitions, and many have already been successful in securing funding for their areas from the Levelling Up Fund, Towns Fund and Community Renewal Fund. The Local Government Finance settlement and the vast majority of local government’s Core Spending Power are un-ringfenced, giving local authorities flexibility over their spending decisions.