Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to reflect the costs of (a) digital connectivity and (b) public transport in (i) rural and (ii) urban areas in funding formulas.

The Government recognises that areas with different characteristics incur different local costs and considers this when making policy decisions.

The government has recently consulted on proposals to allocate local government funding more fairly through the Local Government Finance Settlement. This included consideration of how to effectively account for variations in relative cost and demand between local authorities, including differences between rural and urban areas.