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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to make levels of council tax equal in all local authority areas; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on councils with less ability to raise local revenue.

Council tax is managed by local authorities, who decide what level of council tax they wish to set. This will reflect the service needs of each area having taken account of their other sources of income. It will also reflect historic council tax decisions taken by local authorities over several decades. The government maintains the referendum principles and authorities who choose to increase their council tax above this must obtain the approval of voters.

The Government remains committed to keeping all taxes and elements of the local government finance system under review. As part of the Fair Funding Review 2.0, for example, the government has consulted on proposals to fully account for how much different areas can raise from council tax within grant funding allocations.