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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have had with (i) Birmingham City Council and (ii) the Commissioners appointed to the authority regarding the refuse workers’ strike; and what steps his Department is taking to encourage that council to re-enter negotiations with Unite the Union to resolve the dispute.

The Secretary of State has not met with Birmingham City Council or the Commissioners regarding the refuse workers’ strike. My department engages regularly with Birmingham City Council as is normal for all Councils under intervention. This matter, and the wider waste dispute, is a local issue and is rightly being dealt with by the Council.

Commissioners are experienced local government professionals and are appointed to Birmingham City Council to support its recovery and improvement journey. They have powers relating to governance, finance and recruitment which they can use according to their expert judgement and discretion.

More widely, the government is under no illusions about the scale of the wider financial challenge facing councils following more than a decade of cuts by successive governments. The government is therefore supporting the Leader and his team in Birmingham, directly and through the Commissioners, to move the council on from its historic issues. From 2026-27, the government is making good on long overdue promises to fundamentally update the way we fund local authorities, realigning funding with need and deprivation. The government already delivered an increase in Core Spending Power in Birmingham of up to 9.8% in 2025-26 and will further support councils through the first multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement in a decade.