Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial reserves of each of (1) Belfast, (2) Birmingham, (3) Bristol, (4) Cardiff, (5) Glasgow, (6) Leeds, (7) Liverpool, (8) Manchester, (9) Newcastle, (10) Nottingham, and (11) Sheffield, local authorities; and what information they hold on such reserves in each case.
The Department collects and publishes reserves data as part of annual data returns from local authorities in England. These figures can be found (attached) in the individual local authority data at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing, in table RA of budget data, and in table RS of outturn data. The latest published reserves figures from these local authorities are shown in the table.
Non-ringfenced reserves at 31 March 2020 of requested local authorities
| Other earmarked reserves (£m) | Unallocated reserves (£m) |
Birmingham | 463.8 | 133.0 |
Bristol | 80.6 | 17.0 |
Leeds | 66.7 | 31.5 |
Liverpool | 96.8 | 5.7 |
Manchester | 348.7 | 21.4 |
Newcastle-upon-Tyne | 87.7 | 10.1 |
Nottingham | 153.7 | 2.2 |
Sheffield | 252.1 | 13.2 |
Source: Provisional Revenue Outturn 2019-20 returns from local authorities in England to MHCLG
We also collect information on use of reserves in our Local Authority COVID-19 financial monitoring survey. The eighth round of the survey was live between 4th and 11th December.
The financial position of councils in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the relevant devolved administration.