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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that Durham County Council may lose up to £14 million in its annual budget following the implementation of the Fair Funding Review.

The Government announced in April that it would not proceed with the implementation of the Review of Relative Needs and Resources, and wider local government finance reform, in 2021-22. This decision was taken in the interest of creating stability for local authorities and has allowed both government and councils to focus on meeting the immediate public health challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pressures of the pandemic recede, we will work with local government to understand the lasting impact it has had on both service demands and revenue raising. We will then revisit priorities for reform of the local government finance system, taking account of wider work on the future of business rates and Adult Social Care. No decisions have been taken from which to make assessments of how individual local authorities will be affected, and any final decisions will be taken in the context of this year’s Spending Review.