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1130373

registered interest
date	06/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made on encouraging local authorities to invest more of their reserves in local communities.
tabling member constituency	Stevenage
tabling member printed	Stephen McPartland
uin	261216
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>Councils are free to determine the level of reserves they hold and are accountable to their electorate for the decisions they make. No powers exist to redistribute/reclaim this resource. All local authorities are required to hold sufficient unallocated reserves to meet unforecastable financial risks. <br> <br> Many council’s reserves are earmarked for particular purposes. Earmarked reserves are funds that are spent at the discretion of the local authority.</p> answering member constituency Richmond (Yorks) answering member printed Rishi Sunak question first answered 13/06/2019 16:33:11 answering member 4483 label Biography information for Rishi Sunak
tabling member	4093 label Biography information for Stephen McPartland

1129116

registered interest
date	03/06/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the difference in spending per head between 2009-10 and 2017-18 by local authorities in the five most deprived areas in England and Wales.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	258978
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/06/2019 answer text <p>The definition of spending power is not comparable over the period 2010-11 to 2019-20 due to changes in the finance and function of local government. A consistent measure of core spending power is available for the period 2015 -16 to 2019 -20. The Department does not calculate Core Spending Power per head.</p> answering member constituency Richmond (Yorks) answering member printed Rishi Sunak question first answered 06/06/2019 15:28:26 answering member 4483 label Biography information for Rishi Sunak
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1129320

registered interest
date	03/06/2019
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Local Government Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the 1 February 2019 Local Government Association's news article entitled £8 billion funding black hole by 2025 will swallow up popular council services, dated 1 February 2019, what representations his Department has received on funding for local government in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.
tabling member constituency	Oldham West and Royton
tabling member printed	Jim McMahon
uin	259376
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2019 answer text <p>As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, I regularly hear from councils across the country on matters related to local government funding. I have also attended events organised by the sector to discuss local government funding.</p><p> </p><p>Future funding for local government will be considered at the next Spending Review.</p> answering member constituency South West Norfolk answering member printed Elizabeth Truss question first answered 11/06/2019 10:46:14 answering member 4097 label Biography information for Elizabeth Truss
tabling member	4569 label Biography information for Jim McMahon

1110382

registered interest
date	08/04/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has plans to publish more of the analysis that has informed the Fair Funding review proposals.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	242240
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/04/2019 answer text <p>The Government is undertaking a review of the relative needs and resources of local authorities in England, with a view to setting fresh baseline funding levels in 2020-21. We are working closely with local government representatives and others to consider the drivers of local authorities’ costs, the resources available locally to fund services, and how we should account for these in a way that draws a more transparent and understandable link between local circumstances and resource allocations.</p><p>In December 2018 the Government published a consultation detailing its interim analysis and conclusions, and which set out its proposed approach to assessing the relative needs and resources of local authorities. We received over 300 responses to this consultation and are considering these responses carefully, before we take further decisions on the shape of the review. This is an ongoing process and as such, the analysis is not yet complete. However, the Government recognises the need for transparency, a key principle of the review, and intends to publish further detail on its proposals in due course.</p> answering member constituency Richmond (Yorks) answering member printed Rishi Sunak question first answered 11/04/2019 10:58:57 answering member 4483 label Biography information for Rishi Sunak
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1105225

registered interest
date	26/03/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Local Government Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish (a) which local authorities underspent their early years block allocations, (b) the amount of each such underspend and (c) the amount and proportion of each such underspend which was transferred to the High Needs block in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Manchester Central
tabling member printed	Lucy Powell
uin	237164
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/04/2019 answer text <p>Information is published on local authorities’ expenditure and the allocations made to them by the department. We do not currently publish any specific data about underspends. The Education and Skills Funding Agency publish information provided by local authorities on their total dedicated schools grant (DSG) actual expenditure, including early years block, through Section 251 outturn returns:</p><p> </p><p>2015-16: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/section-251-2015-to-2016#section-251-benchmarking-data" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/section-251-2015-to-2016#section-251-benchmarking-data</a>.</p><p>2016-17: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/section-251-2016-to-2017#section-251-outturn-data" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/section-251-2016-to-2017#section-251-outturn-data</a>.</p><p>2017-18: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/section-251-2017-to-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/section-251-2017-to-2018</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The outturn data for 2018-19 will be available in December 2019.</p><p> </p><p>The department’s final DSG funding allocation to local authorities for the early years block can be found here:</p><p>2015-16: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2015-to-2016" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2015-to-2016</a>.</p><p>2016-17: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2016-to-2017</a>.</p><p>2017-18: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2017-to-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2017-to-2018</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 01/04/2019 14:34:52 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	4263 label Biography information for Lucy Powell

1078452

registered interest
date	27/02/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the effect on (a) value for money and (b) service provision of providing funding to local authorities through (i) long-term arrangements and (ii) one-off funding streams.
tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
uin	226662
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises that local authorities value certainty, which is why we agreed a multi year settlement for local government worth over £200 billion in the five years to 2020, that was accepted by 97 per cent of councils in return for publishing efficiency plans. Where there is evidence of increasing pressures in certain areas, the Government has determined it has been right to provide additional funding. Specifically, at Autumn Budget the Chancellor announced an additional £650 million for social care in 2019-20. This includes £240 million of to support adult social care services to reduce winter pressures on the NHS, in addition to the £240 million provided for 2018-19, and £410 million for local authorities to support adults and children’s social care services.</p><p>In the long term, the Spending Review will determine funding for local government from 2020-21 onwards and will enable us to look at local government spending in the round.</p> answering member constituency Richmond (Yorks) answering member printed Rishi Sunak question first answered 04/03/2019 17:47:58 answering member 4483 label Biography information for Rishi Sunak
tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1064682

registered interest
date	21/02/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the oral contribution of 5 February 2019 of the Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Official Report column 289, how that 4 per cent figure relating to deprivation was calculated.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield South East
tabling member printed	Mr Clive Betts
uin	224297
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2019 answer text <p>The Government is undertaking a review of the relative needs and resources of local authorities in England, with a view to setting fresh baseline funding levels in 2020-21. We are working closely with local government representatives and others to consider the drivers of local authorities’ costs, the resources available locally to fund services, and how we should account for these in a way that draws a more transparent and understandable link between local circumstances and resource allocations.</p><p>In December 2018 the Government published a consultation paper, which set out a proposed approach to assessing the relative needs of local authorities. Our analysis has shown that for many universal services, the number of people in each local authority area is the most important predictor of the costs that councils face in delivering those services. The consultation therefore proposes the introduction of a simple population-based Foundation Formula to account for many of the universal services that local authorities deliver, alongside several specific funding formulas for some of the largest and most complex service areas.</p><p>To understand whether including additional ‘cost drivers’, including deprivation, significantly improves the precision of the Foundation Formula, a comparison was made between the amount of variation in past expenditure that was explained by different combinations of cost drivers, to the total amount of variation in expenditure. The basis on which this comparison was made is set out in pages 19 to 21 of the consultation paper (link below). Whilst, in aggregate terms, deprivation was not shown to be a major cost driver for the services included in the Foundation Formula, to ensure that deprivation is appropriately accounted for in the relative needs assessment, deprivation, or a suitable proxy for deprivation, is taken into account in four of the service-specific formulas that were proposed.</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/review-of-local-authorities-relative-needs-and-resources" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/review-of-local-authorities-relative-needs-and-resources</a>.</p> answering member constituency Richmond (Yorks) answering member printed Rishi Sunak question first answered 26/02/2019 17:38:29 answering member 4483 label Biography information for Rishi Sunak
tabling member	394 label Biography information for Mr Clive Betts

1064702

registered interest
date	21/02/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the correlation between the (a) increased proportion of local authority spending on social care, (b) reduction in local authority overall spending on services other than social care and (c) decrease in local authority funding since 2010; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
uin	224325
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2019 answer text <p>As democratically elected organisations, local authorities are independent of central government, and are responsible for managing their budgets in line with local priorities and their legal duties.</p><p>Central government funding cannot in isolation provide a true representation of local authority finances. The responsibilities, structure and makeup of local authorities have changed significantly since 2010 and spending power, formula grants and settlement funding assessments are not directly comparable over this period. For example, with the introduction of the Business Rates Retention Scheme, local authorities estimate they will keep around £2.4 billion in business rates growth in 2018-19.</p><p>As announced in the Local Government Finance Settlement, Core Spending Power is forecast to increase from £45.1 billion in 2018-19 to £46.4 billion in 2019-20. This is a cash-increase of 2.8 per cent and real-terms increase in resources available to local authorities. In the long term, the Spending Review will determine funding for local government from 2020-21 onwards and will enable us to look at local government spending in the round.</p> answering member constituency Richmond (Yorks) answering member printed Rishi Sunak grouped question UIN 224324 question first answered 26/02/2019 17:36:53 answering member 4483 label Biography information for Rishi Sunak
tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1059641

registered interest
date	12/02/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government Finance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 11 February (HL13242), whether local authorities are meeting the government's stated expectations of making savings while continuing to provide excellent services to local communities.
tabling member printed	Lord Ouseley
uin	HL13661
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2019 answer text <p>Councils have done fantastically well in reforming the way they work to become more efficient, both in back-office functions and front-line service delivery – and we welcome that. But with councils accounting for a quarter of all public spending, we and the sector know there is more to do. Councils need to continue playing their part in tackling the deficit, and we will be supporting them to do so. Across the country, councils are looking at ways to:</p><ul><li>manage demand for transformed services</li><li>deliver services differently with partners,</li><li>make greater use of technology to reduce cost and improve service quality,</li><li>become more commercial, and</li><li>improve staff productivity.</li></ul> answering member printed Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth question first answered 26/02/2019 14:09:42 answering member 4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
tabling member	2170 label Biography information for Lord Ouseley

1059642

registered interest
date	12/02/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government Finance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government which local authorities are failing to make savings while continuing to provide excellent services to local communities in line with the government's stated expectations; and what remedial action, if any, they propose.
tabling member printed	Lord Ouseley
uin	HL13662
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2019 answer text <p>Councils have done fantastically well in reforming the way they work to become more efficient, both in back-office functions and front-line service delivery – and we welcome that. But with councils accounting for a quarter of all public spending, we and the sector know there is more to do. Councils need to continue playing their part in tackling the deficit, and we will be supporting them to do so. Across the country, councils are looking at ways to:</p><ul><li>manage demand for transformed services and deliver services differently with partners,</li><li>make greater use of technology to reduce cost and improve service quality,</li><li>become more commercial, and</li><li>improve staff productivity.</li></ul><p>In terms of specific councils, there is no definitive list or “right answer” on this, and it is local areas that are responsible for managing their own resources and performance. My department looks at risk levels in councils so that we can work with the Local Government Association and across Government to support them and prevent financial or service delivery failure.</p> answering member printed Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth question first answered 26/02/2019 16:17:37 answering member 4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
tabling member	2170 label Biography information for Lord Ouseley