Government does not publish individual local authority’s loans and interest rates, however, data on loans issued from the Public Works Loan Board is published at Historical Data. Further, authorities are required to report their financial position in their Annual Statement of Accounts. Local authorities also provide the government with data on their borrowing, including source of borrowing. The data can be found on gov.uk here Live tables on local government finance - GOV.UK.

Local authorities are responsible for setting their own capital strategies, as they are best placed to make local decisions that reflect the needs of their communities. In making those decisions, however, local authorities must comply with their legal duties and have regard to statutory guidance designed to ensure decisions are prudent, affordable, and sustainable. The Public Works Loan Board lending facility is a non-discretionary lender: it does not ask the purpose of a loan, as this would duplicate the decision-making structures of the individual local authorities.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has not procured any consultancy relating to public relations since July 2024.

Local authority funding is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland.

The government recognises the significant pressures that councils are facing and is making good on long overdue promises to fundamentally update the way we fund local authorities. We are delivering fairer funding, targeting money where it is needed most through the first multi-year Settlement in a decade.

The 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement makes available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026-27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26, this includes over £4 billion new grant funding.

We are empowering local leaders and giving them flexibility to prioritise spending according to local need.

In England, the new Local Outcomes Framework will be used to understand progress across 16 priority outcomes in local areas. This will improve transparency and enable the public, government, local government and local partners to have a shared view of progress.

Local authority funding is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland.

The government recognises the significant pressures that councils are facing and is making good on long overdue promises to fundamentally update the way we fund local authorities. We are delivering fairer funding, targeting money where it is needed most through the first multi-year Settlement in a decade.

The 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement makes available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026-27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26, this includes over £4 billion new grant funding.

We are empowering local leaders and giving them flexibility to prioritise spending according to local need.

In England, the new Local Outcomes Framework will be used to understand progress across 16 priority outcomes in local areas. This will improve transparency and enable the public, government, local government and local partners to have a shared view of progress.

Government does not intend to set referendum principles for six authorities in 2027-28 and 2028-29 including City of Westminster and Wandsworth. Within our modelling, we made an assumption that these authorities increase their council tax by 5% plus an additional £150 in each of 2027-28 and 2028-29 for the purposes of calculating their funding floor allocations in these years. Decisions on council tax levels in these areas remain a matter for the individual local authorities.

The Local Government Finance Settlement ensured these councils were funded according to their needs, taking into account their ability to raise council tax, assuming 5% plus £150 in each of 2027-28 and 2028-29. We monitor the financial health of councils on a regular basis using a range of data as well as through extensive direct engagement. While councils are responsible for their own financial management, any council that has concerns about its ability to set or maintain a balanced budget should approach the department in the first instance where we will treat all discussions in confidence.

The Homelessness Code of Guidance sets out the statutory duties of local housing authorities in England to help prevent and relieve homelessness. Where homelessness cannot be prevented, local authorities have a duty to provide temporary accommodation to households that are eligible, unintentionally homeless and in priority need. You can access the Code of Guidance on gov.uk here.

Local authorities are best placed to determine arrangements for local events, taking account of the needs of the community.

Local Resilience Forums do not usually play a role in supporting local events unless the scale warrants the Local Resilience Forum leading on planning (e.g. Royal International Air Tattoo; Glastonbury, Commonwealth Games).

I also refer the hon. Member to the following gov.uk guidance here.

As set out in the final Local Government Finance Settlement, the notional council tax level for 2026-27 was £2063. The notional level used in the Fair Funding Allocation is a modelling assumption and not intended to be compared to the authorities published Band D. Information on local authorities' Band D council tax levels is published in the annual Council Tax statistics release which can be found here: Council Tax statistics - GOV.UK.

Homelessness is a devolved issue, and the government set out our plans to tackle homelessness in England through the National Plan to End Homelessness in December 2025, which you can find on gov.uk here.

Our Plan sets out a credible plan to get back on track to ending homelessness, including medium-term change to support local authorities and public services to shift from crisis to prevention through cross government targets, £3.6 billion funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next 3 years and new duties on services to work together to prevent homelessness.

In the short-term, we are taking action to tackle the worst forms of temporary accommodation and supporting local authorities to develop better alternatives by ending the unlawful use of B&Bs for families and continuing to work with local authorities with the highest use of B&B accommodation over the next through years through an expanded Emergency Accommodation Reduction Programme backed by £30 million funding.

We will also halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this parliament, including through £159 million new funding for supported housing, £37 million for voluntary, community and faith organisations, and £15 million for councils to test new approaches.

The government publishes quarterly and annual data on the estimated number of people sleeping rough in England on gov.uk here.

Trading Standards are provided by local authorities who operate independently from central government, so local authorities make decisions according to their individual needs.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) publishes the Food Law Code of Practice, associated Food Law Practice Guidance and a range of supporting guidance to establish a framework for local authority delivery of food controls. These documents collectively set the expectation for, and support delivery of, a consistent, effective and appropriate approach to how local authorities ensure all food businesses meet their regulatory obligations to produce food that is compliant and safe.

To support local authorities, we have introduced significant reforms to how we deliver funding to local authorities, to provide multi-year certainty and greater flexibility for them to be able to tailor services to meet local needs.

The government is providing £3.6 billion funding for homelessness services from 2026/27 to 2028/29, including just over £2.2 billion for local authorities to prevent and address homelessness and rough sleeping through the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant. £969m of Temporary accommodation funding, previously part of the Homelessness Prevention Grant is distributed using the new Fair Funding Assessment which, with a new built-in formula now also reflects proportional need for temporary accommodation across the country. You can find out more about how allocations were made here.

In addition to the ringfenced Homelessness and Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant, local authorities are able to draw from their wider funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement to support deliver homelessness and rough sleeping outcomes.

You can find local authority level allocations on gov.uk here.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to UIN 94194 on 3 December 2025.

I refer the hon. Member to Question UIN 117189 answered on 10 March 2026.

The government recognises the importance of timely home adaptations for people with progressive or terminal conditions. Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide adaptations within set timescales for people who satisfy a needs assessment, eligibility criteria and a means test. Local authorities can also agree a more generous local housing assistance policy.

In June, my colleague the Minister of State for Care at the Department for Health and Social Care wrote to all council leaders in England strongly encouraging them to review and update their housing assistance policies to enable fast tracking of support, and to consider waiving the means test, for those with Motor Neurone Disease and other rapidly progressing conditions.

To speed up delivery and simplify decision making across all local government services, including the Disabled Facilities Grant, this government has brought forward proposals to end the two-tier system and establish new single-tier unitary councils.

I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 117748 on 11 March 2026.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government collects data returns from local authorities including their borrowing and investment information. These returns are collated and published on the GOV.UK website.

UK local authority borrowing and investment is published on a quarterly basis here.

Further detail on capital expenditure and financing for authorities in England is published on annual basis here.

The Office for National Statistics publishes local authority population estimates can be found here.

The government recognises that targeted support within schools can play a major role in identifying young people at higher risk of homelessness and providing support to them and their families at a much earlier stage. We continue to engage with Centrepoint on their Upstream pilots as part of our work to prevent youth homelessness.

The precise design and scope of any Overnight Visitor Levy are still under consideration following the public consultation. The Government will publish its formal response to the consultation in due course.

Decisions on whether to introduce a levy, and on specific local proposals, will be for Mayors and local leaders, subject to local consultation. The detailed scope, including any exemptions, administrative arrangements, use of revenues and other aspects of policy design will be set out, where relevant, in future legislation.

The precise design and scope of any Overnight Visitor Levy are still under consideration following the public consultation. The Government will publish its formal response to the consultation in due course.

Decisions on whether to introduce a levy, and on specific local proposals, will be for Mayors and local leaders, subject to local consultation. The detailed scope, including any exemptions, administrative arrangements, use of revenues and other aspects of policy design will be set out, where relevant, in future legislation.