questionText: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Local Government Finance Statement made on 23 February 2026, what changes have been made to the assessment of relative need within the Settlement; whether independent validation has been undertaken to test the updated needs formula; what weightings have been applied to deprivation, rurality, population growth and service demand; and if he will publish any technical modelling and equality impact assessment.
answerText: The recent Local Government Finance Settlement is our most significant step yet to make English local government more sustainable. For the first time since 2013-14, the government is updating the relative needs formulas that form a key part of how local a...
heading: Local Government Finance