PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Local Government Finance (7 February 2018)

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the section 114 notice brought in by Northamptonshire County Council, what assessment he has made of whether other local authorities face similar financial risks in (a) the 2017-18 financial year and (b) 2018-19.

Asked by:
Mr Clive Betts (Labour)

Local authorities are independent of central government, and circumstances within an individual authority can change. Every statutory finance officer within each council must make their own determination whether to act to restrain unaffordable spending if they deem the situation requires it.

However, the Department constantly reviews the challenges facing the sector and individual authorities. In our discussions with councils during the consultation on the provisional finance settlement no authorities have raised concerns of this kind.

Answered by:
Rishi Sunak (Conservative)
20 February 2018