Local Government funding

That this House thanks local authorities for their leadership during the covid-19 outbreak and for the contribution made by their essential workforces to support communities; notes that, prior to the outbreak, councils were already dealing with a £15 billion reduction to core Government funding since 2010 and a 49.1 per cent real-terms reduction between 2010-11 and 2017-18 according to the National Audit Office; believes that the Government should address in full the financial challenges arising from this decade of unprecedented budget cuts, while also tackling the enhanced financial pressures caused for local authorities by extra costs, loss of income and cash flow challenges associated with covid-19; backs the Local Government Association call for an additional £8.7 billion in core national Government funding in 2021-22 to stabilise the sector and sustain and improve service levels which include: cherished community and essential frontline services, such as adult social care, support for older people, looked-after children, care­ leavers, people with disabilities or special educational needs, survivors of domestic violence and low-income families in crisis; considers locally-led initiatives to urgently improve equality, sustainability and resilience, such as providing genuinely affordable, energy efficient homes, supporting socially necessary bus services, transforming how waste is collected and sorted and public-backed investment in renewable energy, should also be funded nationally; and therefore calls on the Government to immediately provide local councils with the money to protect and restore spending on community and frontline services to sustainable levels and reset local economies.