13. What assessment he has made of the role of community budgets in improving the efficiency of public expenditure; and if he will make a statement. (161230)

I am a strong supporter of community budgets because, by joining up public services locally, we can save money and get better outcomes for our constituents. The troubled families programme is using the community budgets approach to turn around the lives of 120,000 families by 2015. Building on its success, I announced yesterday that the Government would put £200 million towards expanding the programme to work with a further 400,000 families from 2015.

Ernst and Young estimates that between £9 billion and £20 billion can be saved by the national roll-out of community budgets. Given that the pressure is on us, should that roll-out be sooner rather than later?

Yes, it certainly should, and I urge my hon. Friend to listen carefully to the Chancellor’s statement tomorrow.

I call Pamela Nash. Not here.