Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston Excerpts

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

I am happy to reassure my hon. Friend that it certainly is sufficient. One of the decisions that I have most enjoyed taking in this job has been to support the decision of a local authority, which had well in excess of a five-year land supply, to refuse an application for speculative development in an area where it did not want development.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

The National Audit Office has warned that 12% of councils are unlikely to be able to balance their books in the future. Do Ministers agree with that figure and, if not, what is their estimate of the number?

[Brandon Lewis]

In talking to local authorities, we have found that satisfaction with them is up and that they have coped extremely well with the changes that have come through to deal with the awful deficit left by the last Labour Government.