Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that local authorities are subject to independent review and inspection.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government is committed to resetting the relationship between local and regional government to establish partnerships built on mutual respect, genuine collaboration and meaningful engagement. We are keen to work with any local authorities facing challenges to support recovery and reform.
As part of the sector support programme the ministry funds the Local Government Association (LGA) to deliver a Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) review programme. Local authorities are subject to scrutiny from a number of government bodies, including inspectorates and ombudsmen. External audit is also important, which is why, on 30 July, the Government announced measures to tackle the local audit backlog we inherited. We will also update the House in the autumn on longer-term plans to fix the local audit system.
It is important that Government can act where local authorities may need more intensive support or intervention in order to meet their Best Value Duty. The Secretary of State has a set of tools and statutory powers, detailed in the statutory guidance ‘Best value standards and intervention’. This includes a statutory power to commission inspections of local authorities in relation to their compliance with the Best Value Duty. Decisions about statutory inspections are taken based on the circumstances of each case following an evidence based assessment.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to ensure that the proceedings of local authorities are available to the public live online.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Public access to council meetings is an essential part of ensuring accountability and transparency at the local level. Except where specific exemptions apply, the Local Government Act 1972 is clear that all council meetings are open to the public.
Under the current rules it is for individual local authorities to agree and determine the provisions for remote public access to local authority meetings through their standing orders.
Many councils already broadcast their meetings online, which the public can attend, and meeting agendas and papers are routinely shared in advance of meetings on council websites.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent progress her Department has made on planning reform.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 30 July we opened an eight week consultation on a revised National Planning Policy Framework.
As well as reversing the damaging anti-supply changes made by the previous government in December 2023, proposed reforms include making housing targets mandatory, strengthening policy support for brownfield development, and the targeted release of low-quality grey belt land within the green belt.
The consultation will run until Tuesday 24 September.