Local Government Reorganisation

Lord Grocott Excerpts

Tuesday 21st July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grocott (Lab)]

Can my noble friend provide some details and facts? She may not be able to answer now, but I would like her to do so in writing. The Statement claims that there will be very substantial savings from this operation—savings of £1 billion are mentioned at one point—but it is much more opaque on the costs of the reorganisation. Many of us with experience of these things know well enough that this can be a very expensive business. Can my noble friend therefore provide clarity on two specific questions? First, how much has it cost so far? We all know that local authorities almost come to a standstill when they are contemplating their abolition, and that central government has also been spending a lot of money. Secondly, from the various references in the Statement, which I have tried to make sense of—£1 million for new unitary authorities, capacity building funds, et cetera —can my noble friend tell us the sum total of expenditure that the Government and local authorities are expected to spend to achieve this reorganisation?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The estimate of the savings came from the work that the local authorities did themselves. I accept that there will be a great deal of work to be done through the process as we transition to these unitary authorities. But, quite frankly, I have worked in a two-tier authority in all my time in local government, and I think that the effort of going through the transition phase is well worth the endgame here: making sure that we have a system of unitary authorities right across the country; I know that the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, has done this exercise herself in her own council. They will be the building blocks for the devolution programme, as we continue to roll out devolution across the country.

The figures being provided for support for this process are: £1 million in funding for every new unitary council, £900,000 in capacity funding, and up to £150,000 of additional funding to support children’s services, adult social care and public health leadership. This is an investment to make sure that we have a consistent system of local government across the country and that those savings that councils have told us they can generate will occur.