Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of repealing Section 618 of the Housing Act 1985 which imposes an additional restriction on a City of London resident councillor when no equivalent restriction applies to a resident councillor of other local authorities.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The City of London has brought this matter to the Department's attention. The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL)'s review of Local Government Ethical Standards made a number of recommendations that relate to disclosable pecuniary interests. Ministers are considering the CSPL's report and recommendations and will issue the government response in due course.
Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will extend the deadline by which local authorities must publish audited accounts to 30 November 2021 following audit delays caused by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government extended the accounts publication deadline to 30 November for accounting year 2019/20 to deal with delays caused by the Covid-19 outbreak
In line with the recommendations of the Redmond review, regulations extending the deadline from 31 July to 30 September for accounting years 2020/21 and 2021/22 came into force on 31 March
There is a balance to be struck in providing extra time for accounts to be completed and enabling the accounts to be published in a timely manner.
The Government will review these arrangement after 2 years.