Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 7 November 2017, Local Government Improvement, HCWS 232, what public consultation preceded that policy announcement; and if he will make a statement.

An extensive public consultation was undertaken by Opinion Research Services on behalf of all nine Dorset councils between 30 August 2016 and 25 October 2016, including an open consultation questionnaire, a representative household survey based upon 20,000 randomly selected households, a survey of all parish and town councils, 15 workshops, nine in depth interviews and written submissions. Full details of this are available at: www.futuredorset.co.uk

Following the Secretary of State’s announcement on 7 November 2017, further representations were invited until 8 January 2018. Over 200 representations were received in this period, all of which were taken into account by the Secretary of State before making his decision, announced on 26 February 2018.