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, Official Report, HCWS232 on Local Government Improvement, what public consultation preceded the policy announcement on the criteria against which further locally led merger proposals would be assessed.

The Secretary of State’s written statement of 7 November (Official report HCWS232) indicated his intention, on which representations could be made, to assess any further locally led merger proposals received against the criteria which were the basis on which he had reached his “minded to” decision on the proposal from Suffolk Coastal and Waveney district councils. The Secretary of State has, to date, assessed all further such proposals against these criteria, having had regard to all the relevant information and representations available to him.