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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which local authorities in England have been invited to submit proposals for single tier local government under Section 2 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 since 1 January 2016; and what criteria he has applied in each case to trigger the decision to make the invitation.

Following the recommendation as to the preferred way forward in the ‘Northamptonshire County Council Best Value Inspection’ report, the Secretary of State issued an invitation on 27 March 2018 to the eight principal councils in Northamptonshire to submit proposals for unitary authorities. No other invitations have been issued under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 since 1 January 2016.