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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the responses to its consultation on local authority remote meetings, published on 25 March 2022; and whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to permit hybrid in-person and virtual meetings for (a) all council meetings, (b) lower tier parish and town council meetings and (c) planning committee meetings.

We launched a call for evidence on 25 March 2021 to gather views and inform a longer-term decision about whether to make express provision for councils to meet remotely on a permanent basis.

The Department has considered the responses to the consultation and the Government will respond shortly.