Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2024 to Question 15453 on Local Government: Accountability, if she will take steps to make the data published under the Transparency Code more (a) accessible and (b) shareable as open data.

We are keeping the Code under review in the context of work to fix the foundations of local government and ensuring that it continues to support local accountability. Our approach to reforming local government is set out in the English Devolution White Paper. This includes fundamentally reforming the local audit system, rebuilding the vital early warning system to recover a key part of our assurance mechanisms, restoring local government standards, and ensuring transparency.

We are supporting the Office for National Statistics to lead a refresh of the government’s subnational data strategy, including supporting “ONS Local to gather user needs and understand data gaps, provide data access, analytical support, and capability to local data leaders”.