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 3 January 2025 to Question 20129 on Unitary councils, whether her Department has evidential basis for unitary restructuring what has not been funded by organisations supporting unitary restructuring.

The English Devolution White Paper sets out the case for local government reorganisation, which is that there are significant opportunities available to areas from the creation of suitably sized unitary councils. For North Yorkshire Council, established in April 2023, unitarisation has enabled the council to manage financial pressures through structural changes and service transformation which are expected to achieve more than £40 million in savings by March 2026.