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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of simplifying the process for creating new Combined County Authorities.

We are committed to ensuring that every part of England can rapidly benefit from devolution, moving power out of Westminster back to those who know their areas best. The English Devolution Bill will establish a more ambitious standardised framework and make it easier to provide devolved powers quickly to more areas through establishing a simpler process for creating new Combined and Combined County Authorities.

Ahead of this we invite councils wishing to explore enhanced devolution to their areas to engage with the department.