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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will publish the (a) substantive petition text and (b) Government response to each campaign referred to in paragraph 7.4 of the Explanatory Memorandum to the Local Authorities (Changes of Years of Ordinary Elections) (England) Order 2025.

My Department has no plans to publish the correspondence or substantive text of the petitions mentioned in paragraph 7.4 of the Explanatory Memorandum to the Local Authorities (Changes of Years of Ordinary Elections) (England) Order 2025, or to publish the Government’s responses.

The period a new unitary council exists in shadow form before assuming all council functions will depend on the nature of proposals for local government reorganisation and progress on development of those proposals. The typical period for the recent local government reorganisations has been around one year.