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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance her Department provides to (a) Enfield Council and (b) other local authorities on (i) restricting formal call-in procedures to key decisions and (ii) ensuring that such restrictions do not limit the wider powers of overview and scrutiny committees under section 9F of the Local Government Act 2000, as amended by the Localism Act 2011, to scrutinise non-key decisions and other actions taken by those authorities.

Sections 9F(2)(a) and 9F(4) of the Local Government Act 2000 set out how local authorities should make sure their respective scrutiny committees have the power to review and scrutinise decisions made by the executive, commonly referred to as ‘call-in’ procedures. Guidance on ‘call-in’ procedures was published in 2000 alongside the Act. More recent guidance funded by central government was published in 2023 by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny.

Enfield Council has not received additional guidance from HMG on the use of call-in powers. Local authorities are responsible for setting their own rules on how call-in should be used, including the thresholds and procedures for using it, whilst ensuring they comply with their obligations under the Local Government Act 2000.