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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason the invitation to restructure letter to Surrey has a deadline of May.

Given the urgency of creating sustainable unitary local government for Surrey, the decision was taken to work with local leaders in Surrey to facilitate reorganisation to the most ambitious timeframe possible. This will also enable Surrey to benefit from devolution as quickly as possible once new unitary local government is in place.