Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2023 to Question 1396 on Local Government: Standards and the Answer of 27 November 2023 to Question 2902 on Local Government: Contracts, on what basis his Department decided on the anticipated number of a minimum of six and maximum of 32 reviews.

As per document reference 2022/S 000-024515 for the provision of external assurance reviews, the estimation of the potential numbers of reviews that could be required was based on the number of external assurance reviews that were undertaken in previous years in response to requests for Exceptional Financial Support for the years 2020/21 and 2021/22. The Department has published details of that provided support and the associated reviews on Gov.uk.