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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress his Department has made in analysing the consultation responses to the call for evidence on local authority remote meetings that closed on 17 June 2021; what the reasons are for not having published the (a) findings and (b) Government's next steps following the consultation; if he will publish those finding and next steps; and if he will make a statement.

The Government issued the call for evidence on remote meetings last year to gather views and inform a longer-term decision about making permanent provisions for councils to meet remotely or in hybrid form. The Department has considered the responses and we have been weighing the pros and cons of the idea.

The Government will be issuing its response to the call for evidence which will set out our intentions on this matter shortly.