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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference his Department's policy paper entitled English Devolution White Paper, published on 16 December 2024, whether he plans to amend the proposed (a) minimum population and (b) geographic area of new (i) unitary and (ii) combined authorities.

The English Devolution White Paper and the Statutory Invitation set a guiding principle that new unitary councils should have a population size of 500,000 or more. We have been clear on the need for flexibility and there may be exceptions to ensure new structures make sense for an area. For the areas going through local government reorganisation, decisions will therefore be taken individually and proposals will be carefully considered against the criteria set out in the invitation letter of 5 February, alongside the responses to the consultation, all representations and all other relevant information to assess the proposals.

The White Paper also set out that the default assumption is for Strategic Authorities to have a combined population of 1.5 million or above, but we accept that in some places, smaller authorities may be necessary. Decisions on strategic authorities will also be on a case-by-case basis. Instead of presenting a top-down solution for each area, our starting point is to support and empower local leaders and to respect their knowledge, expertise and insight.