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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the effectiveness of the current structures of governance in London.

Since 2010, the Coalition Government has made a series of reforms which have decentralised power down to local government and down to local communities below it.

This has included strengthening the governance structures in London at a variety of levels: by devolving power and funding over housing, economic development and the Olympic legacy to the Mayor and Assembly through the Localism Act 2011; by abolishing unelected bodies such as the Government Office for London and London Development Agency; supporting the creation of a London-wide economic partnership; and delivering a broader set of reforms to local government transparency, accountability, housing finance and local government finance which the London Boroughs in particular have benefited from.

The London Enterprise Panel was established by the Mayor in 2012 in response to the Government’s invitation to areas to form Local Enterprise Partnerships. It provides a forum which enables the Mayor, London Boroughs and the private sector to work together to take a strategic view of regeneration, employment and skills in the capital. The Panel has successfully negotiated a growth deal which includes delivering £120 million of investment in London’s Further Education colleges and work to develop new ways to help those furthest from the labour market into work.

As set out in the Government response to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee Report: Post-Legislative Scrutiny of the Greater London Authority Act 2007 and the London Assembly (Cm 8761), the Government believes there is scope for governance reform in the relation to the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.

Ministers have serious concerns about the governance in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets following an independent inspection report, and are consulting the council on the report and a proposed package of interventions as outlined in the Oral Statement of 4 November 2014, Official Report, House of Commons, Column 663.

The Coalition Government considers that power should be devolved to the lowest appropriate level including to communities and individuals. For instance, we have introduced powers for local communities in London to establish neighbourhood forums to take forward neighbourhood planning and introduced a range of ‘community rights’ such as the Community Right to Challenge and the Community Right to Bid for Assets of Community Value.

Parish councils can also provide communities with a democratically accountable voice and a structure for taking community action. London saw its first parish council in decades have its first elections in May 2014, in Queens Park, Westminster. A number of other local communities in London are now campaigning for parish councils to be set up. The Government is also making it easier to set up new town and parish councils where they do not currently exist and is seeking to amend legislation to do so.