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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the capacity of statutory responsible officers in local government in light of ongoing local government reorganisation.

In designing its support offer for local government reorganisation, the Department engaged with a range of local government stakeholders to understand how to best support the capacity of statutory officers. In response to that feedback, this year the Department put in place a broad support offer including dedicated sector advisers and a wider programme of support to build capacity and capability in councils led by the Local Government Association. This support will continue to be available to councils during the local government reorganisation review. Depending on the outcome of the review, the Department will consider how to best target future support to statutory officers.