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

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication on 16 December 2024 of the English Devolution White Paper, whether a degree of flexibility will be applied when considering proposals for new authorities which fall below a population of 500,000.

On 5 February the Minister for English Devolution and Local Government wrote to all councils in two-tier areas and small neighbouring unitaries to invite them to prepare proposals for reorganisation. This invitation set out guidance from the Secretary of State for proposals including that new unitaries must be the right size to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks. As a guiding principle, new councils should aim for a population of 500,000 or more. There may be certain scenarios in which this 500,000 figure does not make sense for an area, including on devolution, and this rationale should be set out in a proposal.