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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (HL4332) on 16 January, what is the status of a review announced in Parliament by a Minister of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

As I said in my answer to question HL4332, the department has no formal definition of a review. When a Minister of the Department for Communities and Local Government announces “a review” in Parliament, this generally refers to a commitment to consider whether a particular policy or programme will meet a stated intention or whether action should be taken accordingly. When a review is announced in this way, progress is reported to Parliament by way of ministerial statements, replies to parliamentary questions, or in debate contributions by Ministers.

For example, progress of the review into breaches of the Code of Recommend Practice on Local Authority Publicity was reported to the House in HLWS308 on 2 December 2016, and the outcome of the Homes and Communities Agency Tailored Review was reported to the House in HLWS293 on 30 November 2016.

On other occasions, the department conducts internal reviews into policy and then informs Parliament of the actions we will take. For example, on 21 November 2016, in HLWS274, I informed the House that following a review into the Government’s policy requiring local authorities to set higher rents for higher income council tenants, we decided not to proceed with a mandatory approach.