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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what checks and balances they have put in place to ensure that the actions of elected city mayors are subject to proper and impartial scrutiny.

Effective scrutiny of elected city region mayors is essential for ensuring that these mayors are that single point of accountability which underpins the devolution deals Government has entered in to with those city regions. Mayoral combined authorities are subject to the local authority accountability, audit and propriety regimes which we have strengthened by the Combined Authorities (Overview and Scrutiny Committees, Access to Information and Audit Committees) Order 2017, which Parliament has approved and which we developed with assistance from the Centre for Public Scrutiny and the National Audit Office. This Order makes special provisions about the establishment and operation of overview and scrutiny committees and audit committees in order that mayors, who are required to appear before an overview and scrutiny committee when requested, can robustly be held to account.