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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what procedures they have put in place to monitor the effectiveness of commissioners appointed by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to work with local authorities.

Commissioners are appointed after a careful consideration of their experience and skills and drawing on advice from the sector, particularly the Local Government Association. Their roles are set out in Directions and the accompanying Explanatory Memoranda which are publicly available. Ministers receive regular reports from Commissioners with evidence of improvement progress and these give opportunities to monitor their effectiveness. Recent interventions at both the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council have led to marked improvements with powers being handed back to the authorities concerned.