Question
Councils have spent considerable time and resources building the case for local government reorganisation, including by producing robust financial analysis, housing data, work on the social care impact and work on the impact on travel-to-work areas. Today’s announcement raises serious questions for any future timetable. Will the Minister confirm if councils are expected to go back to the drawing board and negotiate with surrounding councils on new boundaries? If so, how can they be expected to do that by January while meaningfully consulting their residents?
Answer
As it stands, we are satisfied that there is not a requirement for areas to develop new proposals. We will consider the proposals already submitted and the evidence base, as well as the consultation that went alongside. However, there have to be fresh ministerial decisions that are objective and that we approach with an open mind. There is no further requirement on councils to do that front work. However, we are going to introduce a “minded to” process. When decisions are made, they will be “minded to” decisions. The idea is that we need to rebuild good faith in local government. If areas have concerns about a proposal that we believe is a “minded to” decision—if that proposal is not quite right for an area, or there are concerns about its potential implementation or what it means for local communities—there has to be something in the process that ensures that the Government are open to listen. We believe that is best done through the “minded to” process.11% vibes
Verdict: AMBER (72/100)
The reply clearly answers the first part of the question: councils are not required to develop new proposals or do further front-loaded work, and the Government will consider the proposals already submitted. On the second part, it rejects the premise that renegotiation is needed and points to a 'minded to' process for raising concerns about implementation and local impact. However, it does not explicitly address when or how residents would be consulted, so the answer is only partly complete and the person who asked may need to follow up on that point.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether councils are expected to return to the drawing board and renegotiate new boundaries with surrounding councils as a result of today's announcement. | Addressed | Direct | The reply directly answers that councils are not required to develop new proposals or do further front work ('not a requirement for areas to develop new proposals'; 'no further requirement on councils to do that front work'), and says the Government will consider the proposals already submitted. |
| If so, how the Government expects councils to complete that renegotiation by January while meaningfully consulting their residents. | Addressed | Direct | Because the reply rejects the premise that renegotiation is required, the conditional 'if so' is resolved, and the reply supplies a concrete mechanism for local concerns (a 'minded to' process through which the Government will listen to areas' concerns about implementation and local impact), though it does not explicitly address resident consultation timing. |