Question
Still West Sussex waits, and we badly need certainty on the geography of the new authorities for my county. I cannot overstate how cash-strapped and fragile our public services are. The £500,000 to offset the cost of further delay is welcome, but it is only the tip of the iceberg of the amount of money that the Department has spent in the past two years on LGR. May I press the Minister again: how much has that cost?
Answer
As I say, all the localised costs of reorganisation are included in the financial profiles that councils send to the Government; councils themselves determine what type or form of arrangement they want to put forward for their area. Alongside the boundary proposal, they have to do a financial assessment of the transitional arrangements and the cash implications, and that is all set out in the proposals.
Verdict: RED (18/100)
The question asked for the total the Department has spent over two years on the reorganisation. The reply does not give a figure. It only says that councils' reorganisation costs are reflected in their financial profiles and assessments, which describes council-side costs rather than departmental spending. It also does not say whether the Department holds a departmental total, so the question is only partly touched on and the asker would likely need to ask again for the specific figure.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is the total amount the Department has spent on local government reorganisation over the past two years? | Partially Addressed | Hedged | The question asks for a literal total of what the Department has spent over two years, but the reply only says that localised reorganisation costs are included in councils' financial profiles and assessments, which describes council-side costs rather than departmental expenditure. No total or figure is given, and the reply does not say that this is all the Department holds, so the item is only touched on. |