Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Accepted
Local government statutory responsibilities unreviewed, causing fragmented and inconsistent service delivery.
Conclusion
The statutory and non-statutory responsibilities of local government have not been reviewed holistically for many years, contributing to the fragmented system of requirements that local authorities are required to deliver. What is needed to satisfy statutory requirements is too often unclear, which causes confusion and leads to inconsistency between service provision at different local authorities. (Conclusion, Paragraph 22)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government is coordinating a programme of local government finance reform (FFR 2.0) which will implement an updated assessment of local need following consultation, and will set out its proposed approach to reviewing the sales, fees, and charges system in the Autumn consultation response.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
12. The former Deputy Prime Minister announced a review of the statutory duties placed on local government at the LGA Conference on 3 July 2025. The review is focused on exploring whether the requirements placed on the sector to deliver duties could be simplified or improved, whilst retaining the critical services that communities expect. This will involve looking at legislation, guidance and others matters, such as reporting. 13. We want to be guided by the knowledge and experience of the sector, so are working in partnership with the LGA to ensure effective engagement and to test our thinking with local government experts. 14. We expect the review to continue for around a year, but where benefits can be delivered sooner than this we will do so. Any recommendations will be comprehensively tested with councils and agreed by relevant government departments, and if legislative change is needed, it will be delivered as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗