Letter from Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Local Government to Lord Strathclyde, Chair of the Constitution Committee, responding to the Committee's report on the English Devolution and Empowerment Bill

This is the government's response, published 5 March 2026.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government's letter addresses the Committee's two questions, explaining the Bill's territorial extent and setting out why it is using a new statutory test for the Secretary of State's power to direct the establishment of a Combined Authority.

• On extent, all provisions apply in England only, except three measures (and Part 6 final provisions) that also apply in Wales.
• The government says that, although the three measures "do not require a legislative consent motion", it has consulted the Welsh Government on all of them.
• The government is "of the view" that tying the test to the Bill's areas of competence, rather than to "economic, social and environmental well-being", will align it more firmly with the new devolution architecture.
• The power under paragraph 16 of Schedule 1 "would only be commenced by regulations if needed", and the government says it is intended as "a last resort" where no viable locally-led proposal has been provided.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error