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1314735

registered interest
date	13/05/2021
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government Boundary Commission for England
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the role and responsibilities of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England will be affected by the inspection of Liverpool City Council.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL241
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/05/2021 answer text <p>The Local Government Boundary Commission for England, an independent Parliamentary body, is responsible for deciding, and implementing by order subject to a Parliamentary process, warding arrangements and council size as part of their electoral reviews of local government areas. The Commission, when undertaking their electoral review of Liverpool, will have an interest in the recommendations of the Best Value Inspection Report into Liverpool City Council that relate to warding and council size. These issues, however, are entirely a matter for the Commission to decide in accordance with their existing statutory responsibilities.</p> answering member printed Lord Greenhalgh question first answered 26/05/2021 14:38:45 answering member 4877 label Biography information for Lord Greenhalgh
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

1310802

registered interest
date	20/04/2021
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government: Inspections
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the inspection into the governance of Liverpool City Council, what assessment they have made of the need to strengthen the (1) audit, and (2) scrutiny, arrangements for local councils.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL15118
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2021 answer text <p>The Secretary of State published the Best Value Inspection report into Liverpool City Council on 24 March. He will take a final decision on his proposed response, following consideration of any representations received from the Council, after 24 May.</p><p>The Government remains committed to strengthening the local audit system. Our 17 December response to the Redmond review sets out how the Department, in partnership with key organisations, will act to strengthen and support the local audit market.</p><p>The Department updated the statutory guidance for local and combined authorities on overview and scrutiny in May 2019. Effective scrutiny is vital to ensure that councils can be properly held to account for their decisions, and councils running executive arrangements must put in place overview and scrutiny committees to ensure this takes place.</p><p>As with all government policy, we keep the audit and scrutiny arrangements for local government under review.</p> answering member printed Lord Greenhalgh question first answered 28/04/2021 14:48:16 answering member 4877 label Biography information for Lord Greenhalgh
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

1309216

registered interest
date	14/04/2021
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government: Audit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Liverpool City Council: Best Value inspection report, published on 24 March, what plans they have to strengthen the audit arrangements in place for local authorities.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL14944
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/04/2021 answer text <p>Government is committed to strengthening the local audit system so that taxpayers and service users are better able to hold councils to account. Our response to the Redmond review, published on 17 December, set out how the Department, in partnership with key organisations, will act to strengthen and support the local audit market.</p><p>Action we are taking includes, subject to consultation, enabling audit firms, councils and Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd (PSAA) to agree fees that more closely match the actual costs of audit, and working with key stakeholders to review the entry requirements for Key Audit Partners and how best to improve auditor training, to strike an appropriate balance between ensuring audit quality and market sustainability.</p><p>We have also temporarily extended the deadline for the publication of auditor opinions on local authorities’ accounts, and are providing £15 million to support affected local authorities to both meet the growing cost pressures in the audit market and deliver Sir Tony’s recommendations, to be distributed later in the spring.</p> answering member printed Lord Greenhalgh question first answered 26/04/2021 13:10:46 answering member 4877 label Biography information for Lord Greenhalgh
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

1290193

registered interest
date	25/02/2021
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Liverpool City Council: Standards
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the arrest of the Mayor of Liverpool in December 2020, what discussions they have had with local government officials about ensuring probity and confidence in the city's administration.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL13720
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2021 answer text <p>Further to my answer on 23 December - UIN HL11323, Max Caller CBE continues to undertake his inspection of Liverpool City Council’s compliance with regard to its Best Value Duty in relation to the authority’s planning, highways, regeneration and property management functions and the strength of associated audit and governance arrangements. The Secretary of State has asked Max Caller to report his findings by 31 March 2021.</p> answering member printed Lord Greenhalgh question first answered 09/03/2021 12:42:14 answering member 4877 label Biography information for Lord Greenhalgh
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

1271563

registered interest
date	15/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government: Audit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what, if any, conditions they have in place to require local councils to have completed audits of their accounts in order to receive central government funding; and what assessment they have made of whether Liverpool City Council is compliant with any such conditions.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL11499
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/12/2020 answer text <p>The Government does not require local authorities to complete audits of their accounts in order to receive central government funding. However, there may be other conditions attached to individual grants to ensure the funding is used for its intended purpose.</p><p>The Accounts and Audit regulations 2015 (SI 234/2015) require councils to submit their draft accounts for public inspection within certain deadlines and, once the public inspection period is completed to approve them. The regulations also require the final accounts to be published (currently by 30 November 2020) once signed off by the auditor as complete. If the authority is unable to publish the completed accounts within the specified deadline they are required to post a notice saying why they are not being published. <br> <br>To help address the rising number of delayed audits and other concerns with the local audit framework, we commissioned Sir Tony Redmond to review arrangements supporting the effectiveness and quality of local authority financial reporting and external audit within the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. Sir Tony published the outcome of his Review on 8 September and I am pleased to report that we responded, accepting the majority of his recommendations on 17 December. The report can be accessed at the following (attached) link: <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Flocal-authority-financial-reporting-and-external-audit-government-response-to-the-redmond-review&amp;data=04%7C01%7CElsa.Esberger%40communities.gov.uk%7C697ddbd00aa545c94d7f08d8a5aa08bf%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C637441496987923578%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=sAKO40m8F%2BJKySb5mJF6DIjaHvI4vFQ0F1e8jsd8mMo%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-financial-reporting-and-external-audit-government-response-to-the-redmond-review</a></p> answering member printed Lord Greenhalgh question first answered 23/12/2020 14:34:45 answering member 4877 label Biography information for Lord Greenhalgh attachment 1 file name 201223 Local authority financial reporting and external audit_ government response to the independent review - HL11499.pdf title Government response to the redmond review
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

1259976

registered interest
date	09/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government Finance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial reserves of each of (1) Belfast, (2) Birmingham, (3) Bristol, (4) Cardiff, (5) Glasgow, (6) Leeds, (7) Liverpool, (8) Manchester, (9) Newcastle, (10) Nottingham, and (11) Sheffield, local authorities; and what information they hold on such reserves in each case.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL11321
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/12/2020 answer text <p>The Department collects and publishes reserves data as part of annual data returns from local authorities in England. These figures can be found (attached) in the individual local authority data at <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fcollections%2Flocal-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing&amp;data=04%7C01%7CArthur.Russell%40communities.gov.uk%7C348c8cbdcdd24a0d962b08d8a33ec9bf%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C637438837347578769%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=Kjul74wV5gnJ4UHx8kJEfWKxvd7%2BmQv1mUOC5K3p7ys%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing</a>, in table RA of budget data, and in table RS of outturn data. The latest published reserves figures from these local authorities are shown in the table.</p><p>Non-ringfenced reserves at 31 March 2020 of requested local authorities</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Other earmarked reserves (£m)</p></td><td><p>Unallocated reserves (£m)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Birmingham</p></td><td><p>463.8</p></td><td><p>133.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bristol</p></td><td><p>80.6</p></td><td><p>17.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Leeds</p></td><td><p>66.7</p></td><td><p>31.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Liverpool</p></td><td><p>96.8</p></td><td><p>5.7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Manchester</p></td><td><p>348.7</p></td><td><p>21.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Newcastle-upon-Tyne</p></td><td><p>87.7</p></td><td><p>10.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nottingham</p></td><td><p>153.7</p></td><td><p>2.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sheffield</p></td><td><p>252.1</p></td><td><p>13.2</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Source: Provisional Revenue Outturn 2019-20 returns from local authorities in England to MHCLG</p><p>We also collect information on use of reserves in our Local Authority COVID-19 financial monitoring survey. The eighth round of the survey was live between 4th and 11th December.</p><p>The financial position of councils in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the relevant devolved administration.</p> answering member printed Lord Greenhalgh question first answered 23/12/2020 14:23:53 answering member 4877 label Biography information for Lord Greenhalgh attachment 1 file name 201222 Local_authority_revenue_expenditure_and_financing_England_2020_to_2021_budget_HL11321.pdf title Local authority revenue expenditure and financing
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

1259977

registered interest
date	09/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government: Subsidiary Companies
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of appointments of councillors who lack specialist knowledge being appointed to the boards of council-owned companies.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL11322
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/12/2020 answer text <p>The Ministry of Housing, Communities &amp; Local Government is clear that councillors serving on company boards need particular skills, experience and training, as identified, for example, in the Public Interest Report issued by Nottingham City Council’s external auditors on 11 August 2020. This Public Interest Report followed the identification of serious issues associated with the council’s private energy company Robin Hood Energy.</p><p>On 17 December the Secretary of State published a response to the rapid non-statutory review into Nottingham City Council commissioned on 2 November. In his response, the Secretary of State acknowledged the review’s recommendation that the Department publish sector guidance on council-owned companies. This is being considered and an announcement will be made in due course.</p><p>Nottingham City Council's non-statutory review report and Secretary of State response can be found (attached) here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nottingham-city-council-rapid-review" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nottingham-city-council-rapid-review</a></p> answering member printed Lord Greenhalgh question first answered 23/12/2020 14:26:10 answering member 4877 label Biography information for Lord Greenhalgh attachment 1 file name 201222_NCCreport - HL11322.pdf title Nottingham city council rapid review
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

1259978

registered interest
date	09/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Liverpool City Council: Property Development
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Liverpool City Council about their process of awarding contracts to developers.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL11323
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/12/2020 answer text <p>It is a matter of public record that Merseyside Police have for many months been conducting an investigation which has resulted in a number of arrests made on suspicion of fraud, bribery, corruption and misconduct in public office, both in December 2019 and in September 2020. Further arrests were made on 4 December 2020 in connection with offences of bribery and witness intimidation. This investigation involves a significant connection to Liverpool City Council.</p><p>The Secretary of State met with Statutory Officers from Liverpool City Council at his request on Monday 7 December. He was given a range of assurances about the steps the council has taken to improve governance in the Council. Given the seriousness of the issues, the Secretary of State sought additional written assurances, including on any plans for further property disposals, and steps the authority has taken and proposes to take to secure effective governance. A copy of the letter that was sent to the council on Tuesday 8 December can be found (attached) <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F942227%2FLetter_to_Tony_Reeves_081220.pdf&amp;data=04%7C01%7CParliamentary%40communities.gov.uk%7C5d247579d4d64a033b5508d8a66beb07%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C637442329713582423%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=s68BEpDC7kj8zlAolauDbHbsp0XB0%2FWAVg2LmZ6Pxy8%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">here</a>. Liverpool City Council submitted their response on Friday 11 December.</p><p>On 17 December the Secretary of State <a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fquestions-statements.parliament.uk%2Fwritten-statements%2Fdetail%2F2020-12-17%2Fhcws681&amp;data=04%7C01%7CParliamentary%40communities.gov.uk%7C5d247579d4d64a033b5508d8a66beb07%7Cbf3468109c7d43dea87224a2ef3995a8%7C0%7C0%7C637442329713582423%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=xNQ2aYQ8LlUZlo9b6RbI2GSEftbfVdfQHM4Ewv3jeIw%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">announced</a> (attached) the appointment of Max Caller CBE to carry out an inspection of Liverpool City Council’s compliance with its Best Value Duty in relation to the authority’s planning, highways, regeneration and property management functions and the strength of associated audit and governance arrangements. The Secretary of State has asked Max Caller to report his findings by 31 March 2021.</p> answering member printed Lord Greenhalgh attachment 1 file name 201222 Letter_to_Tony_Reeves - HL11323.pdf title A copy of letter sent to the council 2 file name 201222 Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - HL11323.pdf title Statement question first answered 23/12/2020 14:27:18 answering member 4877 label Biography information for Lord Greenhalgh
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

1259477

registered interest
date	08/12/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Mayors
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the robustness of (1) checks and balances on, and (2) scrutiny of, directly-elected mayors in England.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL11248
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/12/2020 answer text <p>All principal and combined authorities that operate with a directly-elected mayor are required to have at least one overview and scrutiny committee to hold the executive to account. Combined authorities must also put in place an audit committee to provide additional challenge and, although it is not a statutory requirement, most principal authorities do the same. Overview and scrutiny committees have powers to investigate executives’ policies and their implementation, call in decisions that have been made but not yet implemented, issue reports and draw attention to shortcomings.</p><p>Overview and scrutiny arrangements are just one element of the wider accountability framework for local government. Other key elements include: independent audit, codes of conduct, complaints handling and whistleblowing procedures, statutory officers, and transparency of information and meetings. As with all government policy, we keep the accountability framework for local government under review.</p><p>Local authorities are independent of central government. Ministers have no remit to intervene in the day to day affairs of local authorities, except where specific provision has been made in legislation. However, this does not mean there is no accountability for local councils. Local authorities must act in accordance with legislation and are ultimately accountable through the ballot box for the decisions that they make.</p> answering member printed Lord Greenhalgh question first answered 22/12/2020 16:05:22 answering member 4877 label Biography information for Lord Greenhalgh
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

1218137

registered interest
date	25/06/2020
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Planning Permission
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many local authority planning applications have been called in by the Planning Inspectorate; (2) how many of these were overturned by the Planning Inspectorate; and (3) how many Planning Inspectorate decisions were overturned by Ministers in (a) 2016/17, (b) 2017/18, and (c) 2018/19.
tabling member printed	Lord Storey
uin	HL6180
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2020 answer text <p>The Planning Inspectorate does not call in planning applications, this is done by Ministers. Ministers decide called in applications rather than the Planning Inspectorate, based on the recommendation of an independent Inspector.</p><p>The Planning Inspectorate publishes statistics on the number of cases called in by Ministers. Numbers of cases called in were as follows:</p><p>2016-17 - 17<br>2017-18 - 13<br>2018-19 - 8</p><p>The number of called in cases decided by Ministers where they disagreed with the planning Inspector's recommendation were</p><p>2016-17 - 3 (out of a total of 14 cases decided)<br>2017-18 - 2 (out of a total of 10 cases decided)<br>2018-19 - 1 (out of a total of 5 cases decided)</p> answering member printed Lord Greenhalgh question first answered 09/07/2020 15:12:35 answering member 4877 label Biography information for Lord Greenhalgh
tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey