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Written Question
Local Government: Somerset
Tuesday 27th April 2021

Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many responses his Department received from people resident in Somerset to its consultation on local government reform in Somerset, which closed on 19 April 2021.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Thousands of responses have been received to the consultation on local government reorganisation in Somerset which closed on Monday 19 April. The Secretary of State will now be carefully considering the reorganisation proposals for Somerset to decide which, if any, should be implemented, subject to Parliamentary approval. In doing so he will have regard to all relevant information available to him, including the representations from the consultation which are now being analysed, and all other representations he has received.

He intends before the summer to announce his decisions on the unitary proposals and publish a summary of consultation responses.


Written Question
Local Government: Somerset
Tuesday 27th April 2021

Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many responses his Department received to its consultation on local government reform in Somerset, which closed on 19 April 2021, were recorded in favour of Somerset's four district councils' Stronger Somerset proposal.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Thousands of responses have been received to the consultation on local government reorganisation in Somerset which closed on Monday 19 April. The Secretary of State will now be carefully considering the reorganisation proposals for Somerset to decide which, if any, should be implemented, subject to Parliamentary approval. In doing so he will have regard to all relevant information available to him, including the representations from the consultation which are now being analysed, and all other representations he has received.

He intends before the summer to announce his decisions on the unitary proposals and publish a summary of consultation responses.


Written Question
Local Government: Somerset
Tuesday 27th April 2021

Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many responses his Department received to its consultation on local government reform in Somerset, which closed on 19 April 2021, were recorded in favour of Somerset County Council's One Somerset proposal.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Thousands of responses have been received to the consultation on local government reorganisation in Somerset which closed on Monday 19 April. The Secretary of State will now be carefully considering the reorganisation proposals for Somerset to decide which, if any, should be implemented, subject to Parliamentary approval. In doing so he will have regard to all relevant information available to him, including the representations from the consultation which are now being analysed, and all other representations he has received.

He intends before the summer to announce his decisions on the unitary proposals and publish a summary of consultation responses.


Written Question
Local Government: Somerset
Tuesday 27th April 2021

Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the total number of responses his Department received to its consultation on local government reform in Somerset, which closed on 19 April 2021.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Thousands of responses have been received to the consultation on local government reorganisation in Somerset which closed on Monday 19 April. The Secretary of State will now be carefully considering the reorganisation proposals for Somerset to decide which, if any, should be implemented, subject to Parliamentary approval. In doing so he will have regard to all relevant information available to him, including the representations from the consultation which are now being analysed, and all other representations he has received.

He intends before the summer to announce his decisions on the unitary proposals and publish a summary of consultation responses.


Written Question
Local Government: Somerset
Tuesday 27th April 2021

Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, on what date he plans to publish a complete data set of the responses his Department received to its consultation on local government reform in Somerset, which closed on 19 April 2021.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Thousands of responses have been received to the consultation on local government reorganisation in Somerset which closed on Monday 19 April. The Secretary of State will now be carefully considering the reorganisation proposals for Somerset to decide which, if any, should be implemented, subject to Parliamentary approval. In doing so he will have regard to all relevant information available to him, including the representations from the consultation which are now being analysed, and all other representations he has received.

He intends before the summer to announce his decisions on the unitary proposals and publish a summary of consultation responses.


Written Question
Citizen Space
Tuesday 27th April 2021

Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps Citizen Space is taking to verify the (a) identity and (b) nationality of respondents.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

I refer my hon Friend to my answers on 8 March to Questions UIN 159245 and UIN159246, which made clear that the Government welcomed the views of all those interested in the proposals, including local residents, town and parish councils, businesses and the voluntary sector; the process is not a poll or referendum, and hence there were no limitations on who was able to respond, nor is there a process of validating the details of respondents.

Those responding to the consultation on Citizen Space, the Department's online platform which is used widely across the public sector for consultation activities, were required to declare whether they were responding as a resident (and if so whether they are resident in the area concerned or elsewhere including overseas) or whether they were responding on behalf of an organisation and in which case the type of organisation. They were also asked to provide the name of the organisation on whose behalf a response is being made and the email address of the respondent. No further details about a respondent's personal or family's interests were requested.


Written Question
Local Government: Coronavirus
Monday 8th March 2021

Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure the appropriate use of funds allocated to local authorities for the covid-19 response.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

The Government has allocated over £11 billion directly to councils this year and next to tackle the impacts of COVID-19, the majority of which is unringfenced funding


Councils are primarily accountable to local residents for the delivery and quality of services, and are therefore responsible for their own governance, setting their own budgets and for prudent financial planning and management of their resources. MHCLG does not performance manage councils. They are instead subject to internal scrutiny arrangements and external audit.

We do, however, consider the financial stability and service delivery of individual authorities as part of our oversight of the functioning of the local government system. Our accountability system includes a range of checks and balances on local authorities that provides assurance that there is effective governance and that the funds they receive are spent properly.


Written Question
Local Government: Coronavirus
Monday 8th March 2021

Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will include a requirement for respondents to the Somerset unitarisation consultation to declare employment by any local authority subject to that consultation.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

The Department welcomes the views of all those interested in the proposals, including local residents, town and parish councils, businesses and the voluntary sector. The process is not a poll or referendum, and hence there are no limitations on who is able to respond, nor is there a process of validating the details of respondents.

Those responding to the consultation are asked to declare whether they are responding as a resident (and if so whether they are resident in the area concerned or elsewhere including overseas), or whether they are responding on behalf of an organisation.

The Department’s online platform, Citizen Space, which is used widely across the public sector for consultation activities, requires a response to this question, and asks the name of any organisation on whose behalf a response is being made and the email address of the respondent; no further details about a respondent’s personal or family’s interests such as employment status are requested.


Written Question
Local Government: Somerset
Monday 8th March 2021

Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to stop multiple applications being submitted improperly to the Somerset Unitarisation consultation.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

The Department welcomes the views of all those interested in the proposals, including local residents, town and parish councils, businesses and the voluntary sector. The process is not a poll or referendum, and hence there are no limitations on who is able to respond, nor is there a process of validating the details of respondents.

Those responding to the consultation are asked to declare whether they are responding as a resident (and if so whether they are resident in the area concerned or elsewhere including overseas), or whether they are responding on behalf of an organisation.

The Department’s online platform, Citizen Space, which is used widely across the public sector for consultation activities, requires a response to this question, and asks the name of any organisation on whose behalf a response is being made and the email address of the respondent; no further details about a respondent’s personal or family’s interests such as employment status are requested.


Written Question
Local Government: Somerset
Monday 8th March 2021

Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether respondees to the Somerset Unitarisation consultation are required to have reached voting age.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

The Department welcomes the views of all those interested in the proposals, including local residents, town and parish councils, businesses and the voluntary sector. The process is not a poll or referendum, and hence there are no limitations on who is able to respond, nor is there a process of validating the details of respondents.

Those responding to the consultation are asked to declare whether they are responding as a resident (and if so whether they are resident in the area concerned or elsewhere including overseas), or whether they are responding on behalf of an organisation.

The Department’s online platform, Citizen Space, which is used widely across the public sector for consultation activities, requires a response to this question, and asks the name of any organisation on whose behalf a response is being made and the email address of the respondent; no further details about a respondent’s personal or family’s interests such as employment status are requested.