Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps their Department is taking to improve the response time to FOI requests.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department is continually striving to improve the quality and timeliness of responses. This year the Department has acquired a new case management system.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the average response time to subject access requests was by their Department in the latest period for which data is available; and if they will make an assessment of the adequacy of that response time.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The department responded to all Subject Access Requests within the permitted statutory deadline for the financial year 2022/23.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help support Birmingham City Council to meet its financial liabilities relating to equal pay claims.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The department has engaged regularly with Birmingham City Council, including in recent months over the pressures it faces around its failed implementation of the Oracle IT system and its unresolved equal pay liability. We have expressed serious concern over the Council's governance arrangements, and, in April, I requested that the Council commission an independent governance review, which will report on its findings in the coming weeks. I have placed a copy of my correspondence from August with the Leader of the Council in the Library of the House of Commons.
Councils are responsible for their own financial management. The department stands ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances. The decision to issue a Section 114 report is a local one, taken by the statutory chief finance officer.
In line with the practice of successive administration, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions his Department has had with Birmingham City Council on its section 114 notice.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The department has engaged regularly with Birmingham City Council, including in recent months over the pressures it faces around its failed implementation of the Oracle IT system and its unresolved equal pay liability. We have expressed serious concern over the Council's governance arrangements, and, in April, I requested that the Council commission an independent governance review, which will report on its findings in the coming weeks. I have placed a copy of my correspondence from August with the Leader of the Council in the Library of the House of Commons.
Councils are responsible for their own financial management. The department stands ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances. The decision to issue a Section 114 report is a local one, taken by the statutory chief finance officer.
In line with the practice of successive administration, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for which Birmingham City Council issued its section 114 notice.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The department has engaged regularly with Birmingham City Council, including in recent months over the pressures it faces around its failed implementation of the Oracle IT system and its unresolved equal pay liability. We have expressed serious concern over the Council's governance arrangements, and, in April, I requested that the Council commission an independent governance review, which will report on its findings in the coming weeks. I have placed a copy of my correspondence from August with the Leader of the Council in the Library of the House of Commons.
Councils are responsible for their own financial management. The department stands ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances. The decision to issue a Section 114 report is a local one, taken by the statutory chief finance officer.
In line with the practice of successive administration, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his planned timescale is for negotiations with Birmingham City Council on its financial liabilities.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The department has engaged regularly with Birmingham City Council, including in recent months over the pressures it faces around its failed implementation of the Oracle IT system and its unresolved equal pay liability. We have expressed serious concern over the Council's governance arrangements, and, in April, I requested that the Council commission an independent governance review, which will report on its findings in the coming weeks. I have placed a copy of my correspondence from August with the Leader of the Council in the Library of the House of Commons.
Councils are responsible for their own financial management. The department stands ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances. The decision to issue a Section 114 report is a local one, taken by the statutory chief finance officer.
In line with the practice of successive administration, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to issue guidance to Birmingham City Council on streamlining their Oracle IT system.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The department has engaged regularly with Birmingham City Council, including in recent months over the pressures it faces around its failed implementation of the Oracle IT system and its unresolved equal pay liability. We have expressed serious concern over the Council's governance arrangements, and, in April, I requested that the Council commission an independent governance review, which will report on its findings in the coming weeks. I have placed a copy of my correspondence from August with the Leader of the Council in the Library of the House of Commons.
Councils are responsible for their own financial management. The department stands ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances. The decision to issue a Section 114 report is a local one, taken by the statutory chief finance officer.
In line with the practice of successive administration, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to help improve (a) transparency and (b) communications with local residents on the financial situations of their councils.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The department has engaged regularly with Birmingham City Council, including in recent months over the pressures it faces around its failed implementation of the Oracle IT system and its unresolved equal pay liability. We have expressed serious concern over the Council's governance arrangements, and, in April, I requested that the Council commission an independent governance review, which will report on its findings in the coming weeks. I have placed a copy of my correspondence from August with the Leader of the Council in the Library of the House of Commons.
Councils are responsible for their own financial management. The department stands ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances. The decision to issue a Section 114 report is a local one, taken by the statutory chief finance officer.
In line with the practice of successive administration, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of when the independent governance review into Birmingham City Council will be published.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The department has engaged regularly with Birmingham City Council, including in recent months over the pressures it faces around its failed implementation of the Oracle IT system and its unresolved equal pay liability. We have expressed serious concern over the Council's governance arrangements, and, in April, I requested that the Council commission an independent governance review, which will report on its findings in the coming weeks. I have placed a copy of my correspondence from August with the Leader of the Council in the Library of the House of Commons.
Councils are responsible for their own financial management. The department stands ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances. The decision to issue a Section 114 report is a local one, taken by the statutory chief finance officer.
In line with the practice of successive administration, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has taken steps to use financial benchmarks to monitor local council budgets.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The department has engaged regularly with Birmingham City Council, including in recent months over the pressures it faces around its failed implementation of the Oracle IT system and its unresolved equal pay liability. We have expressed serious concern over the Council's governance arrangements, and, in April, I requested that the Council commission an independent governance review, which will report on its findings in the coming weeks. I have placed a copy of my correspondence from August with the Leader of the Council in the Library of the House of Commons.
Councils are responsible for their own financial management. The department stands ready to speak to any council that has concerns about its ability to manage its finances. The decision to issue a Section 114 report is a local one, taken by the statutory chief finance officer.
In line with the practice of successive administration, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.