Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of a new tier of governance accountability for councils, in the context of events such as Grenfell Tower.

The governance model for a local authority in England must be either: the mayor and cabinet; the leader and cabinet; or the committee system. It is for local areas to decide on their governance. Local people can have a say on the authority's governance via a binding referendum in certain circumstances and can petition for a referendum as seen in Bristol, Croydon and Sheffield recently.

Local government is independent of central Government and is accountable to its local electorate. To improve accountability and transparency and help all councils succeed we have launched the Office for Local Government (Oflog).

Where there is evidence that a council is at risk of failing its best value duty, the Secretary of State may use his powers under the Local Government Act 1999 to intervene.

The independent Grenfell Recovery Taskforce (2017-2020) was appointed in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy. It supported and challenged the council and provided assurance to Government. This was a substantial non-statutory intervention; and a sign of how seriously Government regarded the situation. The Secretary of State remains committed to supporting the Grenfell community and will continue to work closely with partners including those at the council to bring about lasting change for all those affected.