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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the scope and range of the business interests and landholdings of local authorities; and if he will introduce restrictions on the scope of acquisition, expenditure and activity by local authorities in areas which bear no relation to their functions.

Local authorities are accountable to their local residents and taxpayers. We have no plans to impose new monitoring regimes or restrictions. Indeed, councils now have a general power of competence under the Localism Act, and we have rolled back top-down inspection and performance management.

We are committed to greater local accountability and transparency; for example, the updated local government Transparency Code now requires councils to publish their land holding and property assets. We are also taking steps to increase the transparency of local authority-owned companies.

Local authorities should be using their surplus and redundant land and assets to promote economic growth and provide brownfield land for new homes. There is significant potential for them to work with the private sector in this regard, subject to taking appropriate steps to ensure planning probity.