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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect that establishing the new unitary local government system will have on the equality of representation for electors.

It is through the electoral reviews undertaken by the independent Local Government Boundary Commission for England that there can be confidence about equality of representation for electors. Where new unitary councils are set up their electoral arrangements for the first election will be established either through a Commission’s electoral review, or if an early review is not practicable, provided for in the order creating the new council drawing on existing electoral arrangements established by the Commission for predecessor councils. In the latter case it is expected that the Commission would undertake a review for subsequent elections, particularly if it judged that equality of representation for electors was not being effectively delivered.