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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what instructions he has issued to local authorities on undertaking a race equality audit.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has not issued any guidance on this issue.

We are aware that the Government's Race Disparity Unit (RDU) is currently in dialogue with several city councils and local authorities across the North, the Midlands and the South, to support their endeavours to replicate the Race Disparity Audit model. They are keen to see how their data can be used to identify and act on areas of local challenge. Through these collaborations the RDU is also seeking to improve the quality and range of local authority data to support its analysis of regional variances.