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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2025 to Question 59355 on Local Government: Israel, whether the powers of the (a) Local Government Ombudsman, (b) Local Auditor and (c) Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman would extend to considering complaints from (i) local residents and (ii) local firms as a result of their local authority initiating (A) boycotts and (B) divestment relating to Israel.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman may only consider complaints where the complainant claims to have suffered personal injustice. Whether they could investigate complaints relating to procurement matters would depend on the specific circumstances of the individual complaint.

Where matters of procurement policy are raised with local auditors, the auditor would need to determine whether the matters raised are directly related to the local authority’s accounts and/or would justify issuing a report in the public interest.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is not able to investigate the actions of local authorities.