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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance or advice his Department has provided to local authorities on whether councillors who have been suspended by a national political party should be considered to remain members of that party’s political group on a local authority for the purposes of allocating seats on committees.

The allocation of committee seats should be reviewed by a local authority annually, or upon request following a by-election or where a councillor joins a new political group. It is for the political groups on a local authority to determine their own membership as they see fit.