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

To ask His Majesty's Government, what steps they are taking, if any, to ensure combined authorities publish up-to-date, audited accounts, before devolving powers and funding to combined authorities.

The non-compliance list sets out which bodies have failed to meet the relevant backstop date and includes information on whether draft accounts were published in time, the appointed auditor, whether an audit opinion was delivered by the backstop date, and whether audited accounts were subsequently published.

The list highlights that all combined authorities are compliant with the statutory requirements to publish audited accounts except Tees Valley Combined Authority, which has outstanding accounts for 2023/24 and 2024/25.

The government continues to engage with all local bodies and audit firms to ensure that issues preventing the issuance of audit opinions are resolved and that outstanding opinions are published as soon as practicable.

The statutory deadline for publishing audited accounts for 2025/26 is 31 January 2027 and the government will continue to publish the outcome of the statutory deadlines. As part of its reform of the local audit system, the government is establishing the Local Audit Office later in autumn 2026, which will strengthen accountability, transparency and oversight across the sector.

The Government has moved away from 'devolution by deal' towards a statutory Devolution Framework, as set out in the English Devolution White Paper and the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026. Rather than determining individually which powers should be devolved to particular institutions, Strategic Authorities at each of the three levels in the framework will be automatically entitled to a standard set of powers, funding and collaboration agreements, with a clear route to taking on greater responsibilities.