Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2016-10-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to provide regular reports to Parliament on the withdrawal by local authorities of public services, including welfare, educational and cultural services, including explanations of how local authorities are meeting statutory obligations for the provision of those services.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Local authorities are independent bodies accountable to their electorate and have a legal obligation to fulfil a range of statutory duties to provide key services. Within the framework of statutory duties, councillors are free to set their own priorities and determine outcomes.
Local authorities have an important role in making their decisions on resourcing transparent. All local authorities produce public accounts, have open meetings and are required to consult the public, and all are subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The public are also entitled to have access to documents relating to council meetings and documents relating to executive decisions made by executive members or officers.
The Secretary of State can request an inspection under section 10 and intervene under section 15 of the Local Government Act 1999 where there is clear evidence that an authority is failing either to discharge its functions adequately or meet its statutory obligations.
