Concerns expressed at continued delay in Government response on local authority remote meetings

Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) and the Association of Democratic Services Officers (ADSO) have said they are “extremely dismayed” at the continued delay in the Government’s response to its call for evidence in respect of remote meeting attendance for local authorities.

In January 2022 then local government minister Kemi Badenoch said in answer to a written question from Conservative MP Peter Aldous that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) was considering the responses to its call for evidence on local authority remote meetings and that the Government would respond “shortly”.

However, in a response to a written question from another Conservative MP, Richard Fuller, Local Government Minister Lee Rowley said this month (2 December) that the Government was still considering the responses and would only be issuing its response “in due course”.

In a joint statement LLG and ADSO said: “Whilst the private sector is able to move forward with flexibility on a needs-based approach, councils are left with difficult challenges.

“Councillors are being forced to navigate challenging weather, illness, the environmental impact of travel to meetings, problems with attending meetings due to industrial action and competing demands on their time, whilst officers are grappling with quorum and political balance.

“Commons debate has recently seen support for remote planning meetings in the context of levelling up. We already have provision for remote school admission appeal panels. Are we to wait for remote provision to drip through piecemeal or will the government step up and provide the sweeping provision so desperately needed? LLG and ADSO will continue to press for the latter.”