§ Mr. Donald Stewartasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce legislation to seek to oblige local authorities to conform to decisions of the Local Government Commissioner.
§ Mr. ShoreUnder Section 31(1) of the Local Government Act 1974 it is already the duty of a local authority to consider a local commissioner's report which finds that injustice has been caused as a result of maladministration, and to notify the local commissioner of the action it proposes to take. I have no 499W evidence that the great majority of authorities are not fulfilling this obligation. If in the course of their annual review of the operation of the provisions of Part III of the 1974 Act the commissioners wish to draw attention to any difficulty they experience in getting action on their reports I will of course consider whether further powers may be required.