§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will undertake a general study of the powers and duties of local government; if he will give consideration to extending single tier local government along the lines of his proposals for creating such a structure within the metropolitan areas; and if he will make a statement
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe Government examined the statutory duties of local authorities very thoroughly shortly after taking office and there are no plans for a further fundamental review of the type which my hon. Friend appears to have in mind. The Government's conclusions about the structure of local government generally are set out in paragraph 1.5 of the White Paper "Streamlining the Cities" (Cmnd. 9063) published in October 1983.