HC Deb 20 November 1987 vol 122 cc681-2W
Sir Peter Emery

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many cases have been brought to his attention where the Commissioner for Local Administration has considered a matter and reported on it, has then reconsidered the case when the local authority has refused to rectify the complaint and again urged the local authority to take action and it has refused for a second time to do so; if he will list the authorities concerned and the number, for each authority, of such cases; and whether he is considering any action which could help those individuals who according to the local government commissioner have still not had their complaint properly settled.

Mr. Chope

I understand from the Commission for Local Administration in England that, since it was set up in 1974, there have been 120 cases where the local authority concerned has failed to provide a satisfactory remedy following the issue of a second report by one of the commissioners. A list of the authorities is in the table: where more than one such case has occurred, the number is indicated in brackets.

The Select Committee on the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administraton and the Widdicombe committee on the conduct of local authority business have both put forward proposals for remedying this problem. My right hon. Friend is considering these proposals.

Authorities who have failed to provide satisfactory remedies after a second report.

  • Aran
  • Avon1
  • Aylesbury Vale (2)
  • Babergh
  • Beverley (2)
  • Birmingham (6)
    • 682
  • Boston
  • Bournemouth
  • Bristol City (2)
  • Bromley
  • Bromsgrove
  • Buckinghamshire2
  • Cambridgeshire
  • Cannock Chase
  • Caradon
  • Carrick
  • Castlepoint
  • Chelmsford
  • Cherwell
  • Christchurch (2)
  • Colchester
  • Craven
  • Ealing
  • East Devon (3)
  • East Hants (2)
  • East Northants (2)
  • Epping Forest (2)
  • Exeter
  • Forest of Dean (3)
  • Hackney
  • Hammersmith
  • Hastings
  • Hillingdon
  • Hinckley and Bosworth
  • Huntingdonshire
  • Lambeth
  • Leicestershire
  • Liverpool (4)
  • Mid Bedfordshire
  • Milton Keynes2
  • Newark
  • New ham
  • Norlhavon (2)1
  • North Norfolk
  • North Wiltshire
  • North Yorkshire
  • Oldham
  • Portsmouth (2)
  • Purbeck
  • Rotherham
  • Salford (2)
  • Sandwell
  • Sefton (2)
  • Slough
  • Somerset
  • South Hereford
  • Southampton (2)
  • South Holland (2)
  • South Kesteven
  • South Lakeland (2)
  • South Northants
  • South Oxfordshire
  • South Tyneside
  • Southwark (3)
  • Stratford-on-Avon
  • Tameside
  • Tendring
  • Tower Hamlets
  • Trafford
  • Vale of White Horse
  • Wakefield (2)
  • Walsall (3)
  • Wandsworth (6)
  • Watford
  • Westminster
  • West Devon
  • West Dorset (2)
  • West Lancashire
  • West Norfolk
  • West Oxfordshire
  • Weymouth and Portland (2)
  • Wiltshire
  • Woking
  • Wycombe

1 and 2 Both authorities were the subject of one report.