Written question asked by Parmjit Dhanda (Labour) on Tuesday, 2 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 5 February 2010. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Friday, 5 February 2010 on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Local Government: Reorganisation

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the net effect on public expenditure of introducing unitary local authorities in England.

Answer: Our pre-Budget report makes clear that measures to reduce duplication and inefficiency between different tiers of local government will contribute to the £11 billion a year of savings which, as announced in that report, will be delivered by 2012-13. The nine new unitary councils established on 1 April 2009 show the capacity for savings with estimated savings either directly attributable to the transition to unitary local government or facilitated by it totalling some £159 million included in their 2009-10 budgets.However, we have no plans for further programmes of invitations under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 to councils in two-tier areas to submit unitary proposals. We recognise that in some specific cases in the future there might be areas where circumstances are such as to warrant a focused and targeted invitation to councils concerned, and the 2007 Act allows for this.

Secondary information