Whilst we have had no such discussions about these provisions in the Local Government Act 1972, which provide for metropolitan district councils to elect a third of the council in each of 3 years out of 4, my officials have had discussions or consultations with the councils of Birmingham and Rotherham about changing the pattern of their elections to the whole of the council being elected every four years.

I have laid the necessary statutory orders to move Birmingham to whole council elections from May 2018 and I intend shortly to lay the order to move Rotherham to whole council elections from May 2016.

Brentwood Borough Council did not send in a response to the consultation on “Taxpayer-funded pensions for councillors and other elected local office holders”. A copy of Essex County Council’s response is attached.

This differential interest no doubt reflects the fact that Brentwood Borough Council did not have any councillors in the Local Government Pension Scheme (a consequence of the decision of my hon. Friend, the Member for Great Yarmouth, when he was leader of the Council not to join the scheme), whereas Essex did. Non-participating councils tended not to respond to the consultation.

Prior to the consultation, only 16 per cent of councillors were actually members of the scheme and only 55 councils actually responded. The majority of Councils and Councillors submitted no objection to the Government’s proposal to end Councillor’s access to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Such taxpayer-funded local government pensions have now been abolished, subject to practical transition measures introduced as a result of the consultation. These reforms will save taxpayers’ money, strengthen the independence of councillors, and reflects that the fact that councillors are not salaried employees of the council. Nothing prevents councillors from contributing to their own private personal pension, receiving tax relief like any other member of the public.

The suggestion by some that these changes would discourage people from running for election has not been borne out. In last year’s London borough elections, all candidates nominated in the knowledge that there would be no taxpayer-funded pensions if they were elected; yet more candidates ran for election in London in 2014 than in 2010 (source: London datastore).

I suspect that the council tax-paying public would be less than impressed at the Labour Party’s calls to reintroduce such taxpayer-funded pensions.

I refer the hon. Member to the Government response to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee report, Councillors on the frontline (Cm 8582),

www.gov.uk/government/publications/councillors-on-the-frontline-government-response

As well as to the subsequent Ministerial response to the Westminster Hall debate (5 September 2013, Official Report, Column 186WH) and my evidence to the Select Committee of 21 October 2014.