Report on Committee's experiences over 2010-15 Parliament published
25 March 2015
The Communities and Local Government Committee has published its final report of the 2010-15 Parliament, looking back at its work since 2010 and looking ahead to the next Parliament.
- Report: The work of the Communities and Local Government Committee since 2010
- Report: The work of the Communities and Local Government Committee since 2010 (PDF 1 MB)
- Inquiry: Work of the Communities and Local Government Committee
- Communities and Local Government Committee
The report looks at the Committee's experiences over the Parliament and suggests some issues its successor Committee may consider examining in the new Parliament. These suggestions cover both "unfinished business"—topics the Committee has looked at over the Parliament to which the Committee's successors might wish to return—and new developments, which the Committee considers likely to emerge as major issues over the next five years.
Chair's comments
Clive Betts, Chair of the Communities and Local Government Committee, said:
"I hope this report will be useful to our successor Committee both in giving an account of our experience over the last five years, and in suggesting a number of topics our successors may wish to consider.
I am pleased that over the Parliament we have produced a series of strong reports grounded in a wide-ranging and robust evidence base. We have sought to cover all aspects of Department for Communities and Local Government's work – from electrical safety to community budgets, from the Housing Ombudsman to the role of local authorities in health issues. Central to the Committee's work has been its cross-party commitment to localism and a renewed role for local government.
The Government may not have accepted all the recommendations made by the Committee, but I am proud of the contribution we have made to shaping a number of important policy debates. Not least, I am confident that our proposals on fiscal devolution to English councils have generated a momentum that a future government will struggle to ignore. Devolution, alongside the delivery of more homes, will be close to the top of the Secretary of State’s in-tray after 7 May."
The report also includes the personal reflections of a number of the Committee's MPs. These are interspersed throughout the report and describe the Members’ own experiences of serving on a select committee.