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Department overview | |
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Formed | July 4, 2023 |
Dissolved | December 16, 2024 |
Headquarters | 2 Marsham Street, London, England |
Parent department | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government |
Website | www |
The Office for Local Government (Oflog) was a body responsible for assessing and improving the performance of local government in England.
Oflog was established in July 2023 by the Conservative Sunak government [1] following a string of local authority bankruptcies, in order to collect statistics on local performance. [2] The body answered to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. In February 2024 the minister responsible, Michael Gove, set out Oflog's priorities for the financial year 2024–2025 and invited Oflog to publish a corporate plan for 2024 to 2027. [3]
From June 2024, Oflog had no chair following the departure of interim chair Lord Morse in advance of the 2024 United Kingdom general election. [4] In that month, following the release of a dataset on local government performance, The Times published an article ranking local authorities; [5] This led to criticism of Oflog for its failure to provide sufficient information on usage of the statistics, [6] with some calling for a "reset" following the 2024 election. [4]
Oflog was abolished by the Labour Starmer government on 16 December 2024. [7] Jim McMahon, Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, wrote that the government had "an urgent priority to fix the local audit system, which was not part of Oflog's remit", and said "Oflog was hampered with a vague and broad remit that risked duplication of functions performed elsewhere". [8]
Local government in Wales is primarily undertaken by the twenty-two principal councils. The councils are unitary authorities, meaning they are responsible for providing local government services within their principal area, including education, social work, environmental protection, and most highway maintenance. The principal areas are divided into communities, most of which have an elected community council. The services provided by community councils vary, but they will typically maintain public spaces and facilities. Local councils in Wales are elected; the most recent local elections in Wales took place in 2022, and the next are due to take place in 2027.
A police authority in the United Kingdom is a public authority that is responsible for overseeing the operations of a police force. The nature and composition of police authorities has varied over time, and there are now just four dedicated "police authorities" in the United Kingdom, although the term can refer to various similar successor bodies.
The Audit Commission was a public corporation in the United Kingdom from 1983 to 2015. The commission's primary objective was to appoint auditors to a range of local public bodies in England, set the standards for auditors and oversee their work. The commission closed on 31 March 2015, with its functions being transferred to the voluntary, not-for-profit or private sector.
Sheffield City Council is the local authority for the City of Sheffield, a metropolitan borough with city status in South Yorkshire, England. The council consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under no overall control, with Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party each holding chair positions in a proportionate number of committees.
Regional spatial strategies (RSS) provided regional level planning frameworks for the regions of England outside London. They were introduced in 2004. Their revocation was announced by the new Conservative/Liberal Democrat government on 6 July 2010.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) is the national association of Scottish councils and acts as an employers' association for its 32 member authorities.
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The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for housing, communities, and local government in England. It was established in May 2006 and is the successor to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, established in 2001. The department shares its headquarters building, at 2 Marsham Street in London, with the Home Office.
Somerset Council, known until 2023 as Somerset County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England. Since 2023 it has been a unitary authority, being a county council which also performs the functions of a district council. The non-metropolitan county of Somerset is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset.
North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county council which also performs the functions of a district council. The council is based at County Hall, Northallerton, and consists of 90 councillors. It is a member of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.
Homes England is the non-departmental public body that funds new affordable housing in England. It was founded on 1 January 2018 to replace the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). HCA in turn was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 as one of the successor bodies to the Housing Corporation, and became operational on 1 December 2008.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is a combined authority for Greater Manchester, England. It was established on 1 April 2011 and consists of 11 members: 10 indirectly elected members, each a directly elected councillor from one of the ten metropolitan boroughs that comprise Greater Manchester, together with the directly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester. The authority derives most of its powers from the Local Government Act 2000 and Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, and replaced a range of single-purpose joint boards and quangos to provide a formal administrative authority for Greater Manchester for the first time since the abolition of Greater Manchester County Council in 1986.
The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU) was a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation set up by the Government of the United Kingdom in 2006 and formally launched in June 2007, with the aim of advising the government on the impact of planned housing provision on affordability, and in an attempt to counteract the growing numbers of citizens who were struggling to get on the property ladder in England. The body was part of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DC&LG) and was abolished in the 2010 UK quango reforms.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester is the directly elected mayor of Greater Manchester, responsible for strategic governance in the region that includes health, transport, housing, strategic planning, waste management, policing, the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and skills. The creation of the Mayor of Greater Manchester was agreed between the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, and Greater Manchester's 10 district council leaders. As well as having specific powers, the mayor chairs the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, also assuming the powers of the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner.
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The Mayoral Council for England is a political body in England that brings together ministers from the UK Government, the Mayor of London, and combined authority mayors.