Statutory duties placed on local government

Local authorities are bound by statute. Their functions are set out in numerous Acts of Parliament and many of these functions have associated legal duties. At no point in recent history has there been a comprehensive list of legal duties placed on local authorities. The Government therefore agreed with the Local Government Association that we should compile a list of these duties to give clarity about what these are. On 30 June 2011, a summary of the responses and the latest revised list of duties were published. This exercise has successfully enabled a clearer picture of the requirements on local authorities, and created a valuable record that had previously not existed. (See 'Resources' below). The review has now closed. Any future consideration of whether to remove specific duties or associated guidance will be a separate exercise, and Government will consult further as appropriate.