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Consent Regimes

Consent regimes require local government to apply for permission from the Secretary of State to carry out certain activities. Local government decision-making needs to be less constrained by central government, with greater flexibility at the local level to implement specific policies to secure higher quality and more efficient services. The number of consent regimes currently in operation runs counter to this principle, imposing an unnecessarily large burden on officers and legal advisors, and slowing down the decision making process.

The Government carried out a scrutiny review of consent regime powers in 1997 entitled, 'Report of an Efficiency Scrutiny of Central Consent Regimes for Local Authorities'. 'Strong Local Leadership – Quality Public Services’, published in December 2001 and 'Making a Difference: Reducing Red Tape and Bureaucracy in Local Government’ published February 2002 commits to following up on the outstanding recommendations from the scrutiny review.

The Public Sector Team has been working with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and other government departments to progress this.

Following up on the commitment, the Government announced in September 2002 that decisions had been taken to repeal 84 consent regime powers. Further details and a full list of the individual consent regimes where the Government has or will be taking action can be found on the ODPM website

The Public Sector Team will continue to work with ODPM and other government departments to ensure full implementation.