The new secretary of state for communities and local government looks set to stick to the 25 July date to announce the final decision on unitary councils.
Council bosses in several of the bidding councils have been assured by the DCLG the date will not slip because of the reshuffle.
At the end of her first week in post, new communities and local government minister Hazel Blears had not yet considered the options for unitaries.
In an eventful week, which took in visits to flood-hit areas, a keynote speech at the Local Government Association Conference and an appearance at The MJ awards within hours of her appointment, Ms Blears had not managed give the bids her full attention, but she is expected to give them her full attention this week.
Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski used Gordon Brown's first prime minister's questions on Wednesday to quiz him on Shropshire CC's unitary bid.
‘Will the right honourable gentleman listen to the people of Shrewsbury and please not impose this ghastly unitary authority status on us?' he asked.
With weeks to go before the unitary announcement, Norwich City Council has announced a dramatic turnaround in its financial position.
The council's accounts for 2006 and 2007 show spending totalled £18.3m, which was £4.1m less than originally expected.
But Norfolk CC leader Daniel Cox commented: ‘Signing off the year's accounts is hardly a cause for delight in my opinion, particularly given that Norwich's own financial report refers to "a number of fortuitous savings that impacted on the outturn".'
The leaders and chief executives of all the authorities in Bedfordshire have written to Ms Blears calling for some form of unitary authority to be created in the county.