Departments, including the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), offered a string of excuses as they refused to answer the questions ministers had posed to councils after The MJ submitted a series of Freedom of Information (FoI) Act requests.

Former Conservative local government minister Simon Hoare had asked councils to ensure elected members sign off productivity plans by 19 July and make them available to the public, with the new Labour Government keeping the deadline the same.