To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what research her Department has conducted on the mechanisms and processes by which local authorities respond to petitions from local residents. (202562)

As part of the consultation on Local Petitions and Calls for Action, which closed on 20 March 2008, the Department commissioned a series of focus groups with the public on petitions, and received 149 consultation responses from local authorities, some of which detailed their processes for responding to petitions.