The Government will review the data it collects on commercial investments by councils after it was accused of ‘flying blind’ by a senior MP.

Permanent secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Jeremy Pocklington, told a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing that the review – hopefully completed in the autumn - would ‘look in detail’ at the data Whitehall received from councils in an attempt to improve oversight.