Unitary Authorities in Norfolk, Suffolk and Devon  

• Richard defends civil servant over leak allegations • Norfolk MPs condemn unitary process Mr. Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) (Con):I am grateful to have the opportunity to take part in this debate. I want to focus on the narrow issue of the correspondence between me and the permanent secretary of the Department for Communities and Local Government, to which my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Norfolk (Mr. Simpson) referred in his introduction. Since that correspondence there has been an extraordinary and indefensible outburst from the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw). I should like to hear the Minister, on behalf of the Government, condemn what was said and state, on the record, that civil servants have done nothing wrong in relation to such matters. I wrote to the permanent secretary, Mr. Peter Housden, on 3 February....