Written questions by Gardner.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on mitigating health and mortality risks faced by children in temporary accommodation.

Awaiting answer.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Enhanced protections for homeowners on freehold estates, published on 18 December 2025, when he expects to publish legislation to address the issues raised in that consultation.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 128335 on 27 April 2026.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of private parking firms using payment by app only on users who cannot use a mobile phone.

In accordance with the Private Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, the government has recently consulted on its proposals for a new code of practice for private parking operators to follow.The government is aware that predominantly elderly and disabled motorists are the most likely to experience challenges when using mobile phones to pay for parking.As part of the consultation, the government sought views on the impact its proposals would have on protected groups, as defined by the 2010 Equality Act.The consultation closed on 26 September and the government will respond in due course.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of implementing an expanded national programme of Housing First to tackle homelessness.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 72851 on 15 September 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the use of retrospective planning applications to regularise unauthorised development; and whether she plans to close loopholes that may undermine the effectiveness of local planning enforcement.

Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case. The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review. With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to improve enforcement of agreements under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case. The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review. With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help support local planning authorities to improve the (a) capacity and (b) resourcing of their planning enforcement teams in North Staffordshire.

Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case. The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review. With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press release entitled Vulnerable people given greater access to social housing, published on 19 June 2025, whether the new regulations will apply to victims of (a) child abuse and (b) parent-on-child violence.

The regulations in question will apply to domestic abuse victims over the age of 16, as defined by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. Only those aged over the age of 16 can hold a social housing tenancy.The regulations will also apply to care leavers within the scope of the corporate parenting duty. These include eligible children, relevant children, and former relevant children.Local authorities have the discretion to exempt and support those not covered by these regulations, considering local need and special circumstances.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of ensuring that new build estates include adequate provision of (a) bungalows, (b) ramp access and (c) other accessible housing needs.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers to Questions UIN 50375 on 23 May 2025 and UIN 53184, on 27 May 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of consulting on regulating the property management sector.

The government is committed to ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service at the hands of unscrupulous property agents. Property agents must belong to a government-approved redress scheme. This legislation is currently enforced by local authorities and by the National Trading Standards’ Lettings and Estate Agency Team, who have the power to issue warnings and banning orders to rogue estate and letting agents. The previous government committed to regulate the property agent sector in 2018 and asked a working group chaired by Lord Best to advise them on how best to do it. However, they failed to respond to the recommendations set out in the working group’s 2019 Regulation of Property Agents: working group report which can be found on gov.uk here. Managing agents play a key role in the maintenance of multi-occupancy buildings and freehold estates, and their importance will only increase as we transition toward a commonhold future. As a result, we are looking again at the 2019 report. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the government has made clear it intends to strengthen regulation of managing agents to drive up the standard of their service. As a minimum, this should include mandatory professional qualifications which set a new basic standard that managing agents will be required to meet. We will consult on this matter this year. We will set out our full position on regulation of estate, letting and managing agents in due course.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to provide support for veterans who are homeless and rough sleeping in Stoke-on-Trent South constituency.

This is a government of service committed to ensuring our veterans have access to the housing support they need.As announced at the Budget, £633.2 million will be provided to councils in England in the financial year 2025 to 2026 through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, to support them to deliver services to tackle and prevent homelessness, including veteran homelessness. This includes an uplift of £192.9 million compared to 2024 to 2025. Stoke-on-Trent City Council is receiving a total of £1,747,686 over 2025-26. All Homelessness Prevention Grant allocations for 2025-26 can be found here.On 8 November the Government committed a further £3.5 million to the Reducing Veteran Homelessness Programme from March 2025, including Op FORTITUDE, the homelessness pathway for homeless veterans, including those rough sleeping. This is in addition to £8.55 million of funding made available to support veterans into housing over 2023-25.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of (a) adults and (b) children living in temporary accommodation in Stoke-on-Trent South constituency.

Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected.We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Government is looking at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness once and for all.We are already taking the first steps to get back on track to ending homelessness. In December, MHCLG announced that £633.2 million will be provided to councils in England in the 25/26 financial year through the Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG), of which £1,747,686 has been allocated to Stoke-on-Trent. These figures represent an additional £635,096 in funding for over 24/25 allocations, a 57.1% uplift, and will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping.This brings total spend on homelessness services to nearly £1 billion in 25/26, a record level of funding.More widely, we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness, including: delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and building 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament; and abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, preventing private renters being exploited and discriminated against, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.In addition, MHCLG’s dedicated team of homelessness advisers work regularly with local authorities, including Stoke-on-Trent, to support them in delivering their statutory duties.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she has taken to help support the regeneration of town centres in Stoke-on-Trent South constituency.

This Government is fully committed to rejuvenating our high streets and supporting the businesses and communities that make our town centres successful. This means addressing anti-social behaviour and crime, working with the banking industry to roll out 350 banking hubs, stamping out late payments, empowering communities to make the most of the vacant properties, strengthening the Post Office network, reforming the apprenticeship levy, and business rates.Furthermore, the Government is investing in local growth with local allocations for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2025-26 now announced, which places may choose to invest in regenerating town centres. Stoke-on-Trent has been allocated £4,476,723. Stoke-on-Trent has additionally received funding from the Levelling Up Fund and Levelling Up Partnerships, which will also support local growth.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support local councils to tackle antisocial behaviour within council homes.

Social landlords, including local councils, already have a range of powers and enforcement tools to tackle anti-social behaviour including powers to evict perpetrators. We expect landlords to use those powers promptly and proportionately, putting the needs of victims at the heart of their response. The government is strengthening these powers through the Renters’ Rights Bill for private registered providers.Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. We will crack down on those making neighbourhoods feel unsafe and unwelcoming by introducing the new Respect Order, which local authorities will be able to apply for and which will carry tough sanctions and penalties for persistent adult offenders. The police, local authorities and social landlords may already apply for a Civil Injunction under Section 1 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to prevent behaviour that is causing housing-related nuisance and annoyance.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to tackle rough sleeping in (a) Stoke-on-Trent South constituency and (b) the rest of England.

Rough Sleeping levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected. We will develop a new cross-government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness, and have announced at the Spending Review that funding for homelessness and rough sleeping is increasing by £233 million next year compared to 2024/25.From April 2022 to March 2025 Stoke-on-Trent City Council has been allocated over £3.5 million as part of £547 million Rough Sleeping Initiative funding to tackle rough sleeping across England.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill will ban leasehold houses.

Further to the answer I gave to Question UIN 8491 on the 18 October 2024, the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 included a ban on the sale of new residential long leases on houses. This will mean that, when this measure is implemented, other than in exceptional circumstances all new houses must be sold on a freehold basis.

Communities and Local Government, when her Department plans to present secondary legislation amending the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.

I refer my Hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 9537 on 24 October 2024.