Written questions by Betts.

Communities and Local Government, what extra (a) powers and (b) responsibilities she plans to give unitary councils.

As set out in the English Devolution White Paper, councils need to be empowered to take the right decisions to drive growth and improve services. This is an ongoing process but among our immediate steps to end micromanagement is working with the sector to review requirements for local authorities to seek Secretaries’ of State consents for the use of their powers and removing these requirements unless absolutely necessary. This will apply to all local authorities as we receive proposals from all two-tier areas for reorganisation, as set out in the White Paper.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of transferring powers for (a) skills and (b) training for employment support from job centres to (i) mayors and (ii) unitary councils under devolution deals.

As announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper, the Department for Work and Pensions will devolve funding for Connect to Work via grants to Strategic Authorities (including unitaries with a devolution agreement), and other agreed local authority clusters across the rest of England. This funding, in addition to the local Get Britain Working plans these areas will produce, will enable them to design and deliver an offer that is shaped around local priorities and provision. For Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities, Connect to Work funding forms part of their Integrated Settlement. All Mayoral Strategic Authorities will have a role in co-designing any future non-Jobcentre Plus employment support. Their subsequent role in commissioning or delivery will be determined as part of agreeing the policy objectives, design and funding parameters of any future programme. Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities will play an integral role in the design and delivery of this support, subject to evaluation and readiness conditions being met, with a clear outcomes and accountability framework. The Department for Education already devolves the Adult Skills Fund to all Strategic Authorities, including Mayoral ones. Full details of the governments employment and skills devolution commitments are set out within the recently published English Devolution White Paper: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-devolution-white-paper-power-and-partnership-foundations-for-growth/english-devolution-white-paper

Whether she plans to give extra (a) powers and (b) responsibilities to (i) councils and (ii) mayors over (A) academies, (B) other schools and (C) further education.

All our schools are crucial partners in breaking down the barriers to opportunities for children and young people so they all receive a brilliant education which sets them up to achieve and thrive.Academies are directly accountable to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. In the event that academies and their trusts are not meeting the required standards, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has powers to intervene. In the event that a local authority or mayor has concerns about the performance of an academy or trust in their area they can raise these with the department.Maintained schools are accountable to their local authority, which also has powers to intervene where schools are seriously underperforming.The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December 2024, contains proposals to extend certain powers of local authorities. They include powers relating to the admission of children to maintained schools and academies, to the range of bodies which can propose the opening of a new school and to the setting of a school’s published admission number.The department believes that further education has a crucial part to play in ensuring we have the skills needed for sustainable economic growth. That is why the government will continue to build an education system that prepares our students for life, work, and the future. All young people should have access to high quality education and training that meets their needs and provides them with opportunities to thrive.The department recognises that mayors have a key role to play in ensuring that education and training pathways for young people provide clear routes into further education or employment. While the department remains committed to the principle of a national education system for those in compulsory education, including that every learner must have a wide range of choices in 16-19 study, the English Devolution White Paper, published on 16 December 2024, sets out areas for further devolution including on skills. Mayors will in future be jointly responsible for local skills improvement plans and have a key role developing the Youth Guarantee to ensure all young people under age 21 are earning or learning.

Communities and Local Government, what the responsibilities are of (a) unitary authorities and (b) mayoral combined authorities to deliver housing targets.

The government have implemented a new mandatory standard method for assessing housing needs which aligns with our ambition to build 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament. Delivering on that ambitious milestone requires local planning authorities to plan for sufficient homes, as well as commercial development and wider infrastructure, through local development plans. Unitary authorities are local planning authorities for their area and therefore will need to take account of the standard method when updating their local plans. Mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) are not local planning authorities. However, some MCAs currently have a duty to produce Spatial Development Strategies (SDS), which is a form of strategic level plan. Further, through our English Devolution White Paper published on 16 December 2024 we were clear that in future, SDSs will be produced for all of England, and where there are MCAs, they will produce the SDS. Therefore, MCAs will use the new standard method when producing their SDSs, which will set the housing requirement for each local planning authority within its area. Local Plans will then have to be in general conformity with the relevant SDS.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to allow elected Mayors outside London to appoint Deputies in the same way as the Mayor of London.

The English Devolution White Paper sets out that the government will legislate so that Mayors are able to appoint and remunerate ‘Commissioners’ who would be able to support the delivery of key functions with portfolios to be determined by Mayors.

Communities and Local Government, what differentiating powers she plans to provide to (a) unitary authorities and (b) mayors in (i) considering individual planning applications and (ii) developing local and spatial plans.

The English Devolution Bill will create in law the concept of a strategic authority, which will include all combined authorities and combined county authorities, both mayoral and non-mayoral, as well as the Greater London Authority.The Bill will place a duty on all strategic authorities to produce a spatial development strategy. Strategic authorities with mayors will also receive development management powers like those enjoyed by the Mayor of London. This will include powers to ‘call in’ and determine applications of potential strategic importance and make Mayoral Development Orders.Local authorities, including unitary authorities, will remain the local planning authorities for their areas and will continue to have a duty to produce a local plan and to determine planning applications.The establishment of strategic authorities across England will be a gradual process. Our aim is to have a universal system of strategic planning in place by 2030, so the Planning & Infrastructure Bill will place a duty on all combined authorities and combined county authorities, both mayoral and non-mayoral, to produce a spatial development strategy.Outside of these areas county councils and unitary authorities will also be required to produce a spatial development strategy, either individually or in defined groupings. In some instances, they may also be grouped with a non-mayoral combined authority or combined county authority. The Mayor of London will continue to produce a spatial development strategy for the capital.The precise geographical extent of these groupings is yet to be determined, but the government believes that they should be based on the sensible geography criteria set out for agreeing devolution deals in the English Devolution White Paper, in anticipation of these groupings forming the basis for future strategic authorities.

Communities and Local Government, what the responsibilities of (a) unitary councils and (b) mayors will be for the delivery of the affordable homes programme.

The government will set out details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the multi-year Spending Review later this year. This will support local authorities as well as housing associations to build their capacity and make a greater contribution to affordable housing supply.We are considering how all local authorities with housing responsibilities, including unitary authorities, will interact with our new investment for social and affordable housing and we will announce further details at the Spending Review.The Devolution White Paper set out that mayors will be given the ability to set the strategic direction of any future affordable housing in their area. Further details will be set out as part of any future programme design.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to provide (a) mayors and (b) councils with additional fundraising powers, in addition to the planned infrastructure levy.

The English Devolution White Paper has provided powers for local leaders to deliver for their places and support economic growth. The government keeps all taxes under review.

How the funding for the warm homes policy will be targeted; and what steps he plans to take to ensure the funding is distributed to those most in need.

As the first step towards the Warm Homes Plan, the Government has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency, with £1bn of this allocated to next year. Additional funding will be considered in Phase 2 of the Spending Review, as the Warm Homes Plan is further developed. The £3.4 billion includes £1.8 billion to support fuel poverty schemes, helping over 225,000 households reduce their energy bills by over £200. In addition, the Government recently announced Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund in England, which will replace the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to support social housing providers and tenants, with delivery expected in 2025. We have also announced a new Warm Homes: Local Grant to help low-income homeowners and private tenants in England with energy performance upgrades and cleaner heating.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Pension megafunds could unlock £80 billion of investment as Chancellor takes radical action to drive economic growth, published on 13 November 2024, whether she plans to appoint a body that will be legally accountable for (a) investment decisions, (b) paying pensions and (c) acquiring contributions from councils for proposed amalgamated local authority pension funds.

The Government is consulting on proposals relating to asset pooling in the Local Government Pensions Scheme (LGPS) England and Wales, following extensive engagement with sector stakeholders including the LGA.The proposals in the consultation do not include mandatory merging of funds, and so a) assets and liabilities b) paying pensions and c) acquiring contributions from councils would remain the responsibility of the administering authority. Administering authorities would remain responsible for setting an investment strategy, with its implementation delegated to the pools.All pools would be FCA-regulated investment management companies, with partner administering authorities as sole shareholders. Boards of all pool companies would be required to have the skills and experience appropriate to the leadership of an investment management company, meeting the requirements for FCA authorisation.

Communities and Local Government, whether the amalgamation of local government pension funds will be compulsory; whether pension funds will be able to choose which new fund to join; and whether she has had recent discussions with (a) the Local Government Association and (b) pension funds on her proposed changes.

The Government is consulting on proposals relating to asset pooling in the Local Government Pensions Scheme (LGPS) England and Wales, following extensive engagement with sector stakeholders including the LGA.The proposals in the consultation do not include mandatory merging of funds, and so a) assets and liabilities b) paying pensions and c) acquiring contributions from councils would remain the responsibility of the administering authority. Administering authorities would remain responsible for setting an investment strategy, with its implementation delegated to the pools.All pools would be FCA-regulated investment management companies, with partner administering authorities as sole shareholders. Boards of all pool companies would be required to have the skills and experience appropriate to the leadership of an investment management company, meeting the requirements for FCA authorisation.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Pension megafunds could unlock £80 billion of investment as Chancellor takes radical action to drive economic growth, published on 13 November 2024, whether the assets and liabilities of amalgamated local authority pension funds will remain with councils or become part of the Government's accounts.

The Government is consulting on proposals relating to asset pooling in the Local Government Pensions Scheme (LGPS) England and Wales, following extensive engagement with sector stakeholders including the LGA.The proposals in the consultation do not include mandatory merging of funds, and so a) assets and liabilities b) paying pensions and c) acquiring contributions from councils would remain the responsibility of the administering authority. Administering authorities would remain responsible for setting an investment strategy, with its implementation delegated to the pools.All pools would be FCA-regulated investment management companies, with partner administering authorities as sole shareholders. Boards of all pool companies would be required to have the skills and experience appropriate to the leadership of an investment management company, meeting the requirements for FCA authorisation.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Pension megafunds could unlock £80 billion of investment as Chancellor takes radical action to drive economic growth, published on 13 November 2024, who will be responsible for appointing trustees for new amalgamated pension funds.

The Government is consulting on proposals relating to asset pooling in the Local Government Pensions Scheme (LGPS) England and Wales, following extensive engagement with sector stakeholders including the LGA.The proposals in the consultation do not include mandatory merging of funds, and so a) assets and liabilities b) paying pensions and c) acquiring contributions from councils would remain the responsibility of the administering authority. Administering authorities would remain responsible for setting an investment strategy, with its implementation delegated to the pools.All pools would be FCA-regulated investment management companies, with partner administering authorities as sole shareholders. Boards of all pool companies would be required to have the skills and experience appropriate to the leadership of an investment management company, meeting the requirements for FCA authorisation.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on embedding circular design principles in the construction of 1.5million homes.

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has written to the Deputy Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretaries of State for Business and Trade, Energy Security and Net Zero and Transport and invited them to join a Small Ministerial Group on Circular Economy (CE-SMG).This group will govern, join up and drive CE work across government departments to support work relating to the Government’s Growth and Clean Energy Missions and feed into the Industrial Strategy.The National Model Design Code and National Design Guide, which support the National Planning Policy Framework, already encourages the implementation of sustainable construction that focuses on reducing embodied energy, embedding circular economy principles to reduce waste, designing for disassembly and exploring the remodel and reuse of buildings where possible, rather than rebuilding.Our continued commitment to well-designed homes and places is further supported through proposed updates to the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code in Spring 2025.

With reference to the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October 2024, HC 295, what extra funding he plans to provide for public health.

We will confirm 2025/26 local authority public health funding at the earliest opportunity, and will confirm future years’ funding following the upcoming Spending Review next spring.The Autumn Budget sets out the Government’s commitment to strengthen the United Kingdom’s pandemic preparedness and health protection with £460 million of investment.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help ensure that people living in new homes have access to well-designed green spaces.

National planning policy and guidance recognise the importance of high quality open spaces and opportunities for sport and physical activity for the health and wellbeing of communities.Our proposals to release ‘grey belt’ land for development will depend on meeting golden rules, ensuring that all new developments has accessible green space.

What steps he is taking to increase the number of NHS (a) radiologists and (b) oncologists.

We are committed to training the staff we need, including radiologists and oncologists, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the National Health Service in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to prevent products manufactured by (a) Kingspan and (b) Celotex being used by public bodies.

The Prime Minister has been clear that the government will write to all companies found by the Inquiry to have been part of these horrific failings, as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts. This process is being led by the Minister for the Cabinet Office. Our work to review the Inquiry report and the companies named in it as having contributed to the failures is ongoing.Grenfell was a terrible tragedy that should never have happened. We must learn from these lessons and that is why government is considering the report’s recommendations with the seriousness the tragedy deserves.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to prevent products manufactured by (a) Kingspan and (b) Celotex from being used in Government-funded contracts.

The Prime Minister has been clear that the government will write to all companies found by the Inquiry to have been part of these horrific failings, as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts. This process is being led by the Minister for the Cabinet Office. Our work to review the Inquiry report and the companies named in it as having contributed to the failures is ongoing.Grenfell was a terrible tragedy that should never have happened. We must learn from these lessons and that is why government is considering the report’s recommendations with the seriousness the tragedy deserves.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) putting the New Homes Quality Board on a statutory footing, (b) requiring developers to be members of the Board and (c) providing buyers of new homes with a right of redress.

The Government is committed to improving upon existing means of redress for purchasers of new build homes. We are currently considering the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recommendations in their recent Housebuilding Market Study, which included activating a statutory New Homes Ombudsman, and will publish our response in due course.