Written questions by Simmonds.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of the local government finance settlement on councils in London on the sustainability of their existing local council tax support schemes for working age people.

Council tax support for working age households is designed by councils in consultation with their residents, taking into account the resources available to them and the needs and circumstances of their local communities. Each year, councils must consider whether to revise or replace their scheme in consultation with their residents.

Communities and Local Government, whether the telecommunication cables by the Royal Mint site will be amended or moved when the Chinese Embassy is built.

Details of the development for which planning permission has been granted in the case in question are set out in the relevant decision letter which can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's correspondence entitled 1/2026: Pubs and live music venues relief 2026 to 2027, published on 27 January 2026, whether the new scheme disapplies the transitional relief schemes for (a) 2027-28 and (b) 2028-29 financial years by capping any increases relative to the outturn bill for 2026-27 at CPI inflation.

Properties eligible for the pub and live music venue relief scheme will benefit from a 15% relief in 2026/27. Thereafter they will see their rates bill frozen in real terms in 2027/28 and 2028/29 provided the pub remains occupied. Any improvements to the pub which increases its rateable value after 1 April may also increase the bill in the normal way. The Treasury have published examples of how the pub and live music venue relief scheme will work. Pubs and Live Music Venues Relief - GOV.UK.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department is taking steps to help prevent the misuse of Pride in Place public funds in (a) the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and (b) other local authorities.

On 25 September, the Government launched its overarching Pride in Place Strategy, committing up to £5 billion in funding and support to 339 communities. The flagship Pride in Place Programme will provide up to £20 million in flexible funding and support to 244 neighbourhoods over the next decade. This will serve as the cornerstone of this Government’s support for communities. Alongside this, the £150 million Pride in Place Impact Fund complements the longer-term Pride in Place Programme. It provides short-term funding for immediate improvements to make sure that the places and spaces valued by communities are improved and match the pride people feel for their local areas.The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is not currently a funded area under either Phase 1 or Phase 2 of the Pride in Place Programme, and does not receive funding from the Pride in Place Impact Fund. The Government has put in place robust governance and assurance arrangements to safeguard public funds and prevent misuse across all selected neighbourhoods, with funding delivered through the relevant local authorities acting as the accountable bodies. Programme assurance follows a three lines of defence model, with the first line provided by local authority Chief Financial Officers, the second by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) through proportionate, risk-based checks, and the third by MHCLG’s independent auditors. For the Pride in Place Programme, each place must establish a Neighbourhood Board and produce a 10-year Pride in Place Plan, which is subject to approval by the MHCLG and must set out how the activity will be pursued to achieve the three strategic objectives of the programme. MHCLG’s Communities Delivery Unit provides each neighbourhood with a named official to monitor delivery, support governance and escalate any concerns. For the Pride in Place Impact Fund local authorities are tasked with working with local stakeholders to identify and invest in interventions that meet local need. They will receive an area’s allocation to manage, including assessing and approving any onward grant disbursement, processing payments and day-to-day monitoring.

With reference to her Department's correspondence entitled 1/2026: Pubs and live music venues relief 2026 to 2027, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) pub and (b) live music hereditaments that will benefit.

The number of pubs and live music venues that will benefit from this relief will be determined, ultimately, by the relief decisions made by councils in line with the guidance published.

If she will take steps to ensure the review conducted by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority into the West Yorkshire Mass Transit Programme, issued to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority on the 19 September 2025, is placed into the public domain.

On 18 December, Mayor Brabin announced a revised plan for development and delivery of Mass Transit, following an independent peer review by NISTA in September 2025. The changes aim to strengthen delivery and reduce risk, and do not result from any delay by the Department for Transport. All major project reviews undertaken by NISTA are treated as confidential, in the interests of ensuring that everyone involved is able to share their honest feedback. This has been standard practice across successive governments. The Department for Transport continue to work closely with West Yorkshire Combined Authority to ensure the programme remains firmly on track for successful delivery.

Communities and Local Government, whether (a) Ministers and (b) officials had meetings with (i) the Venice Commission and (ii) the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe on (A) elections and (B) democracy since July 2024.

MHCLG ministers and officials have not held any meetings with either the Venice Commission or the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe on elections or democracy since July 2024.

Whether her Department names organisations that are (a) regarded as extremists and (b) subject to a policy of non-engagement; and how is the Muslim Council of Britain classified.

Although The Home Office does not comment on specific groups or individual cases, I would like to reassure the Hon. Gentleman that we are committed to addressing the full range of threats that we currently face as a country and tackling anyone who spreads views that promote violence and hatred against individuals and communities.We carry out due diligence when choosing to engage with any organisation or individual and, if asked, we will advise and share information to help others inform their decisions.

Communities and Local Government, if he will publish an equality impact assessment on the postponement of local elections in 2026.

An equality impact assessment has been completed in line with normal practice.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 8777, on Local Government: Elections, whether local authorities which submitted bids to hold a May 2026 election pilot scheme subsequently submitted a request to the Department to cancel their May 2026 elections.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. A number of local authorities expressed interest in participating, and we are currently engaging with those local authorities. A small number of authorities that submitted applications subsequently made requests to postpone their May 2026 elections.

Communities and Local Government, whether he received representations on delaying local elections from Labour (a) MPs, (b) councillors and (c) council groups that were separate from formal representations from the local authority.

Representations were received from councils with elections scheduled in May, including from councillors and political groups, and from other councils, interested organisations, Member of Parliament, and members of the public.The Secretary of State ran a locally led process and it was for councils to make representations and assess their capacity to conduct a safe and smooth transition to new authorities at the same time as holding elections.In reaching his decisions, the Secretary of State carefully considered all the representations made alongside departmental advice on those representations.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department undertook verification of local authorities’ representations which noted insufficient capacity because of the scheduled May 2026 elections.

Representations were received from councils with elections scheduled in May, including from councillors and political groups, and from other councils, interested organisations, Member of Parliament, and members of the public.The Secretary of State ran a locally led process and it was for councils to make representations and assess their capacity to conduct a safe and smooth transition to new authorities at the same time as holding elections.In reaching his decisions, the Secretary of State carefully considered all the representations made alongside departmental advice on those representations.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Rt Hon Member for Ashton-under-Lyne has an official car provided.

The Rt Hon Member for Ashton-under-Lyne is not provided with an official government car.

With reference to the Written Ministerial Statement on Local roads and highways, published on 12 January 2026, HCWS1232, when her Department told local authorities which data sets were to be used to complete this assessment.

The Prime Minister announced on 24 March 2025 that local highway authorities would be rated on their progress in maintaining local roads and highways. This was announced alongside the introduction of new reporting requirements for local highway authorities for the 2025/26 financial year, including a requirement to publish transparency reports to improve transparency for local residents so they can see how funding is being spent. On the same day, the Director General for the Road Transport Group in the Department for Transport wrote to Chief Executives of all local highway authorities setting out the details and data that needed to be included in those transparency reports. The ratings used the data provided in local highway authority transparency reports, as well as official statistics. Further information on the data sources used is published online, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/methodology-used-to-calculate-ratings-for-local-road-maintenance.

With reference to Written Statement of 12 January 2026 on Local roads and highways, HCWS1232, whether it is her policy that local authorities that have spent all of their Highway Maintenance Grant allocations can be categorised as Red.

Local highway authorities that stated they had plans to spend 100% of their DfT capital grant for highways maintenance on this purpose in 2025/26 received an amber, not red, spend scorecard. The vast majority of local highway authorities stated they had plans to spend an additional 30% or more in capital to maintain their highways, and these 113 local highway authorities received a green spend scorecard. The ratings consider road condition, capital investment levels, and wider best practice to produce an overall rating, with each of these three elements making up a third of the overall rating. As such, it is possible for authorities to receive an overall red rating despite individual areas of good or mixed performance and where based on an overall assessment of all areas considered by the ratings the threshold for an amber rating was not met. All red-rated authorities will receive access to a dedicated support offer to help them improve their rating and to ensure road conditions improve nationwide. This information, and the full methodology for the local road maintenance ratings has been published online, at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-road-maintenance-ratings/local-road-maintenance-ratings-2025-to-2026.

With reference to the Written Ministerial Statement on Local roads and highways, published on 12 January 2026, HCWS1232, whether the exercise carried out by her Department assessed physical road conditions.

This information, and the full methodology and data sources used to produce the ratings, has been published online, at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-road-maintenance-ratings/local-road-maintenance-ratings-2025-to-2026.

With reference to the Written Ministerial Statement on Local roads and highways, published on 12 January 2026, HCWS1232, what discussions she had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government before the publication of the statement.

Department for Transport ministers and officials regularly engage with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on a range of issues including in relation to local roads maintenance. At the Autumn Budget, the government confirmed a record investment of £7.3 billion for local authorities over the next four years to repair and renew their roads and fix potholes. Earlier in January, the Department published a new traffic light rating system. Under this system, every local highway authority in England received a red, amber or green rating based on the condition of their roads, the level of investment into maintaining roads, and whether they do so using best practice. The ratings are designed to enable the public to gauge how well each council is maintaining its local roads. They also provide an incentive to local highway authorities to continue to adopt best practice and they enable the department to identify where councils need to improve and to support them to ensure road conditions improve nationwide.

With reference to the Written Ministerial Statement on Local roads and highways, published on 12 January 2026, HCWS1232, whether she plans to respond to the letter sent to her Department by the Leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; and whether she plans to publish further information on how the ratings were determined.

A reply to the letter from the Leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea will be sent in due course. The full methodology and data sources used to produce the ratings has been published online, at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-road-maintenance-ratings/local-road-maintenance-ratings-2025-to-2026.

Pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2025, to Question 95340, on Asylum: Hillingdon, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of publishing grant payments made to local authorities; and if she will make it her policy to publish the Hillingdon figures.

The Home Office does not publicly publish grant payment levels by local authority, and we have no plans to do so. We do however publish the grant funding instructions, which can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-children-uasc-grant-instructions(opens in a new tab)https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-dispersal-grant-funding-instruction/funding-instruction-for-local-authorities-asylum-grant-2025-2026

How many and what proportion of pubs with Valuation Office Agency Special Category (i) Code 226 and (ii) Code 227, will see their business rates bills (a) increase, (b) fall or (c) remain the same, in 2026-27 relative to 2025-26.

I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to UIN 101363.