Written questions by Hamilton.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support local authorities to ensure Travellers are not able to access public green spaces.

It is the responsibility of local authorities (LPAs) to assess the need for Gypsy and Traveller sites in their area and then plan to meet that need, in the same way that they plan for all forms of housing.In doing so, LPAs should promote peaceful and integrated co-existence between the site and the local community, and aim to reduce the number of unauthorised developments and encampments.In relation to local planning authority enforcement powers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 46336 on 30 April 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help support the sustainability of independent hair salons on high streets; and whether she has made a recent assessment of the contribution of such businesses to local communities.

This Government recognises the important economic and social value of the hair and beauty industry to high streets and local communities, and we want to support these businesses that help make our town centres successful. That is why we have committed to reforming business rates from 2026-27 with a permanently lower multiplier for retail, leisure and hospitality properties, including hair and beauty salons. The Government will also protect the smallest businesses by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning that 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all and employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs. We have also introduced new powers to help fill persistently vacant properties and make town centre tenancies more accessible and affordable through High Street Rental Auctions, supporting independent hair salons to access commercial property opportunities.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on protected habitats (a) on the Humber Estuary and (b) in general.

When it comes to development and the environment, we know we can do better than the status quo, which too often sees both sustainable housebuilding and nature recovery stall. Instead of environmental protections being seen as barriers to growth, we want to unlock a win-win for the economy and for nature. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will introduce a new Nature Restoration Fund that will unlock and accelerate development while going beyond neutrality to unlock the positive impact development can have in driving nature recovery. Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs), and the conservation measures they propose, must be evidence-based and properly scrutinised before being put in place. An EDP can only be put in place where the Secretary of State is satisfied the delivery of conservation measures will outweigh the negative effects of development.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for local authorities for the 2025-26 financial year.

The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25. Taken together, the additional funding announced by the Chancellor at the Autumn Budget and through the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement will provide over £5 billion of new funding for local services over and above local council tax. This includes: an additional £2 billion of grant through the Settlement; a guarantee that local authorities in England will receive at least £1.1 billion in total in 2025-26 from the new Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) scheme; and a further £233 million of additional funding for homelessness services. We are also taking immediate action to begin addressing the significant challenges facing local government by ensuring that funding goes to the places that need it most in 2025-26. The Ministry works closely with local government and other government departments to understand specific demand and cost pressures facing local government on an ongoing basis.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to continue to provide support for the building of shared ownership properties.

The government will set out set details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for social rent.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she plans to take to deliver the strategy to tackle homelessness; and what steps she plans to take to involve people with lived experience of homelessness.

The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy.We have also established an Expert Group to bring together representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector, local and combined authorities and wider experts to help Government understand what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed.We will engage with those with lived experience through a lived experience forum to ensure their voices are reflected in the homelessness strategy.