Written questions by Cleverly.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2026, to Question 111137, on Council tax: Tax Yields, whether there are equivalent estimates for aggregate business rate receipts in each of those years.

The Department collects estimated business rates receipts data annually from local authorities, the most recent data available is for 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27 and is available here. Estimates of business rates receipts data for 2027-28 and 2028-29 have not been collected at this time. For the purpose of the Settlement, the government estimates the amount of an individual local authority’s Settlement allocation provided through the local share of business rates income. This is known as a Baseline Funding Level (BFL) which is the amount of funding that the Government determines that a local authority needs from business rates to deliver local services. The BFLs form part of Core Spending Power, core revenue funding available for local authority services through the local government finance settlement. In 2027-28 and 2028-29, BFLs will increase in line with an annual inflation measurement to reflect the annual uprating of business rates multipliers. An assumption of this was made in the multi-year Settlement to reflect this and published here.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2025, to Question 58058, on Local Government Pension Scheme, and of 12 February 2026, to Question 111138, on Local Government: Redundancy Pay, whether any changes are being made to the Local Government Pension Scheme to reduce the cost of pension strain following unitary local government restructuring; and whether this department has made a wider estimate of the likely cost of unitary restructuring on council exit payments in 2026-27 onwards.

Council staff are expected to transfer to new unitary councils. The cost of any exit payments made by a council offered as part of a voluntary exit scheme or resulting from any compulsory redundancies implemented by a new unitary council, including payments under the Local Government Pension Scheme, will depend on local workforce decisions and the composition of the workforce. The Government cannot predetermine or form a view on the outcome of local decisions on the operational and staffing structure of new unitary councils, including the outcome of any consultation with affected staff and their representatives. Councils should work with relevant administering authorities on any implications for the Local Government Pension Scheme and it is for all councils concerned to determine their own policies on exit payments.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2026, to Question 110398, on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Publicity, in what formats does his department hold data on expenditure on publishing content in foreign languages.

MHCLG holds information about suppliers that have undertaken translation activities for the Department. The information will not differentiate between whether the translatory service was undertaken to support published content or for any other reason, nor would it consistently differentiate between translation work undertaken into the Welsh language or other languages.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the correspondence, Local government reorganisation: further letter to council leaders with elections in May 2026, of 19 January 2026, for what reason those letters were sent to those specific councils; and if he will place copies of replies to those letters in the Library.

I refer the Rt hon. and hon. Members to the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement of 23 February 2026 (HCWS1349). It is a longstanding principle that Government does not comment on or publish legal advice. The Government has no plans to publish individual correspondence from councils. Councils are being supported to deliver elections. The administration and cost of running local elections remain matters for local authorities, with wider costs handled in the usual way. We are also making available up to £63 million in new capacity funding for reorganisation areas.

Communities and Local Government, for what reason the Housing Minister determined that local elections should proceed in May 2026; and what factors he considered.

I refer the Rt hon. and hon. Members to the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement of 23 February 2026 (HCWS1349). It is a longstanding principle that Government does not comment on or publish legal advice. The Government has no plans to publish individual correspondence from councils. Councils are being supported to deliver elections. The administration and cost of running local elections remain matters for local authorities, with wider costs handled in the usual way. We are also making available up to £63 million in new capacity funding for reorganisation areas.

Communities and Local Government, if he will publish each council response to the Ministerial letter on local government reorganisation of 18 December 2025.

I refer the Rt hon. and hon. Members to the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement of 23 February 2026 (HCWS1349). It is a longstanding principle that Government does not comment on or publish legal advice. The Government has no plans to publish individual correspondence from councils. Councils are being supported to deliver elections. The administration and cost of running local elections remain matters for local authorities, with wider costs handled in the usual way. We are also making available up to £63 million in new capacity funding for reorganisation areas.

Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the evidence he planned to file at the High Court on the postponement of local elections in England in May 2026.

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 23 February 2026 (HCWS1349). It is a longstanding principle that government does not comment on or publish legal advice. The case the Rt Hon. Member refers to has now been concluded and the Court did not make any judgement against the government.

Communities and Local Government, if he will publish correspondence from each council requesting election delays in relevant areas.

I refer the Rt hon. and hon. Members to the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement of 23 February 2026 (HCWS1349). It is a longstanding principle that Government does not comment on or publish legal advice. The Government has no plans to publish individual correspondence from councils. Councils are being supported to deliver elections. The administration and cost of running local elections remain matters for local authorities, with wider costs handled in the usual way. We are also making available up to £63 million in new capacity funding for reorganisation areas.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Intelligence and Security Committee press notice of 20 January 2026, what steps his Department is taking to improve clarity on the role that national security considerations play in planning decisions.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that planning policies and decisions should promote public safety and take into account wider security and defence requirements by anticipating and addressing possible malicious threats. Proposals for major development in such locations should be informed by the most up-to-date information available from the police and other relevant agencies about the nature of potential threats and their implications. The government is consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, more rules-based policies for decision-making and plan-making. The consultation includes policies on public safety and security. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.

Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of giving overseas electors the option to register to vote when they renew their British passport online.

The Government is committed to improving electoral registration and is actively exploring ways to do so. The Representation of the People Bill will lay the foundations for a more automated registration system. Any changes must be tested to ensure they have a positive outcome in an already complex system.

Communities and Local Government, whether (a) hon. Members, (b) councillors and (c) political parties will have access to the full electoral register with attainers aged below 16.

Under the current UK electoral framework, political parties, elected officials and candidates are entitled to request copies of the electoral register and may use them for “electoral purposes” and for the purposes of complying with rules regarding political donations, and office holders for purposes related to their office.With regard to individuals standing for an election having access to the full register, once the provisions set out in the Representation of the People Bill come into effect, no candidates will have access to the data of 14- and 15-year-olds, unless the individual turns 16 by the polling date for that specific election. This is provided for because it is important that 15-year-olds who will turn 16 on or before polling day - and will therefore be eligible to vote - have the same opportunity to be canvassed so they can form an opinion in the same way as any other eligible voter.The Government takes the safeguarding of young people and their data seriously, with strict controls set out in legislation on who can access information from the electoral register and for what purpose. The approach set out in the Representation of the People Bill balances the need for proportionate safeguards within our electoral system, without disadvantaging young voters from being able to participate in it.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 108220, on Affordable Housing: Greater London, whether there have previously been revisions of the Greater London Authority’s historical data.

Published Affordable Housing Supply statistics always reflect the latest available data provided to my Department.Previous revisions to historical data have been made by the Greater London Authority, as well as by Homes England and some local planning authorities.These revisions have been made in accordance with the policy for schedule revisions to the affordable housing supply statistics in England as set out in Section 6 of its technical notes, which are available on gov.uk here.Details of the revisions made each year to the publication are available in the technical note corresponding to that year’s publication. For the last three years these can be found in Section 7 of the technical notes, available on gov.uk for 2024-25 here, 2023-24 here, and 2022-23 here.All the available publications can be found on gov.uk here. Up to and including the 2018-19 statistical release, the technical notes are included in the bulletin and are not a separate document.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2026 to Question 108645 on Business Rates, what the aggregate (a) monetary and (b) percentage change in business rate receipts is in (i) each local authority in England and (ii) England from 2025-26 to 2026-27.

The latest available data on business rates receipts relates to 2024-25. Data for England and each local authority can be found at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/collection-rates-for-council-tax-and-non-domestic-rates-in-england-2024-to-2025.

Communities and Local Government, what planning guidance has been given to local authorities on land which is contaminated due to former foot and mouth burial pits.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that planning policies and decisions should ensure that a development site is suitable for its proposed use, taking account of risks arising from land contamination. This includes risks arising from natural hazards or former activities, and any proposals for mitigation including land remediation. After remediation, as a minimum, development should not be capable of being determined as contaminated land under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 which provides a risk-based approach to the identification and remediation of land where contamination poses an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment. Planning Practice Guidance, available on gov.uk here, sets out further information on how planning can deal with land affected by contamination.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the correspondence entitled Public Letter on Called-in decision: Royal Mint Court, of 20 January 2026, whether the evidence provided to the Intelligence and Security Committee was given to (a) the planning inspector and (b) him.

Full reasons for the decision in question are set out in the Secretary of State’s decision letter which can be found on gov.uk here. The letter and associated Inspector’s Report must be read in their entirety. Planning conditions are addressed at paragraphs 107-110 and are listed at Annex B of the decision letter. Application drawings are addressed at paragraphs 89-99. As part of his careful consideration of the applications, the Secretary of State referred back to parties on a number of matters, including the redacted drawings, on 6 August 2025.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the correspondence entitled Public Letter on Called-in decision: Royal Mint Court, of 20 January 2026, whether the mitigation measures are reflected in planning conditions.

Full reasons for the decision in question are set out in the Secretary of State’s decision letter which can be found on gov.uk here. The letter and associated Inspector’s Report must be read in their entirety. Planning conditions are addressed at paragraphs 107-110 and are listed at Annex B of the decision letter. Application drawings are addressed at paragraphs 89-99. As part of his careful consideration of the applications, the Secretary of State referred back to parties on a number of matters, including the redacted drawings, on 6 August 2025.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Home Office oral statement on 20 January 2026, on the Chinese Embassy, whether the unredacted plans for the Embassy were subject to scrutiny by the planning inspector.

Full reasons for the decision in question are set out in the Secretary of State’s decision letter which can be found on gov.uk here. The letter and associated Inspector’s Report must be read in their entirety. Planning conditions are addressed at paragraphs 107-110 and are listed at Annex B of the decision letter. Application drawings are addressed at paragraphs 89-99. As part of his careful consideration of the applications, the Secretary of State referred back to parties on a number of matters, including the redacted drawings, on 6 August 2025.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 13 January 2026, to Question 102811, on Planning Permission, whether any other guidance has been given on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in the planning system.

Neither the government nor the Planning Inspectorate has issued guidance in respect of the treatment of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in the planning system.

Communities and Local Government, whether he has has discussions with West Yorkshire Combined Authority on contract reference 20250627172243-103257, awarded to Lexington Communications; and whether his Department has received communications from Lexington.

Local authorities are responsible for the award of contracts in line with the procurement regulations at the time of the award.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 20 January 2026 to Question 104895 on Elizabeth Line: Business Rates, whether (a) the Valuation Office Agency and (b) his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of increased valuations on the liability of pubs for the Crossrail Business Rate Supplement.

I refer the Rt. hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 111143 on 12 February 2026. This is a matter for the Greater London Authority, rather than central government.