Written questions by Cleverly.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with local authorities in Surrey on a directly elected mayor for Surrey.

The introduction of a mayor for Surrey would depend on there being a combined authority across the area, i.e. more than one local authority. It will be for the new councils across the Surrey footprint to set out to the Government how they wish to take forward devolution.The Government will set out next steps on new devolution agreements, including further mayoralties, in due course.The Government recognises that Mayoral Strategic Authorities are most successful when they are built on a strong history of partnership and joint delivery. We want to see devolution that is built on strong foundations, with strong unitary structures in place before areas access mayoral devolution.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 14 April 2025 to Question 44226 on Pest Control: Birmingham, whether his Department holds any information on the rat numbers in Birmingham.

The requested information is not held centrally. My department engages regularly with Councils under intervention and continues to monitor the disruption caused by the waste dispute and the associated impact to the residents of the city.

Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to update his department's Plain English guide to the planning system, published in January 2015.

The government has no current plans to update the previous government’s ‘Plain English guide to the Planning System’. The government is currently consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making. These changes aim to ensure that national planning policy is accessible, understandable and provides clarity and certainty to all users of the system. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026. The new plan-making system that we are shortly commencing is designed not only to ensure that local plans are faster to prepare and simpler for end users to access and understand but to improve community engagement.

Communities and Local Government, what data the Greater London Authority provides to his department on affordable housing starts and completions in London.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) publish a detailed breakdown of their affordable housing delivery by programme every quarter. It can be viewed on its website here. The GLA shares a detailed extract matching their published statistics with my Department shortly after their publication. This extract also includes the number of new social and affordable housing units funded through Right to Buy recycled receipts and the number of sales through the Right to Acquire and Social HomeBuy schemes. Additionally, the GLA provides my Department with monthly updates on their delivery towards their housing programmes.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of levels of council tax in (a) 2025-26 and (b) 2026-27 on the cost of living for (i) working households and (ii) pensioners.

Council tax levels are decided by local authorities, and the Department has not made specific assessments on the impact of council tax levels on the cost of living for working households and pensioners. For the vast majority of councils, the government intends to maintain a core 3% referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept and is consulting on this as part of the local government finance settlement. Councils are required to put in place council tax support schemes to support those on low incomes. The support for pensioner households is centrally prescribed and provides reductions of up to 100%.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2025, to Question HL12352, on Chinese Embassy: Planning Permission, for what policy reason a Section 321 direction was not issued in this instance.

My Department does not comment on live planning cases. The full reasons for the decision will be set out in the final decision letter.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 17 December 2025, to Question HL12631, on Universal Studios: Bedfordshire, who is the designated Planning Minister for the Chinese Embassy called-in planning application decision.

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 62966 on 7 July 2025.

Communities and Local Government, further to the introduction of the council tax surcharge, whether he intends to revalue the main council tax system.

The Valuation Office will conduct a targeted valuation exercise to identify properties in scope of the High Value Council Tax Surcharge. Current Council Tax bands will not be revalued and will still apply. The Government will consult on the design of the High Value Council Tax Surcharge. The Government is committed to ensuring the council tax system is fair for taxpayers and local authorities and will continue to keep council tax under review.

Communities and Local Government, on what date were political parties (a) informed and (b) consulted on the 2026 local election pilots.

The government is exploring ways to make voting in person more efficient, more convenient, and better aligned with the expectations of today’s electors. Local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. We continue to engage with stakeholders on the development of the proposed pilots.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the draft Local Government Finance Settlement published on 17 December 2025, whether his department will consider requests for higher council tax referendum thresholds for other councils than the six councils mentioned.

The provisional settlement sets out the eligibility criteria for removing referendum principles for the last two years of the multi-year settlement period. We consider that only six authorities meet the criteria. For the vast majority of councils, the government intends to maintain a core referendum threshold of 3%, and a 2%, adult social care precept over the multi-year Settlement. However, the government is under no illusions about the pressures councils are facing. Following precedent set by the previous government, we will consider requests for additional limited council tax flexibility from councils in extremely difficult financial situations on a case-by-case basis. All local authorities should continue to do all they can to manage their finances and protect vulnerable taxpayers.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 14 April 2025, to Question 43564, on Waste Disposal: Birmingham, what discussions he and his Ministers have had with Unite on the Birmingham bin strike since his appointment.

Since being appointed in September 2025, the Secretary of State has met with Unite and urged the Trade Union to bring the dispute to a close for the benefit of Birmingham’s residents. The waste dispute remains a local issue and is rightly being dealt with by Birmingham City Council.

Communities and Local Government, further to the oral evidence by the Deputy Director, Local Government Accountability and Audit, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, at the Public Accounts Committee, Oral evidence: Whole of Government Accounts 2023-24, HC 1243, 11 December 2025, Question 25, and the objective to complete reorganisation by April 2028, on what date will elections be held for the new unitary councils other than Surrey.

The Secretary of State will consider the position of each council individually, weighing up the evidence received. This means that different decisions may be taken for different councils within the same local government reorganisation invitation area that have local elections scheduled, depending on the representations received. As I set out in my Written Ministerial Statement of 18 December (HCWS1215), I remain committed to the indicative timetable that was published in July, that sees elections to new councils in May 2027 and those councils going live in April 2028.

Communities and Local Government, if he will list the third parties who have been consulted on the report provided by the Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim Hatred working group.

As is standard practice in government policy making, officials have undertaken some limited and focused informal engagement with relevant stakeholders as we consider the advice presented to government by the working group.

Communities and Local Government, further to the written statement of 18 December 2025, HCSWS1215, on Local Government Reorganisation, in cases where an individual council makes a representation to cancel elections, whether (a) only the scheduled elections for that individual council will be cancelled or (b) all the scheduled unitary, district and county elections within that wider local government restructuring area will be cancelled.

The Secretary of State will consider the position of each council individually, weighing up the evidence received. This means that different decisions may be taken for different councils within the same local government reorganisation invitation area that have local elections scheduled, depending on the representations received. As I set out in my Written Ministerial Statement of 18 December (HCWS1215), I remain committed to the indicative timetable that was published in July, that sees elections to new councils in May 2027 and those councils going live in April 2028.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding his Department or Homes England for the Lancaster West Estate refurbishment; and what assessment he has made of the estimated £85 million shortfall in funding identified the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

The government is committed to supporting the community affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy for the long term.In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government agreed to provide c£25m towards the refurbishment of the Lancaster West estate on the assumption that this funding was to be matched by Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and that no further funding would be required from Government.My officials have been engaging with RBKC, who lead on the refurbishment of the estate, to fully understand the cause of the shortfall and the Council’s plans for delivery.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the letter entitled 5/2025: Confirmation of Budget package and the Non-Domestic Rating Multipliers for 2026/2027, of 26 November 2025, whether the calculation of the amount and capping of transitional relief is based on the previous business rates bill which includes the value of the previous Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief in 2025-26.

The 2026 Supporting Small Business Relief Scheme provides support for ratepayers losing certain reliefs including the current 40% relief for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.The Supporting Small Businesses Relief is calculated from a base liability that takes into account the effect of eligible reliefs – Small Business Rate Relief, Rural Rate Relief, 2025/26 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief, or 2023 Supporting Small Business Relief. The government published guidance for local authorities on the administration of the scheme on 15 December. This can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 75987 on Local Government: Reorganisation, whether he has a policy on the area that Charter Trustees should cover.

Government policy is to work with local leaders to ensure ceremonial rights are maintained through local government reorganisation.Charter trustees are one of the mechanisms available. Their role is simply to protect ceremonial rights and civic traditions, not to exercise wider powers. They may be established in unparished areas following the abolition of a council to ensure that historic property is maintained for an area where there is no parish or town council to take on those historic charters. Their area is therefore limited to the former chartered area.Further detail on charter trustees and how they work is set out in the Charter Trustee Regulations 2009. We will continue to work with local councils throughout reorganisation to consider if these are an appropriate mechanism for each area at the appropriate time.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 24 November 2025, to Question 90719, on Local Government Finance, further to the figures listed for 2024-25 and 2025-26, which local authorities have had disposal flexibility requests approved since 4 July 2024.

The Flexible Use of Capital Receipts general direction was introduced in 2016 by the previous government and remains substantively unchanged. As in previous years, the government does not approve specific use of the flexibility.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the letter from the Minister for Local Government and Homelessness to council leaders on the local government publicity code, dated 19 November 2025, whether local authorities may fund public affairs consultants and public relations firms for statutory consultations on unitary local government restructuring.

The Publicity Code provision at paragraph 26 under the heading of the “appropriate use of publicity” principle states local authorities should not incur any expenditure in retaining the services of lobbyists for the purpose of the publication of any material designed to influence public officials, Members of Parliament, political parties or the government to take a particular view on any issue.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the consultation response entitled Strengthening the standards and conduct framework for local authorities in England – consultation results and government response, of 11 November 2025, whether the mandatory code of conduct will extend to conduct in a personal capacity.

The mandatory code the government intends to introduce as part of the full reform of the local government standards and conduct framework will ensure that every elected member in England is clear what standard of conduct and behaviour is demanded of them in all aspects of their public office.