Written questions by Cleverly.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 69673 on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Remote Working, if he will list the expected level of attendance expectations at each of his Department's offices by (a) percentage and (b) location.

All Senior Civil Servants in the Department are expected to attend an office for 60% of the time, irrespective of which office they are based in. Staff at delegated grades are currently expected to attend for 50% of the time, with the exception of staff in the following offices who are currently expected to attend for 40% of the time due to capacity constraints; Darlington, Hemel Hempstead, Manchester, Sheffield and Wolverhampton. The ambition of the Department is for all staff to attend an office for 60% of the time in due course.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2025 to Question 75449 on MHCLG: Standards, if he will list each metric presented on the Ministerial Delivery Dashboard.

MHCLG uses a range of metrics and data to monitor and track delivery progress on key departmental priorities, as well as support policy development and decision-making. The table below shows a list of the publicly available metrics included in the dashboard. PriorityMetricBuild 1.5m new homesNet additional homesBuild 1.5m new homesHousing startsBuild 1.5m new homesHomes granted planning permissionBuild 1.5m new homesNew affordable housing by type of tenureBuild 1.5m new homesNew affordable housing supply (gross) by regionBuild 1.5m new homesPermanent dwellings completed by providers (LA / Housing associations)Build 1.5m new homesPermanent dwellings started by providers (LA / Housing associations)Build 1.5m new homesRolling annual number of first-time buyers with a mortgageBuild 1.5m new homesHouse price to workplace-based earnings ratioBuild 1.5m new homesAnnual rental inflation - all rentsBuild 1.5m new homesNew lets (Zoopla)Building remediationCompletions as a percentage of buildings estimated to need worksBuilding remediationStarts on site as a percentage of buildings estimated to need worksBuilding remediationThe number of buildings identified as a percentage of buildings estimated to need worksHomelessness & rough sleepingNumber of families in temporary accommodationHomelessness & rough sleepingNumber of families in B&B accommodationHomelessness & rough sleepingTotal number of people sleeping rough (according to autumn snapshot)Homelessness & rough sleepingNumber of people who are sleeping rough over the course of the monthDevolutionDevolution depth and coverageLocal government financial stabilityPercentage of upper tier local authorities in 'high' and above risk categoriesLocal government financial stabilityNumber of local authorities receiving financial supportCommunity & cohesionPercentage of people agreeing that they can personally affect local decisionsCommunity & cohesionPercentage of people satisfied with their local area as a place to liveCommunity & cohesionPercentage of people agreeing that people in their immediate neighbourhood can be trustedCommunity & cohesionPercentage of people with each level of trust in general

Communities and Local Government, what (a) Home England's and (b) his Department’s definition is of a housing start.

When referring to housing starts, my Department uses the definition for “new build dwelling start” in housing supply statistics and “start on site” in its affordable housing statistics. Homes England also uses the term “start on site” to refer to housing starts. Both terms are defined in the Housing Statistics and English Housing Survey glossary which can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 15 September 2025, to Question 72839, on Planning Permission, whether the increased digitalisation of the planning system review will examine removing the requirement for statutory notices to be placed in local newspapers.

I refer the Rt. Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 75991 on 26 September 2025.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the answer of 5 August 2025 to Question HL9889 on Asylum: Housing, what the £500 million will be spent on; over what time period that funding is for; and whether it will involve a bidding process.

As allocated as part of the Spending Review, the government is investing £500 million in a new, more sustainable asylum accommodation model, developed in consultation with local authorities.The model supported by this funding will be delivered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in partnership with the Home Office and local authorities.Its aim is to deliver better outcomes for communities and taxpayers by supporting local authorities to make available basic alternative accommodation that can be used on a temporary basis to house asylum seekers waiting for their cases to be processed. In the longer term, our intention is to ensure that the accommodation made available benefits local communities and reduces pressure on local housing markets.We continue to engage with local government on the design of the model and will confirm the process for distributing funding in due course.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 August 2025 to Question 68122 on Business Premises: Rents, if he will publish that research.

The government published a full Impact Assessment upon First Reading of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill on 10 July. All sources for our analysis are included within it.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2025 to Question 73599 on Personal Pensions: Local Government, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on the treatment of self-invested personal pensions in relation to local council tax support.

The Department has not issued guidance on the treatment of self-invested personal pensions in relation to local council tax support schemes. Support for working age households is designed by councils in consultation with their residents, taking into account the needs and circumstances of their local communities. Pension-age council tax support is centrally prescribed in the Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2012. The regulations set out how income and capital are to be treated when determining the level of support, including various types of retirement pension income.

Communities and Local Government, what information his department holds on the (a) amount of green belt that has been de-designated and (b) number of developments that have been built on green belt land since the publication of the revised National Planning Policy Framework in December 2024.

As part of our annual Green Belt release, my Department published the extent of England’s Green Belt as at 31 March 2025. It can be found on gov.uk here. These statistics give the area of land designated as Green Belt by local authority in England, and also provide details on each local authority who made changes to their Green Belt between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. Data is collected by financial year. Figures for 2025-26 will be published in our next release at the end of 2026.

Communities and Local Government, whether the provision of (a) short-term and (b) long-term accommodation for asylum seekers is included within the target of 1.5 million new homes.

The government’s Plan for Change includes a hugely ambitious milestone of building 1.5 million new homes in England in this Parliament.Progress against this commitment is being measured through net additional dwellings. The types of accommodation included are defined on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 September 2025 to Question 75610 on Anti-muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Definition Working Group, if he will publish the (a) individuals and (b) organisations that the group's secretariat has recorded the working group as having met.

Alongside drawing on their own expertise, the independent working group engaged widely to ensure the definition accounts for the variety of backgrounds and experiences of communities across the United Kingdom. To build on the extensive engagement they had undertaken, the Working Group launched a Call for Evidence which closed on Sunday 20 July. It was open to the public and any individual or organisation was able to submit evidence.

Communities and Local Government, whether the former Deputy Prime Minister has received a Ministerial severance payment.

Details of such payments are published in departmental annual reports and accounts.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2025 to Question 71488 on Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, who the members are of the social cohesion taskforce.

As outlined in my response to Question 71488, the Social Cohesion Taskforce is an internal Civil Service team comprised of civil servants.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to Answer of 19 September 2025 to Question 75610 on Anti-muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Definition Working Group, whether the working group (a) received and (b) accepted responses from extremist organisations.

The Working Group launched a Call for Evidence to build on the extensive engagement they had undertaken. The Call for Evidence closed on Sunday 20 July. It was open to the public and any individual or organisation was able to submit evidence. The Working Group did not engage with any organisations that are subject to the Government’s non-engagement policy.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2025 to Question 73797 on Community Cohesion and Resilience Programme: Finance, how much funding was provided to each local authority; and what information his Department holds on how that funding was spent.

The 44 places that received funding through the Community Cohesion and Resilience Programme were awarded grants of between £55,000 and £557,000. Local authorities have been required to report to the department on how the funding has been spent and, once completed, their project evaluations. Over 300 projects have been supported through the Programme to strengthen community connections and increase resilience to divisive narratives. Examples include school-based workshops on hate crime and extremism, inclusive sports sessions for marginalised groups, interfaith events, creative arts and cultural festivals, and training for community leaders on tackling misinformation and promoting cohesion. To date, local authorities have reported supporting over 25,000 people through community engagement, cohesion, and awareness activities and provided training to over 8,000 people on topics such as community cohesion, countering extremism, and tackling hate crime.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2025 to Question 74221 on Business Rates: Tax Allowance, whether any central government body is responsible for monitoring rate relief fraud across local authorities.

Business Rates are a local tax and local authorities are responsible for decisions on the awarding of relief, ensuring compliance, and tackling fraud. The Government also provides local authorities with data-matching services to help detect fraud and errors in business rates by comparing different datasets, through the Cabinet Office’s National Fraud Initiative (NFI).

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the level of English language proficiency by women from an ethnic minority background; and whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential impact of the level of English language proficiency by women from an ethnic minority background on barriers to their employment.

Data on English language proficiency falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. The Census 2021 provides datasets detailing population and proficiency in English. These datasets can be downloaded from nomis. Nomis is a service run on behalf of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) by the University of Durham publishing statistics related to population, society and the labour market at national, regional and local levels, including data from current and previous censuses. Data is freely available. Alternatively, you can obtain census data from the ONS. The department is supporting cross-government work to invest in ongoing integration support, including English language training, employment programmes, and social integration initiatives, to ensure that people can fully participate in society well beyond their initial arrival. For example, the department provided £11.5 million of funding for English language courses and employment support for up to 12,500 Ukrainians across the UK through the ‘STEP Ukraine’ programme. We have now launched a follow-up ‘STEP’ programme of £4.2m (excl. VAT) for English language courses and employment support for Ukrainians and Hong Kong British Nationals. The aim is for the programme to reach 4,000 participants.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 July 2025 to Question 65978 on Islamophobia, whether there was a tender process for the True Vision portal.

True Vision is an online service for reporting hate crimes in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It sends reports to local police forces and provides information about hate crimes and support. It will record any crime as a hate crime where the victim or any other person perceives it was motivated by hostility or prejudice towards their identity. We provide a non-competitive, direct grant funding of £80,000 to the project.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 July 2025 to Question 69052 on Belong: Contracts and with reference to Belong's press release entitled Belong commissioned by MHCLG to develop national cohesion guidance in partnership with the LGA, published on 1 May 2025, how much funding his Department is providing to Belong to develop the national cohesion guidance; and if he will publish the contract for that funding agreement.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 75178 on 12 September 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment his Department has made of the balance between supply and demand of student accommodation in university towns.

My Department has not made a specific assessment of the balance between the supply and demand of student accommodation in all university towns.MHCLG and the Department for Education regularly engage with a range of stakeholders in the student accommodation market and will continue to do so.The government recognise the concerns of some students about the availability and cost of accommodation in university towns across the country. We expect higher education providers to work collaboratively with local authorities to ensure there is adequate accommodation for their students, and we expect universities and private landlords to review their accommodation policies to ensure they are affordable, fair, clear, and promote the interests of students.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to construct new housing for asylum seekers.

As allocated as part of the Spending Review, the Government is investing £500 million in a new, more sustainable asylum accommodation model, developed in consultation with local authorities. This funding will be delivered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in partnership with the Home Office and councils, to deliver better outcomes for communities and taxpayers.This fund will support councils to make available basic alternative accommodation so that it can be used on a temporary basis to house asylum seekers waiting for their cases to be processed. In the longer term, our ambition is that this investment will leave a lasting legacy of housing for local communities and reduce pressure on local housing markets.We continue to engage with local government on options for design of the fund and the best way to deliver this accommodation in different areas. We will confirm further details in due course.