Written questions by Cleverly.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the policy paper entitled Restoring trust in our democracy: Our strategy for modern and secure elections, published on 17 July 2025, whether he plans to bring forward any further policies on elections.

The Government’s Strategy for Modern and Secure Elections set out the key priorities the Government plans to take on elections during this Parliament. Legislation to deliver the policies outlined in this Strategy will be introduced when parliamentary time allows.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the guidance entitled Social Housing Innovation Fund: prospectus, published on 27 October 2025, whether recipients can bid for funds for translation into foreign languages.

The new £1m Social Housing Innovation Fund will support innovative projects that enhance tenants’ engagement with their landlord and strengthen their influence within the social housing sector.The Fund’s prospectus, which can be found on gov.uk here, makes clear that consideration will be given to projects which ensure tenants who are currently underrepresented in engagement and scrutiny activities, in particular those with protected characteristics, are better supported to take part and their views and needs are heard and acted upon. It is not prescriptive about the types of projects that will or will not be funded.The fund is open to applications from social landlords, arms-length management organisations (ALMOs), tenant management organisations (TMOs), and tenant representative organisations. Projects must be co-designed with tenants, scalable across the sector, and capable of generating measurable impact and learning. Projects must also introduce new or significantly improved approaches, technologies, or partnerships to the sector, challenge conventional practices and respond creatively to tenant needs.A robust process will be established for awarding funding, supported by an independent scrutiny panel consisting of social housing residents and sector experts. This will ensure resident and sector voices are central to decision-making. The bidding window is open until 9 January 2026.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 78670 on Regional Planning and Development, if he will publish the (a) projects that had funding cancelled in each of the six local authorities and (b) amount of funding cancelled in each.

No, the government does not routinely publish details of projects that have not received funding as that could potentially disadvantage any future applications for further investment.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 13 October 2025 entitled Home Buying and Selling Consultations, HCWS951, how the Home Condition Reports in the new regime would differ from the Home Conditions Reports under the pre-2010 Home Information Pack regime.

On 6 October 2025, the government published two consultations outlining reform proposals to transform home buying and selling. They can be found on gov.uk here and here. The consultations include proposals to require sellers and estate agents to provide upfront property information and to support binding contracts. Final decisions are subject to the outcome of these consultations.

Communities and Local Government, whether (a) strategic authorities and (b) combined authority mayoral precepts will have any liability for the historic debts of local authorities in their area following local government restructuring.

Legislation set outs that during local government reorganisation, property, rights and liabilities, including debt, transfer from the old councils to the new councils for that area. It is the responsibility of councils to manage their budgets, and it is standard for councils to borrow and to hold debt. In general, as with previous restructures, there is no proposal for council debt to be addressed centrally or written off as part of reorganisation. The Government has committed to unprecedented debt repayment support for Woking and Thurrock councils, given exceptional unsupported debt in these councils. The ability to issue a mayoral precept has existed in law since 2017. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill will allow mayors to spend a precept across all functions of a strategic authority. Introducing a precept is a choice for the elected mayor, who must determine the potential benefits when balanced against the costs for residents.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 23 October 2025 entitled Delivering ambitious and high-quality sustainable growth in Greater Cambridge, HCWS990, what (a) water efficiency and (b) water interventions are being proposed; and whether they include changes to how households are billed for (i) water and (ii) waste water.

The government’s water efficiency programme and wider water package will fund a range of measures to generate water savings and offset new development in Greater Cambridge. The first phase of the efficiency programme will roll out water retrofits in social housing and public buildings. The second phase and wider package is currently under development. The overall package is funded by government and will not impact on how households are billed. Anglian Water is responsible for wastewater infrastructure for the Greater Cambridge area and Cambridge Water is responsible for water supply. Ofwat sets a price cap every five years for each water and sewerage company, which limits the maximum amount it can increase customer bills. Companies then use this price limit to set their individual bills.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 78240 on Absent Voting: British Nationals Abroad, what information his Department holds on which countries had the slowest postal service for returning overseas votes in the 2024 general election.

MHCLG does not hold information on which countries had the slowest postal service for returning overseas votes in the 2024 election.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 28 October 2025 entitled Local Government Reorganisation, HCWS998, what scheduled elections in (a) 2026 and (b) 2027, will be cancelled following the Surrey reorganisation; and what new elections for local government bodies will take place in (i) 2026 and (ii) 2027.

It continues to be expected, by both the Government and council leaders in Surrey, that the new unitary councils in Surrey will come into effect from 1 April 2027. From this time the only councils for the area will be the two new councils, which will have held elections in May 2026. We will bring to the House, for approval, a Structural Changes Order, which will provide for the establishment of the two new councils, abolish the existing councils, and make the necessary electoral arrangements, including replacing the scheduled County and District elections in May 2026 with elections to the new councils.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 78232 on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Remote Working, whether the (a) 50% and (b) 40% office attendance requirements for those offices are (i) percentage of assigned staff attending the workplace or (ii) percentage of allocated desks being occupied.

Office Attendance in the Department is assessed on what percentage of working days an individual attends an office.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 83343 on Elections: Pilot Schemes, whether political parties were consulted on the plans for election pilots; and what publicity has been undertaken to promote the scheme other than issuing the prospectus.

The Government is exploring ways to make voting in person more efficient, more convenient, and better aligned with the expectations of today’s electors. In addition to the prospectus, further communications on flexible voting pilots were issued to support ongoing local authority sector engagement. We are working with individual local authorities to shape the detail of their flexible voting pilots. We will continue to work with key stakeholders and local authorities throughout the development and delivery process. Where communications are shared with the public, our intention is for them to be tailored to the specific piloting option and the geographic area in which it is being delivered.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 78240 on Absent Voting: British Nationals Abroad, whether he plans to take steps to help tackle postal delays for overseas electors.

The Government is committed to fixing the foundations of our electoral processes. As set out in the policy paper, Restoring trust in our democracy: Our strategy for modern and secure elections (17/07/2025), the Government will introduce a package of measures intended to improve the resilience and capacity of the postal voting system overall. These measures include moving the postal vote application deadline forward by three working days. The deadline for candidate nominations will also be moved forward in order to allow returning officers more time to proof the ballot papers for printers, in turn giving more time for the next part of the process to get underway, and in particular to enable postal ballot papers to be printed and issued to postal voters at an earlier point. These changes will benefit all administrators and voters, including those living overseas.

Communities and Local Government, whether the proposed strategic authority for Surrey will only include Surrey; whether that strategic authority will have an elected mayor; whether that strategic authority will set a council tax precept; and whether that strategic authority will absorb the Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner functions.

Simplifying local government structures in Surrey will ensure a strong foundation for devolution. We are committed to working with partners across Surrey, including new unitary authorities once established, to establish a strategic authority for the area. This strategic authority would receive the functions at the appropriate level, whether Foundation or Mayoral, as set out in the devolution framework, subject to Royal Assent of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. A strategic authority across Surrey will ensure that relevant functions held at the county level can continue to be delivered on that geographic footprint where possible, such as transport and adult skills. The establishment of a strategic authority will be subject to the relevant statutory tests being met and local consent. We will also ensure fire and rescue functions continue to be governed on the same geography.

Communities and Local Government, how many homes will be built in new towns in (a) total and (b) this Parliament.

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the government’s initial response to the New Towns Taskforce’s final report which can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2025 to Question 78207 on Hate Crime: Internet, for what reason True Vision was funded via a non-competitive process.

As of the financial year 2020/21, under the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding, MHCLG allocates funding of £80,000 to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority as part of the True Vision programme which aims to support the operation and development of the True Vision resource. The resource is managed by the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and directed by its National Policing Lead, and provides a range of services to support victims, professionals, and NGOs. The programme also maintains outreach and audit activity to ensure accountability and knowledge sharing between Police, Government and external stakeholders by contribution to the cost of employing a National Police Hate Crime Coordinator.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2025 to Question 75607 on Working Hours: Cambridge City Council, whether he has (a) changed policy and (b) written to local authorities on four day weeks.

This Government is committed to working in partnership with local authorities and will not micromanage their day-today running. The Secretary of State wrote to South Cambridgeshire District Council in October 2025 (copied to Cambridge City Council), stating the Government’s policy that local authorities should not be offering full time pay for part time work.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 81306 on Planning, when he plans to publish the evaluation plan on (a) gov.uk and (b) the evaluation registry.

Details of the government’s Digital Planning Programme Evaluation are published on gov.uk here. It is not a requirement to publish an evaluation plan and the publication of one is yet to be determined for this programme.

Communities and Local Government, what his planned timetable is for the (a) commencement and (b) implementation of the provisions of the Renters Rights Act 2025; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of implementation on existing tenancies.

The government intends to set out detailed implementation plans in the near future. An Impact Assessment for the Renters’ Rights Bill was published in November 2024. It can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 28 October 2025 entitled Local Government Reorganisation, HCWS998, what estimate his Department has made of the debt that West Surrey council will inherit when it is established.

It is the responsibility of councils to manage their budgets, and it is standard for councils to borrow and to hold debt. The government was clear in statutory invitations for Reorganisation proposals (criterion 2f), that proposals should reflect the extent to which the implications of debt linked to historic capital practices could be managed locally.On 28 October 2025, we announced our unprecedented commitment to repay in-principle £500 million of Woking Borough Council’s debt in 2026-27. This reflects significant unsupported debt held by the Council that cannot be managed locally. This is a first tranche of debt repayment support, and we will continue to explore what further debt support is required at a later point.Government remains committed to achieving the best value for money for taxpayers in the rationalisation of Woking’s assets, and to providing interim financial support to the new council until a final decision is made.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 78942 on Allotments: Green Belt, if he will take steps to amend planning (a) policy and (b) practice guidance to explicitly exclude allotment land in the green belt from being classified as grey belt land.

I once again refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answers given to Question UIN 58901 on 19 June 2025 and Question UIN 78942 on 20 October 2025. The House will be updated on any proposed changes to planning policy and practice guidance in the usual way.

Communities and Local Government, how many (a) uncontracted and (b) unsold homes have been supported for (i) purchase and (ii) completion under the Section 106 Affordable Housing Clearing Service since its inception.

In December 2024, the government launched the Homes England Clearing Service to help buyers and sellers of Section 106 homes find each other more effectively. Whilst interested parties are encouraged to update when a sale is facilitated, doing so is not mandatory. As a result, we do not have exhaustive data on the number of homes sold or contracted through the service.