Written questions by Cleverly.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of delivery of new housing by the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation; and whether that corporation has a target for new homes to be completed in this Parliament.

The role of Ebbsfleet Development Corporation (EDC) is to facilitate delivery of up to 15,000 homes at Ebbsfleet Garden City. To date, over 5,000 new homes have been completed. EDC publishes annual business plans that show over the last five years, an average of over 550 homes have been delivered per annum, exceeding the Corporation’s annual targets in each of these years. The next EDC business plan will be published in due course.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 78235 on Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Working Group, which states that the working group did not engage with organisations which are subject to the Government's non-engagement policy, whether under that non-engagement policy consultation responses from extremist groups were disregarded and not read by the Working Group.

The Working Group did not engage with anyone that government holds a non-engagement policy with. They held a call for evidence that was open to the public - any individual or organisation could respond.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 28 October 2025 entitled Local Government Reorganisation, HCWS998, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of renaming West Surrey council as West Surrey and South Middlesex Council.

There are no plans to make such an assessment.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has consulted the (a) Conservative Party and (b) Labour Party on proposed changes to (i) electoral and (ii) political finance law since 4 July 2024.

The political finance and wider electoral measures set out in the Government’s Strategy for Modern and Secure Elections paper are building on long-standing, well-established recommendations from expert stakeholders across the electoral landscape.In developing our measures, we have worked closely with key stakeholders. Following the publication of the Elections Strategy paper, we have engaged with a variety of stakeholders including the Parliamentary Parties Panel. We are keen to continue this important engagement with all stakeholders, including political parties, as we progress this work.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 44 of his Department's policy paper entitled Pride in Place Strategy, published on 25 September 2025, what the terms of reference are for the Common Ground Resilience Fund; and over which years that funding will be allocated.

The purpose of the Common Ground Resilience Fund is set out in the Pride in Place Strategy. A key strand of the Fund is the Common Ground Award details of which can be found on gov.uk here. The funding is for the 2025-26 Financial Year.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's press release entitled PM backs true patriots to lead UK renewal with £5bn investment, whether the £3.5 billion of additional Pride in Place funding is funded from the abolition of the Levelling Up Fund.

On 25 September, the Government launched its overarching Pride in Place Strategy, committing up to £5 billion in funding and support to 339 communities. The flagship Pride in Place Programme will provide up to £20 million in flexible funding and support to 244 places over the next decade. This will serve as the cornerstone of this Government’s support for communities, incorporating the existing 25 trailblazer areas announced at Spending Review and the 75 Phase 1 Plan for Neighbourhoods programme areas that were announced in March. This Government is delivering in contrast to the empty unfunded promises that were made by the previous administration. The Pride in Place funding is separate from programmes announced by the previous administration, including the Levelling Up Fund, and forms part of this Government’s new regeneration agenda to help build strong, resilient communities in areas facing the most entrenched social and economic challenges.

Communities and Local Government, whether single foundation authorities will have (a) access to full devolution and (b) an elected mayor.

Single foundation strategic authorities will be non-mayoral. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill makes provision for the Secretary of State to designate a unitary council or county council, which is not covered by an existing strategic authority, as a single foundation strategic authority, subject to the consent of the council involved. The deepest powers and functions will be available to strategic authorities led by a mayor, as set out in the English Devolution White Paper.

Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department has given to mayoral combined authorities that cannot find a constituent member to consent to be nominated as a deputy mayor.

The Department has not issued any guidance to Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) to cover the circumstances where the Mayor cannot find a constituent member to act as their statutory deputy mayor. This situation has not arisen to date and no authority has requested advice.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2025 to Question 32991 on Levelling Up Fund: Culture, which cultural projects that were allocated funding under the Levelling Up Fund have had funding (a) cancelled, (b) postponed and (c) are subject to an ongoing review.

I refer the Rt. Hon member to the answer given to Question UIN 78670 on 21 October 2025. Worcester received £2.3m funding for only some of the activity within its original programme. This amendment was determined on the basis of representations received to the consultation. Prioritisation of funding considered a series of factors including: significant progress of work to date, imminent delivery, and/or the wider strategic impact of withdrawing funding on local regeneration efforts, as well as potential to boost economic growth. Coventry, Worcester and Newport have been approved, and V&A Dundee, Venue Cymru, Conwy and Shore Road Skills Centre, Belfast are being processed.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 29 of his Department's publication entitled Pride in Place Strategy, published on 25 September 2025, whether the £5 billion of Pride in place funding includes the £1.5 billion of funding from the Long Term Plan for Towns outlined in the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40200, on Plan for Neighbourhoods.

On 25 September, the government launched its overarching Pride in Place Strategy, committing up to £5 billion in funding and support to 339 communities. The flagship Pride in Place Programme will provide up to £20 million in flexible funding and support to 244 places over the next decade. This will serve as the cornerstone of this government’s support for communities, incorporating the existing 25 trailblazer areas announced at Spending Review and the 75 Phase 1 Plan for Neighbourhoods programme areas that were announced in March. The Long-Term Plan for Towns programme was launched in September 2023 by the previous administration. This programme was an unfunded commitment for which the previous administration had no plan as to how that promise would be delivered. All 75 towns across the UK that were originally selected to receive Long-Term Plan for Towns funding will receive the funding under the Plan for Neighbourhoods package, which is now part of the Pride in Place Programme.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has received communications from lobbying companies on local government reorganisation; and whether officials in his Department have had meetings with lobbying companies representing local authorities.

My Department is regularly contacted by organisations with an interest in local government reorganisation. My officials also conduct regular meetings with a wide range of stakeholders to hear their views and insights, as part of the Department’s public engagement on the issue.Officials must adhere to the Civil Service code at all times and abide by the Nolan Principles, which set out the standards expected of those in public life.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77628 on South West: Investment, whether there are grant conditions on the use of the £281,250.

The Great South West 2025/26 grant was issued to the accountable body under a section 31 grant pursuant to the Local Government Act 2003. Alongside this, milestones were agreed between MHCLG and Great South West covering key activity around economic intelligence and insight, planning for long-term sustainability and funding options, acting as a regional business voice, and strategic collaboration for growth and inward investment.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 50 of his Department's policy paper entitled Pride in Place Strategy, published on 25 September 2025, how much funding has been allocated to Belong; and whether that funding is new funding.

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

Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the amount that was received from (a) parish precepts, (b) mayoral precepts excluding police and (c) police precepts (i) in cash terms as receipts and (ii) on the average Band D bill in the latest period for which data is available.

We do not collect data on the amount of receipts collected broken down by precepting authorities or in relation to the precept that they have set. Data on the average Band D council tax and council tax requirement set by precepting authorities for 2025-26 can be found in Table 10 on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Community Recovery Fund: Guidance, published on 18 September 2024, whether councils report to his Department on how the Police Special Grant was spent.

Councils do not report to this Department on how the Police Special Grant is spent. The Police Special Grant is for police and crime commissioners to apply for and is administered by the Home Office.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 August 2025 to Question 68786 on Right to Buy scheme, if he will publish the (a) total value of Right to Buy receipts generated and (b) value of Right to Buy receipts retained by (i) local authorities and (ii) the Government in each of the last five years.

Receipts from Right to Buy (or equivalent) sales of local authority stock for the financial year 2012-13 onwards, including for each of the last five years, are published on gov.uk here. The government does not publish the amount of Right to Buy receipts retained by local authorities in each financial year

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 69456 on British Muslim Trust, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of Akeela Ahmed serving as a member of the Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Definition on her role as CEO of the British Muslim Trust.

Akeela Ahmed brings a wealth of expertise and a strong commitment to improving outcomes for Muslim communities. These qualities are vital to her roles in both the British Muslim Trust and the independent Working Group. The British Muslim Trust’s work is focused on tracking anti-Muslim hate in the UK and is separate from work undertaken by the independent Working Group.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding has been allocated to councils for local government restructuring over the Spending Review.

The 2025 Spending Review provides over £5 billion of new grant funding over the next three years for local services that communities rely on. This includes £3.4 billion of new grant funding which will be delivered through the Local Government Finance Settlement within financial years 2026-27 to 2028-29. We will publish the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this year, which will inform local authorities of their provisional multi-year allocations. In addition, under the local government reorganisation programme, £7.6 million was made available in June, July and August in the form of proposal development contributions, split across the 21 areas that have been invited to submit proposals for unitary local government. This is the first time that such funding has been made available for the development of reorganisation proposals.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77689 on Local Government: Investment, if he will take steps to stop divestment decisions in local government pension schemes relating to (a) Trident renewal and (b) investment in the defence industry.

Investment strategies for Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds are set by local administering authorities, and include how social, environmental and corporate governance and responsible investment considerations are taken into account. Administering authorities must have regard to their fiduciary duty to scheme members and employers when setting their investment strategy and must follow relevant legislation and guidance.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of clawback practices by local authorities on the application of the Community Infrastructure Levy exemption on (a) self-build, (b) annexes and (c) extensions on householders making small administrative errors.

The government recognises that procedural requirements relating to exemptions for housebuilder applications under the 2010 CIL regulations have had financial consequences for some homeowners. We remain committed to finding a solution to this issue.