Written questions by Cleverly.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 83816 on Devolution: Cornwall, whether he plans to require Cornwall to (a) join a combined authority with Devon and (b) have a mayor.

Decisions on future devolution beyond the areas on the Devolution Priority Programme, including Cornwall, will be confirmed in due course and will be subject to further local engagement and ministerial decisions.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department consulted mayors on the proposed Supplementary Vote change for (a) mayors and (b) Police and Crime Commissioners prior to the announcement on 10 July 2025.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government engaged with a wide range of local stakeholders during the development of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. We engaged with Mayors on the measures in the Bill, including the Supplementary Vote change, ahead of the Bill’s introduction to Parliament.

Communities and Local Government, what correspondence his Department has received from Cumbria Conservatives on the date of the Cumbria mayoral elections; when that correspondence was received; and whether each item of correspondence received a substantive reply.

The Department received a letter from the Cumbria Conservatives on 23 October 2025. I replied on 4 November 2025.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 75616 on Business Rates: Local Press, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of the relief for local newspapers in the 2024-25 financial year; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of ending the relief from April 2025 on local newspapers.

From April 2017 to 31 March 2025, Eligible newspapers received a £1,500 reduction in their business rates liabilities. This discount applied up to a maximum of one discount per local newspaper title and per property. The previous government took the decision for this relief to end in March 2025, and the current government has maintained that approach. The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government publishes data on the cost of business rates relief.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 78194 on Affordable Housing: Expenditure, where this information can be found in the annual reports and accounts.

Within my Department’s Annual Report and Accounts – which can be found here on page 140, expenditure for the Affordable Homes Programme is set out in ‘Note 4 - Operating Expenditure’ under ‘Notes to the Departmental Accounts’, in addition to being included within MHCLG’s budget and outturn throughout.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 83810 on Pride in Place Programme: Finance, how much funding has been allocated to each nation in the Spending Review period.

Our Pride in Place programme will see up to £280 million shared among 14 places in Scotland, each receiving up to £20 million over 10 years. Up to £180m will be provided to a further 9 Welsh communities as part of the programme. These areas will join 10 areas in Scotland and 5 in Wales where work is already underway, taking the totals up to £480m over 10 years in Scotland and £280m over 10 years in Wales. For Northern Ireland, corresponding funding will be made available. MHCLG and the Northern Ireland Office are working in partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive to determine the appropriate delivery approach. Further details, including funding profiles, will be shared in guidance shortly.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 78216 on Community Relations: Expenditure, what each of those 300 projects were; and what reporting requirements there were on how the money was spent.

The Community Cohesion and Resilience Programme (CCRP) funding was allocated to local authorities; those receiving funding and their allocations are set out in the response to PQ 87321. Local authorities were provided with monitoring and evaluation guidance, which included outputs and outcomes to be reported against which directly linked to the Programme’s objectives. Of the 300 projects funded via the CCRP, each local authority delivered their respective projects in line with the programme guidance, delivering a wide range of initiatives in local places to bring communities together.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 22 October 2025 to Question 81315 on National Identity, whether his Department is taking steps to promote (a) English and (b) British identities in people who do not speak English as a first language.

The below answer refers to funding made by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government only for English language provision. The provisions described are in addition to what other departments offer. Councils receive a tariff of £5,900 per Homes for Ukraine arrival in their area to support guests to rebuild their lives and fully integrate into communities. Councils can use this funding flexibly which could include supporting guests to access English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision. The department provided £11.5 million of funding for English language courses and employment support for over 12,500 Ukrainians across the UK through the ‘STEP Ukraine’ programme. Following that success, the STEP Programme launched earlier this month which will provide intensive English language lessons and employment support for up to 4,000 individuals on Ukraine schemes and Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visas. The department has also allocated £3 million in grant funding to Strategic Migration Partnerships (SMPs) in England to strengthen the capacity of ESOL teachers and expand community-based English language support for eligible Afghans, Ukrainians, and Hong Kong BN(O)s until March 2026. This builds on the £1 million SMP ESOL capacity grant delivered in 2023–24, which trained over 350 teachers and supported more than 2,500 resettled learners The Hong Kong British National (Overseas) Welcome Programme, which is in its fifth year of funding, provides demand led funding to councils in England which can be accessed to cover the costs of English language courses. In 2024-25, the department allocated £4.5m to councils. Continued funding is available in 2025-26.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 78232 on MHCLG: Remote Working, how many (a) assigned staff and (b) allocated desks there are in each of his Department’s offices.

The requested information on staff and desk numbers in each MHCLG office as at the end of October, is as follows: OfficeDesksStaffing headcount Belfast1817 Birmingham76124 Bristol40161 Cambridge3051 Cardiff2540 Darlington30158 Edinburgh3233 Hastings1323 Hemel Hempstead4057 Leeds74166 Liverpool4896 London8292163 Manchester64208 Norwich1018 Nottingham4073 Plymouth3024 Sheffield1648 Warrington4247 Wolverhampton58266 Total15153773

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 78216 on Community Relations: Expenditure, which places received funding; and how much each received.

The Councils to receive funding through the Community Cohesion Resilience Programme were set out in my response to Parliamentary Question UIN 85786. The payments were made under Section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, and the detail of the funding is set out in the grant determination.

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 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, 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, 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 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.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential (a) costs and (b) merits of adding Ramsar sites to the Habitats Regulation rules.

Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance designated under the Convention on Wetlands. Most Ramsar sites are also already designated as Habitats Sites or Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), and so subject to strict protections. However, in view of our international commitments as signatories to the Convention, it is Government policy that all Ramsar sites are afforded protection under the Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) process as a matter of policy. The statutory recognition of Ramsar sites through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will formalise existing practice, reducing ambiguity and potential legal risk, and providing greater clarity and certainty for developers. Adding Ramsar sites to the Habitats Regulation also enables Ramsar sites, and development that impacts upon these sites, to benefit from the new Nature Restoration Fund model, supporting both nature recovery and sustainable development.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 28 October 2025 entitled Local Government Reorganisation, HCWS998, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the creation of two councils will not affect the cost of the provision of social care.

Local government reorganisation will strengthen the sector, help grow the economy and drive up living standards – which is this Government’s number one mission. It will also help reform local public services. Bringing services like housing, public health, and social care under one roof means one council can see the full picture and spot problems early – for example, supporting a family in need of housing and then supporting the children to stay in school. Ensuring public services, like social care, are commissioned effectively and are responsive to their communities will make services more efficient, help to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities, and enable people to reach their full potential.