Every parliamentary written question tabled by Kemi Badenoch this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 161–180 of 232 · this parliament
Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to review council tax (a) discounts, (b) exemptions and (c) disregards.
Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged.
Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to make (a) regulatory and (b) deregulatory changes to building regulations.
We will keep the Building Regulations under review to ensure that they are supporting our ambition of delivering high quality, safe and sustainable buildings whilst also enabling the construction sector to innovate and deliver the additional homes that we need.
Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to set a council tax referendum threshold for 2025-26.
Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged.
Communities and Local Government, what plans she has to consult the Electoral Commission's parliamentary parties panel on proposed changes to electoral law.
The Government is committed to strengthening our democracy, upholding the integrity of elections and encouraging wide participation in the democratic process.We will tackle the unacceptable participation gap in our democracy by taking action to improve rates of electoral registration, and encourage engagement by young people by legislating to give 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote in all elections in due course.The Government also recognises the threat posed by malign actors who seek to interfere in UK elections by hiding the true source of funding behind political donations. We will therefore act to strengthen protections against foreign interference in our political finance framework.The Government will work with the electoral sector, devolved and local government, and other stakeholders (including the Parliamentary Parties Panel) to raise participation and make the electoral system more effective. Any changes to electoral law will require careful consideration and consultation, including a review of the General Election by the Electoral Commission.
Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing minimum energy performance certificate requirements for owner occupied dwellings at (a) sale and (b) purchase.
The government is considering options to ensure a fair, proportionate and affordable approach to improving the energy performance of owner-occupied homes. The Warm Homes Plan will offer grants and low interest loans to support investment in insulation and other improvements. We will also work with the private sector, including banks and building societies, to provide further private finance to accelerate energy efficiency upgrades and low carbon heating.
Communities and Local Government, what her Department's policy is on (a) Strategic Environmental Assessments and (b) Environmental Impact Assessments.
The powers secured through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 would allow Strategic Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment to be replaced with a new framework of Environmental Outcomes Reports.The government is committed to securing better environmental outcomes alongside securing the development we need, and will consider how best to reform environmental assessment with this objective in mind. In the meantime, the current legislation on environmental assessment and its supporting guidance continues to apply.
Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to (a) remove or (b) curtail permitted development rights that were introduced since May 2010; and what her policy is on Article 4 directions.
The Government has not announced plans to remove or curtail permitted development rights.We intend to set out proposed changes to national planning policy in the forthcoming National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) update.
Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for completion of each of the revised National Policy Statements.
As the Chancellor set out on 8 July, the Government will review relevant National Policy Statements over the next twelve months, ensuring the planning system is simplified and improved to deliver Government missions around growth and clean energy. This is one of a number of changes the Government intends to make to build the infrastructure that we need.
Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to recruit additional planning inspectors to support the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project process.
The Government is committed to ensuring that the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime is capable of delivering the UK’s infrastructure needs, including sufficient resourcing in the Planning Inspectorate and government expert bodies to support infrastructure consenting.
Communities and Local Government, whether (a) councils will be required to review their Local Plans in order to undertake Green Belt reviews and (b) Local Plans will be required to be updated after the Green Belt review through a public examination led by the Planning Inspectorate under proposed planning reforms.
The Government is committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and ensuring that every part of the country benefits from it. We will set out further details in due course.
Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to take steps to review postal voting delays that occurred during the general election 2024.
The Electoral Commission will publish a report on the administration of the General Election held on 4 July later this year, and the Government will give careful consideration to any findings or recommendations made in the report in relation to the current arrangements for postal voting.
Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to introduce secondary legislation to recognise the Veterans Card as a form of identification in polling stations across (a) Great Britain and (b) Northern Ireland.
As our manifesto made clear, the Government will address the inconsistencies in voter identification that prevent legitimate electors from voting, specifically including veterans of HM Armed Forces. We are considering what changes we wish to make in order to achieve this and will bring forward proposals in due course.Electoral policy for Northern Ireland is a matter for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and a separate regime for voter identification exists there. Any legislation to allow the Veteran’s Card use in Northern Ireland would be provided for in separate legislation.
Communities and Local Government, what plans she has for (a) restrictions on rent increases and (b) other rent controls in the domestic private rented sector.
The Government does not support the introduction of rent controls. We have made clear that we intend to use the Renters’ Rights Bill to provide tenants with greater protections against unreasonable within-tenancy rent increases.
Communities and Local Government, what her policy is on the building of solar farms on land categorised as best and most versatile agricultural land.
We place great importance upon our agriculture and food production, and this is reflected in the National Planning Policy Framework. The Framework is clear that local planning authorities should recognise the economic and other benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land. Where significant development of agricultural land is shown to be necessary, including ground mounted solar, the planning authority should seek to use poorer quality land in preference to that of a higher quality.
Communities and Local Government, whether residential gardens within the curtilage of a domestic property will continue to be classified as brownfield land under proposed planning reforms.
The definition of previously developed land is set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. The definition excludes residential gardens in built up areas and we are not proposing to change this.
Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities will remain subject to the environmental and land supply framework set out in the previous National Planning Policy Framework under proposed mandatory housing targets.
Protections for safeguarded land will remain, in accordance with the policies set out in the National Planning Policy Framework.
Communities and Local Government, with reference to pages 23 to 25 of the policy paper entitled, King's Speech 2024: background briefing notes, published by the Prime Minister's Office on 17 July 2024, on the proposed English Devolution Bill, what role she plans for (a) district councils and (b) county councils in drafting local growth plans; and how she expects such plans to interact with the local plans of (i) mayoral combined and (ii) local planning authorities.
Every town and city has a vital contribution to make to growing our economy. The Government has set out its intention to work with places to develop ambitious, long-term Local Growth Plans. Local Growth Plans will be delivered through partnership, and MHCLG will write to places shortly to provide further detail on the approach to developing these Plans.
Communities and Local Government, how much her Department (a) has spent on departmental rebranding since 4 July 2024 and (b) plans to spend on such rebranding in the next 12 months.
Changing the name of the department will not attract a significant cost as we are returning to a department name which has been previously used. The majority of the work will be completed internally. Details of expenditure over £250 are published on gov.uk.
Communities and Local Government, with reference to pages 23 to 24 of the policy paper entitled, King's Speech 2024: background briefing notes, published by the Prime Minister's Office on 17 July 2024, on the proposed English Devolution Bill, what plans she has for the operation of the proposed right to buy for community assets.
The Government recognises the vital role of high streets and community spaces, and we want to see them thriving again. Community Right to Buy will empower local people to bring community spaces back into community ownership and end the blight of empty premises on our high streets, and stem the loss of important community assets we have witnessed over the past decade.Community Right to Buy will help local people acquire valued community spaces if they come up for sale, keeping these assets in the hands of the community working together in co-operation. We will provide more detail on the planned measures in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what methodology she plans to use to allocate the proposed 300 new planning officers; what the (a) average salary and (b) local government grade of those planning officers will be; and what estimate she has made of the number of full-time equivalent planning staff employed by local planning authorities on 23 July 2024.
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 1007 on 25 July 2024.