Written questions by Hollinrake.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2025 to Question 51399 on Embassies: China, whether (a) MI5, (b) GCHQ or (c) MI6 have made any direct representations to (i) the planning inspector and (ii) her Department on the proposed Chinese Embassy.

Representations on planning applications are dealt with in accordance with paragraphs 18, 19 and 20 of the published propriety guidance on planning casework decisions which can be found on gov.uk here All Inquiry documents including representations to the Inquiry are publicly available on Tower Hamlets website here.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the publication MHCLG: spending over £25,000, March 2025, published on 28 April 2025, if she will publish the full specification of the research commissioned from TPXimpact Limited on Research Services.

The spend relates to the build of new technical capability (MS Azure cloud platform) for data science, engineering & analytics work.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the publication MHCLG: spending over £25,000, March 2025, published on 28 April 2025, if she will publish the full specification of the research commissioned from the Young Foundation on Research Services.

The requirement for the research commissioned from the Young Foundation will be published alongside the final research report in due course.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2025 to Question 60132 on Affordable Housing: Finance, and with reference to her Department's publication Delivering a decade of renewal for social affordable housing published on 2 July 2025, what her policy is on the 2026-2036 Social and Affordable Homes Programme being used to help purchase Section 106 affordable units from housing developers; and what the policy was in the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme.

The government’s new Social and Affordable Homes Programme for 2026/27 to 2035/36, like the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, will support the delivery of social and affordable homes additional to those that developers have committed to delivering through Section 106 agreement. We have no plans to change these arrangements.

Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for the (a) completion of the remaining stages and (b) implementation of the provisions of the Renters Rights Bill.

The Renters’ Rights Bill is currently progressing through the House of Lords. Report stage concluded on 15 July. Third Reading is scheduled for 21 July and the dates for the remaining stages of the Bill will be announced in due course. Upon the commencement date, the new tenancy system provided for by the Bill will apply to all private tenancies - existing tenancies will become periodic, and any new tenancies will be governed by the new rules. We will provide sufficient notice and will work closely with tenants groups and the landlord and lettings sector ahead of implementation.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2025 to Question 59784 on MHCLG: Research, if she will publish the specification of the research commissioned from the Department for Education on 19 March 2025 costing £57,600, published in the March 2025 transparency data.

MHCLG commissioned Policy Lab to conduct a series of workshops with the Digital Planning Programme, on supporting the growth of the Property Technology market and exploring the barriers to greater adoption. The write up of these workshops is informing current policy development but contains information that is commercially sensitive. We will take a decision on publication after that process once the commercially sensitive information has been reviewed.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2025 to Question 58975 on Civil Service: Offices, what the exceptions are that allow for office attendance to be less than 50 percent.

There are a number of reasons individuals may need to discuss and agree an exception with their manager. Exceptions can be long-term if the reason is enduring, for example a disability related matter, or short-term, for example an unexpected issue or need but all must be subject to review and none represent contractual employment changes under this policy.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 6.2.5 of her Department's publication entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, whether the £2,000 Band D figure includes (a) police precepts, (b) parish precepts, (c) social care precepts, (d) Greater London Authority precept, (e) combined authority mayor precepts and (f) fire precepts.

As set out in paragraph 6.2.5 of the Fair Funding Review 2.0, the government is proposing to set the notional Council Tax level at the average Band D level of Council Tax in England for authorities in scope of these reforms (circa £2000 in 2026-27). This includes the social care precept and the fire precept (including the fire element of mayoral precepts), but does not include police or parish precepts. For each multi-tier area, the government is proposing to apply a uniform split to the measure of Council Tax in the resources adjustment based on the average split for all multi tier areas in England.

Communities and Local Government, how many approvals for the disposal of allotments she has made under section 8 of the Allotments Act 1925 since 4 July 2024; and what the (a) location and (b) reference number of each disposal is.

Since 4 July 2024, the Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government has issued 8 approvals for the disposal of allotments under the Allotments Act 1925. See the available data on locations and LPA reference numbers below: Location / Address LineTownCountyLPA Application ReferenceLPA NameLand at Spaxton Allotments, SpaxtonBridgwaterSomersetG3300Somerset County CouncilLand ar Wallingford Road Allotments, Wallingford RoadCholseyOxfordshireN/ASouth Oxfordshire District CouncilElstree and Borehamwood Town Council, Stapleton Garden AllotmentsBorehamwoodHertfordshireStapleton Gardens AllotmentsHertsmere Borough CouncilKingsway AllotmentsAshfieldNottinghamshireN/AAshfield District CouncilRavenscroft Allotments, Browns Lane StorringtonHorshamWest Sussexn/aWest Sussex County CouncilLonglands (Oxcroft) Oxcroft LaneOld BolsoverDerbyshireN/ABolsover District CouncilLonglands Allotment, Off LonglandsOld BolsoverDerbyshireN/ABolsover District CouncilChurchfield Allotment SiteWyeKentWye with Hinxhill Parish CouncilAshford Borough Council

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to abolish directly elected council mayors once directly elected strategic authority mayors are introduced in localities.

As part of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, subject to Parliamentary agreement, we will legislate to prevent the creation of any new local authority directly elected Mayors. However, to prevent any further disruption, we accept the continuation of the 13 legacy directly elected Mayors currently in post.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 6.2.5 of her Department's publication entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, how the £2,000 Band D figure is split in two-tier areas where districts and counties set different council tax precepts.

As set out in paragraph 6.2.5 of the Fair Funding Review 2.0, the government is proposing to set the notional Council Tax level at the average Band D level of Council Tax in England for authorities in scope of these reforms (circa £2000 in 2026-27). This includes the social care precept and the fire precept (including the fire element of mayoral precepts), but does not include police or parish precepts. For each multi-tier area, the government is proposing to apply a uniform split to the measure of Council Tax in the resources adjustment based on the average split for all multi tier areas in England.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 20 June 2025 on Fair Funding Review 2.0 and Modernising and Improving the Administration of Council Tax, HCWS724, how much was allocated to the New Homes Bonus including legacy payments by tier of local government in England in 2024-25.

New Homes Bonus allocations are published online, and the amounts awarded in 2024-25 can be found gov.uk here. The then government ended new legacy payments in 2020-21, with final payments made in 2022-23. The totals allocated by tier in 2024-25 are as follows: Authority typeTotalShire District£101,455,702London Borough£50,146,660Metropolitan District£35,078,441Unitary Authority£78,760,516Shire Counties£25,363,926

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 9.4.8 of her Department's publication entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, what estimate she has made of the level of council tax receipts in England in each year of the multi-year settlement.

It is for individual councils to set their own level of council tax. The Spending Review assumed a 3% core referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept over the period, in line with OBR forecasts. The final set of referendum principles will be set out each year as part of the local government final settlement each year, subject the approval of the House of Commons, in the usual way.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2025 to Question 59355 on Local Government: Israel, whether the powers of the (a) Local Government Ombudsman, (b) Local Auditor and (c) Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman would extend to considering complaints from (i) local residents and (ii) local firms as a result of their local authority initiating (A) boycotts and (B) divestment relating to Israel.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman may only consider complaints where the complainant claims to have suffered personal injustice. Whether they could investigate complaints relating to procurement matters would depend on the specific circumstances of the individual complaint.Where matters of procurement policy are raised with local auditors, the auditor would need to determine whether the matters raised are directly related to the local authority’s accounts and/or would justify issuing a report in the public interest.The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is not able to investigate the actions of local authorities.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2025 to Question 58975 on Civil Service: Offices, for what reason offices outside London have a lower office attendance expectation.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has commenced a project to secure new and additional space in some of our offices outside London which supports the demand for office space we anticipate from completing the Places for Growth programme and increasing the proportion of our workforce outside London. Until that new and additional space is secured, it has and will be necessary to ensure attendance comes within statutory building safety limits. In some cases this may mean that individual office capacities will offer lower attendance ratios than others.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 9.3.3 of her Department's publication entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, what estimate she has made of the number of local authorities at the 0% funding floor.

The vast majority of upper-tier authorities will see their income increase in real terms over the next three years.For those councils who would see their funding fall as a result of these changes, our intention to protect the vast majority of these councils’ income through a flat cash funding floor.We will engage directly with a small number of councils whose new share of funding is furthest from where they are currently, to support them to manage larger losses. Many of these councils have prepared for long overdue reforms which the previous government consulted on, including by setting aside reserves.Our proposed transitional arrangements are subject to consultation and we will set out the detail of them in the autumn. We will then publish allocations at the provisional multi-year Settlement later this year.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 60129 on Local Government Finance, what the assumed level of council tax receipts in England is in each of those years set out in Table 5.17.

It is for individual councils to set their own level of council tax. The Spending Review assumed a 3% core referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept over the period, in line with OBR forecasts. The final set of referendum principles will be set out each year as part of the local government final settlement each year, subject the approval of the House of Commons, in the usual way.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2025 to Question 59354 on Planning Permissions: Carbon Emissions, how she plans to update the climate change guidance to provide additional advice on taking carbon emissions into account.

The updated guidance will be published in due course.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 12.3 of the consultation outcome entitled Local authority funding reform objectives and principles consultation: summary of responses, published on 20 June 2025, what the fees named in the 65 consultation responses were.

Responses to the December funding reform consultation highlighted several fees and charges where local authorities felt they were unable to recover the cost of the service. These included alcohol licensing, planning and building control. Through the Fair Funding Review 2.0, the government is now consulting on proposals to review local authority fees and charges and consider where there is a case for reform. We welcome views on this, including the scope of proposed reforms.

Communities and Local Government, whether a Senior Responsible Owner has been appointed to the Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia secretariat.

Per the Terms of Reference for the Working Group, the Group is supported by a small secretariat function based within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, with Senior Civil Servant-level oversight provided in the usual manner.