Written questions by Hollinrake.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of empty homes owned by (a) local authorities, (b) the Government Property Agency and (c) other parts of central government.

The number of local authority owned homes that are empty in each local authority in England can be found in Live Table 615 here on vacant dwellings in England at local authority district level. Figures in this table show vacant dwellings owned by local authorities within each local authority area in England.The latest published statistics refer to vacant dwellings owned by local authorities in England on 31 March 2024, including homes earmarked for sale or demolition, or awaiting or undergoing major repairs.My Department does not hold figures specifically for homes owned by the Government Property Agency or other parts of central government.

Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) curfews and (b) licensing restrictions at sporting venues.

The department has not made an assessment.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61519 on Right to Buy Scheme, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the Right to Buy on receipts for new affordable housing construction since July 2024.

The government’s Right to Buy discounts review, which can be found on gov.uk here, was published alongside the Budget on 30 October 2024. It estimated that returning maximum cash discounts to pre-2012 levels would lead to a long-term average of approximately 1,700 Right to Buy sales per year, generating, on average, approximately £250 million of annual net receipts.As confirmed at that Budget, the government is allowing councils to retain the full capital receipt generated by a Right to Buy sale to support the delivery of replacement dwellings. As a result of all these measures, we believe local authorities will now be in a stronger position to replace the homes that are sold.In the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July 2025 (HCWS771), I confirmed further reforms to the Right to Buy. We will legislate when parliamentary time allows to bring these reforms into force.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2025 to Question 60136 on Affordable Housing: Finance, excluding the affordable housing programme, what is the average annual real growth in capital expenditure from 2025-26 to 2029-30.

Excluding our new Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP), my Department’s capital expenditure will decrease by an average of 2% per year from 2025-26 to 2029-30. This is equivalent to keeping capital investment other than the SAHP flat in cash terms on average across the period.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 7.12 of her Department's publication, Local authority funding reform objectives and principles consultation: summary of responses published on 20 June 2025, whether she plans to set a higher council tax referendum threshold for councils with a Band D council tax below the notional council tax.

The government recognised in its response to the consultation a number of respondents had requested increased council tax flexibility to reflect funding reform. The Spending Review confirmed the government intends to maintain the 3% threshold with an additional 2% for the adult social care precept, in line with OBR forecasts. Final referendum principles will be confirmed at the local government finance settlement, subject to approval by the House of Commons, in the usual way.

Communities and Local Government, how many affordable homes were delivered in (a) 2013-24 and (b) 2023-24.

The number of affordable homes delivered in each year since 1991-92 is published in Live Table 1000 on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 60129 on Local Government Finance, whether the LG DEL figures of (a) £15.0bn in 2025-26, (b) £15.4bn in 2026-27, (c) £15.6bn in 2027-28 and (d) £15.8bn in 2028-29 set out in Table 5.17 of CP1336 were used as the evidential basis for the core spending power calculations in the Spending Review 2025.

The Core Spending Power (CSP) figures in Table 5.17 of the Spending Review document do contain the uplift from the LG Resource DEL figures, although not all of LG DEL is distributed through CSP. However, the CSP figures also contain estimations for Council Tax revenue which reflect the referendum principles announced at the Spending Review. They also contain an adjustment reflecting the impact of MHCLG retaining grant funding from 2026-27 onwards that has been surrendered in previous years to offset the impacts of additional business rates retained in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, as outlined in footnote four of the table as well. There is £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, and individual local authority CSP figures will be confirmed at settlement in the usual way.

Communities and Local Government, whether county council elections which were postponed in May 2025 will take place in May 2026.

The government’s starting point is for all elections to go ahead unless there is strong justification. As set out to the House on 17 June, the government is now consulting on two proposals for unitary local government from councils in Surrey. If the Secretary of State decides to implement a proposal, secondary legislation, which will be subject to Parliamentary approval, will be required to abolish existing councils, establish new structures and make transitional arrangements. Those transitional arrangements, consistent with precedent, would include replacing scheduled local elections with elections for the new councils, which will operate initially as new unitary authorities. This follows standard practice during Local Government Reorganisation, as conducted by the last government in Northamptonshire in 2020 and in Cumbria and North Yorkshire in 2022.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61518 on MHCLG: Civil Servants, what is the FTE headcount number of a 10% reduction in the number of civil servants; and whether it will involve (a) compulsory and (b) voluntary redundancies.

The department is aiming to reduce the FTE headcount of its Civil Servant workforce from 3,790 as at March 2025 to 3,350 by March 2030. This will be achieved through utilising natural workforce turnover and the already publicised voluntary exit scheme for staff this year. There are no plans to implement either a compulsory or a voluntary redundancy programme to support this aim.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her publication, Delivering a decade of renewal for social affordable housing, published on 2 July 2025, what estimate she has made of the number of additional affordable homes to be provided in each year under the 2026-2036 Affordable Housing Programme.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 60128.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61622 on MHCLG: Translation Services, if she will list (a) the foreign languages and (b) the documents that were (i) translated and (ii) interpreted.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 67129 on 22 July 2025.The department does not hold a central list of documents that were translated and interpreted.

Communities and Local Government, whether she is considering providing metro mayors with powers to levy tourist taxes in their areas.

I have received representations on this issue from the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority and discuss funding matters with Mayors in the course of my work as the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution.The government has no plans to introduce a tourist tax, but keeps all taxes under review.

Communities and Local Government, what representations she has received from the Mayor of London on a tourist tax for London.

I have received representations on this issue from the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority and discuss funding matters with Mayors in the course of my work as the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution.The government has no plans to introduce a tourist tax, but keeps all taxes under review.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 56482 on Civil Service: London allowances, if she will take steps to ensure that the London weighted salaries for civil servants only apply to employees that work in London.

MHCLG has separate National pay ranges and London pay ranges. The MHCLG London pay range is only applicable to colleagues formally assigned to 2 Marsham St and MHCLG’s Hemel Hempstead office.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Spending Review 2025, published on 11 June 2025, what assumptions have been made on the level of the (a) shire district, (b) police precept, (c) parish precept, (d) combined authority mayoral precept and (e) fire precept council tax referendum principles in each year of the Spending Review from 2026-27.

For the shire district and fire precept, the Spending Review assumes that precept levels increase in line with those in 2025/26 over the coming SR period (3%/£5, and £5 respectively). The SR assumes a fire precept level of £5. No assumptions were made in relation to mayoral combined authorities and parishes, as these have not historically been subject to referendum principles. The police council tax precept remains subject to final decision on precept levels which will be set out in the annual police funding settlement in the usual way. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 62597 on 2 July 2025.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Rough sleeping to be decriminalised after 200 years, published on 10 June 2025, how the approach to a replacement regime differs to that of the previous Government.

As we work to fulfil our manifesto commitment to get the country back on track to ending homelessness, one principle must be clear – no one should be criminalised for simply sleeping rough. We will be the government that repeals the Vagrancy Act 1824.This government does not wish to target or criminalise individuals who are begging to sustain themselves or who are sleeping rough because they have nowhere else to go. This is why this government is introducing new specific offences which deal with specific risks. These targeted replacement measures include a new offence of facilitating begging for gain, and an offence of trespassing with the intention of committing a crime, both of which were previously provided for under the 1824 Act.

Communities and Local Government, how many Homes England staff are undergoing redeployment.

Homes England have no staff currently undergoing redeployment.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2025 to Question 59314 on Local Government Finance, what the grant funding to local government is in cash terms in each financial year between 2024-25 and 2028-29.

The Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) for 2024-25 made available £64.7 billion for local government, a cash increase in core spending power of 7.5% compared with 2023-24. The LGFS for 2025-26 made available over £69 billion, a cash increase in core spending power of 6.8% compared with 2024-25. This year’s 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 LGFS within financial years 2026-27 to 2028-29, an average overall cash increase in local authority core spending power of 4.5% per year. Further information will be made available as part of the provisional LGFS later this year, which will provide the first multi-year settlement for local government in a decade.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 12 June 2025 on Local Government Best Value, HCWS697, which (a) external individuals, (b) external organisations, (c) hon. Members and (d) councillors requested escalating the statutory intervention to a Commissioner-led model before 12 June 2025.

On 12 June I announced that I was minded to exercise powers of direction under section 15(5) and 15(6) of the Local Government Act 1999 to ensure London Borough of Croydon’s compliance with the Best Value Duty. As I told the House, before making this announcement I carefully considered all relevant material including the Improvement and Assurance Panel’s latest report and the Local Government Association’s Corporate Peer Challenge. I sought representation from the London Borough of Croydon and any interested parties on my proposals by 25 June. I am now carefully considering all representations received before making my final decision.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 May 2025 to Question 52627 on Night Time Industries Association, what correspondence her Department has received from the Night Time Industries Association since 4 July 2024.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Night Time Industries Association wrote to the Department on 29 October 2024. Their letter was passed to the Department for Business and Trade for a response.