Written questions by Hollinrake.

Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for the publication of the Community Cohesion strategy.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is leading cross-Government efforts to develop a longer-term, more strategic approach to social cohesion - working in partnership with communities and local stakeholders to rebuild, renew and address deep-seated issues. This is a priority for the Deputy Prime Minister, who has stood up a cross-government ‘Communities & Recovery Steering Group’ to oversee this work. One of its first acts was to launch a new Community Recovery Fund, providing £15 million for places most impacted by last summer’s disorder.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of local government restructuring on the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Local government reorganisation will have impacts on the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and may require the transfer of various functions, including the responsibility for administering an LGPS fund to a different authority. We would expect councils to work with relevant administering authorities on any implications of restructuring on the LGPS.

Communities and Local Government, if she will create an English language strategy within the Community Cohesion strategy.

The government recognises that the ability to speak English is key to helping people integrate into life in the UK, as well as supporting people to access education, employment and other opportunities. For example, we have launched a competitive process to continue our support for Ukrainians and Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas), providing intensive English language lessons and employment support for up to 4,000 individuals. This builds on the success of the STEP Ukraine pilot which has supported over 13,000 Ukrainians, with an impressive 84% successfully completing the programme and 73% achieving a 100% in their English language test. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is leading cross-government efforts to develop a longer-term, more strategic approach to social cohesion - working in partnership with communities and local stakeholders to rebuild, renew and address deep-seated issues.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 12 May 2025 to Question 49394 on Buildings: Co-ownership, for what reason she does not plan to publish the call for evidence.

The call for evidence undertaken by the previous government was targeted specifically at joint owners of leasehold properties, and did not find evidence that the position of those jointly owning properties is sufficiently different from those solely owning properties to justify changing our current policy. This Government is not currently considering any expansion of the leaseholder protections but is looking very closely at how to address the enduring question of the “in perpetuity” status on non-qualifying leases.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Land Registry compiles data on the prices of second homes.

HM Land Registry does not compile data on the prices of second homes.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2025 to Question 51394, on Ministers Private Offices, on how many days she has used her office in 70 Whitehall since 4 July 2024.

The Deputy Prime Minister regularly works from 70 Whitehall, information on the precise number of days is not held by the department.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has met with the Night Time Industry Association since 4 July 2024.

Details of external ministerial meetings, including their date, attendees, and purpose, are declared and published on gov.uk on a quarterly basis.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the publication Restoring Control over the Immigration System, published on 12 May 2025, CP1326, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of restricting access to local authority housing for (a) current and (b) former overseas nationals based on their English language proficiency.

The government has no plans to make such an assessment.Eligibility for social housing is tightly controlled. If a person’s visa means that they cannot access state benefits or local authority housing assistance, they are not eligible for an allocation of social housing. Only eligible individuals can join waiting lists and be given a social housing tenancy.Where foreign nationals are eligible, they will have their housing needs considered on the same basis as other eligible applicants in accordance with the local authority’s housing allocation scheme. People who are homeless, in overcrowded housing or who need to move for medical reasons are prioritised.The previous government consulted on changes to social housing allocation tests. This government’s response was published on 2 September and can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the time taken to process applications to the Building Safety Regulator.

The MHCLG and the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) both recognise the impact of Gateway delays on the construction pipeline of high-rise projects and are taking action to address the current challenges. The Department are working closely with the BSR to improve processing times and have already taken several actions. As a new function BSR has needed to refine and improve its processes. We have provided funding to the BSR to recruit an extra 30 frontline staff to bolster its capacity. On 14 May, BSR also launched a campaign to directly recruit Registered Building Inspectors (RBIs), with further recruitment planned in June 2025. BSR is carrying out extensive stakeholder engagement to support applicants to better understand and meet the new requirements. BSR also issued new guidance in March 2025 based on the findings of research with organisations submitting building control applications. MHCLG and BSR are also reviewing better ways to access specialist advice on multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) which assess applications to enable faster assessment times. Whilst BSR and MHCLG are exploring all possible opportunities to strengthen the new Gateway process and guidance to industry, it is important to recognise that a significant volume of applications continue to be invalidated or rejected for not meeting the legislative requirements. These are buildings that, had they been constructed, might have placed residents at risk and/or living in housing that did not meet long-standing requirements. It is also important to note that additional information requests for missing details in applications can add between at least 4-6 weeks onto the process. MHCLG are exploring all possible options with the BSR to ensure it is equipped for the high-demand of applications without compromising on quality assurance. In rejecting applications which are not up to standard, the BSR is ensuring the safety of future residents. Ministers continue to monitor the situation closely.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2025 to Question 49917 on Aviation, how much was spent by (a) Ministers and (b) civil servants.

Pursuant to the answer of Question 49917 on aviation the following was spent on air travel since 4th July 2024: Domestic Travel:Civil Servants £33,025.78Ministers £1,878.72Other - UK Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust Issues £4210.29Total £39,114.79 International Travel:Civil Servants £45,662.30Ministers £17,321.87Other - UK Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust Issues £5,529.14Total £68,513.31

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the recovered appeal decision made by HM Planning Inspectorate with reference 3346061 on her definition of the greybelt.

The decision in question was made 12 May 2025 and the proposals were considered taking into account current planning policy, which includes Green Belt policy and published guidance. Full reasons for the decision are set out in the published decision letter and Inspector’s Report. Having issued this decision, the Secretary of State has no further jurisdiction in the matter, and it would not be appropriate to comment further.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2025 to Question 49917 on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Aviation, what the cost was of each individual flight.

I will arrange for this data to be deposited in the House of Commons Library.

Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the number of houses currently under construction in each London borough; and what assessment has been made of the potential impact of changes to (a) building regulations and (b) fire regulations on meeting the Government's 1.5 million housebuilding target.

The Department does not centrally collect data on homes currently under construction, but we do publish an annual estimate of new homes built and a quarterly estimate of new build starts and completions which can be found on gov.uk here and here respectively. These releases include data for each London borough. The government assess the impact of any proposed changes to building regulations, fire regulations, and wider building safety policy, including the potential impact on supply where appropriate and proportionate. We publish Impact Assessments at different stages of policy development which consider potential impacts on main affected groups to support public and sectoral engagement.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to remove the sanction of imprisonment for non-payment of council tax.

The government will be consulting this year on options to modernise the administration of council tax and will seek views on improving the collection and enforcement processes to create a fairer system for taxpayers and councils

Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Court of Appeal ruling of Mead Realisations Ltd v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2025] EWCA Civ 32 on the status of (a) planning practice guidance and (b) planning policy.

The government has noted the view of the Court of Appeal in Mead Realisations Ltd v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2025] EWCA Civ 32 that the Planning Practice Guidance can in principle amend national policy. It remains the case that Planning Practice Guidance will continue to be used in a supporting role to, and consistent with, national policy. The government did not appeal this decision within the applicable time period.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 45706 on Client Earth, whether the (a) legal and (b) planning divisions of her Department engage with Client Earth.

We have not identified any such engagement. I also refer the hon. Member to the answer given to UIN 49404 on 12 May 2025.

Communities and Local Government, how many permanent civil servants in her Department are staff without assigned posts; and how many are placed in an equivalent (a) people action team, (b) priority movers list, (c) redeployment register, (d) talent pool and (e) skills match hub in the most recent period for which data is available.

Less than 1% of the department are in a redeployment position within MHCLG. There are currently 27 individuals in a redeployment position out of a workforce of c.3900 FTE.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, whether funds raised through the Nature Restoration Fund must be allocated to Environmental Delivery Plans (a) in the same local authority as the development or (b) within any specified geographical proximity to the development.

Each Environmental Delivery Plan (EDP) will address one or more specified environmental features, which will be either a protected species, or a protected aspect of a protected site. Under an EDP, Natural England will be required to deliver conservation measures that contribute to an overall improvement to the environmental feature(s) specified. When delivering conservation measures through an EDP, Natural England will look to deliver these in the area where development is taking place. The Bill allows for those circumstances where it may be appropriate to deliver conservation measures aimed at the same environmental feature but at another site outside of where the development is taking place. For example, if Natural England deem that this may deliver a better outcome for a protected species to create new habitats or enhance existing habitats further afield.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 45696 on Planning Permission, what the topic was of each equality impact assessment that has been produced by her Department since 4 July 2024.

The following topics of planning practice guidance have been updated or introduced since 4 July 2024: Enforcement and post-permission mattersNatural environmentHousing supply and deliveryViabilityPlan-makingHousing and economic needs assessmentEffective use of landGreen BeltCrown Development and Urgent Crown DevelopmentFees for planning applications The Secretary of State considered the Public Sector Equality Duty in issuing these updates.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to repeal any retained EU environmental regulations in the context of her proposed planning reforms.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill proposes targeted amendments to the Habitats Regulations, with Schedule 4 including changes necessary to enable the nature restoration fund to address environmental impacts from development in place of the Habitats Regulations.The previous government secured powers to reform existing environmental assessment legislation, to create a new system of environmental outcomes reports in place of the Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment Regulations. This government is considering how to utilise these powers as part of our wider efforts to deliver economic growth and secure better environmental outcomes.