Every parliamentary written question tabled by Kevin Hollinrake this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 621–640 of 2,922 · this parliament
What guidance HMRC has issued on claiming private residence capital gains tax exemption.
HMRC has published information on capital gains tax private residence relief in their self-assessment helpsheets HS283 “Private Residence Relief” and HS281 “Capital Gains Tax, civil partners and spouses”; and their capital gains manual at page CG64200 onwards. These are available on the GOV.UK website. Relief is available in most cases without a claim needing to be made.
Communities and Local Government, whether new unitary councils will be elected (a) all-out and (b) by thirds.
Our expectation is to provide for whole council elections, consistent with the approach taken in previous unitarisations where new councils were established under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.
Pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2025 to Question 53898 on Senior Civil Servants: Pay, whether that list will be published in 2025.
The ‘high earner’ list will be published after departments and their partner organisations have implemented the 2025/26 senior pay award and they have fully quality assured the personal data being published about individuals. Departments also publish salary information for all their Senior Civil Service (SCS) roles in quarterly organograms on data.gov.uk and for all SCS operating at Board level in their Annual Accounts.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2025 to Question 58020 on Chinese Embassy: Planning Permission and further to the correspondence from the MHCLG Planning Casework Unit to DP9 of 6 August 2025, for what reason the unredacted drawings were not requested from the applicant until 6 August 2025.
The Planning Inspector's Report was received by the Department on 10 June. Following careful analysis of the report, the Secretary of State referred back to parties on a number of matters, including the redacted drawings, on 6 August.
If he will publish the terms and conditions for non-executive board member appointments agreed to by Alan Milburn.
We will not be publishing personal appointment letters, which include terms and conditions of appointment, sent to Departmental non-executive board members. The terms and conditions are in line with those for other public appointments made by the Department and include the need to abide by Cabinet Office’s Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies.The role of board members, their salary, time commitment and political activity are all already in the public domain.
Pursuant to the Answer of 28 July 2025 to Question 57266 on Domestic Visits: Doncaster, which events the special advisers who travelled with the Prime Minister to Doncaster took part in on 10 April 2025.
I refer the Hon Member to my answer of 28 July 2025, Official Report, PQ 57266.
With reference to his Department's press release entitled Internship Scheme To Get More Working Class Students Into Civil Service, published on 1 August 2025, whether children of asylum seekers that (a) are permitted to work and (b) have a parent that is also an asylum seeker would be classified as working class for these purposes.
As we set out in August, we will be opening our Fast Stream Summer Internship Programme exclusively for undergraduates from lower socio-economic backgrounds for 2026. We will determine eligibility based on parental occupation at age 14 in line with guidance from the Social Mobility Commission and the Office for National Statistics definition. Regardless of whether or not a person is eligible under the social mobility criteria all applicants must meet the Civil Service Nationality rules (CSNR). Under this, asylum seekers are not permitted to work unless they have been waiting for a decision on their claim for 12 months or more and the delay is through no fault of their own. If granted permission to work, they are able to take up employment in jobs included on the Shortage Occupation List (replaced by the Immigration Salary List in April 2024). We do not consider roles offered on the Fast Stream Summer Internship Programme to be included on the ‘Immigration Salary List’.
Pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2025 to Question 64049 on Alcoholic Drinks, what those international conventions are.
I refer the honourable member to the answer given on 23 July to PQ UIN 68763. Thirteen of the twenty largest sovereign green bond issuers to date, including the UK, explicitly exclude the financing of alcohol-related spending in their green bond frameworks. Another issues Sharia-compliant green bonds. Five of the remaining six make no mention of alcohol in their frameworks, and France places partial restrictions on alcohol production. The UK’s approach is thus in line with international norms.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department responded to the correspondence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government of 6 August 2025 on the proposed Chinese Embassy.
On 20 August, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Home Office submitted written representations to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in response to its correspondence of 6 August.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what due diligence was undertaken for the appointment of the UK ambassador to the US.
Normal pre-employment processes, including vetting, are routinely carried out prior to all senior civil service appointments.
For what reason his Department pays council tax on Ministerial residences which are deemed to be second homes.
It has been long-standing government policy, in place for successive administrations, including for the previous government the Hon member served in, that where a minister occupies an official residence on a second home basis, the government pays the council tax.
How much council tax was paid by his Department on the Deputy Prime Minister’s flat in Admiralty House in each month since 4 July 2024.
The council tax charges levied by Westminster City Council are available online on their website at https://www.westminster.gov.uk/council-tax/council-tax-bands-and-chargesFollowing the introduction of the second homes premium, this has been paid in full in a one-off full payment in July 2025. This payment was made by the Government Property Agency on the date the Notice was received from Westminster City Council.
Whether his Department has issued guidance to special advisers on undertaking opposition research involving individual politicians.
As has been the case under successive governments, special advisers are required to adhere to the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers at all times. No specific guidance has been issued on special advisers undertaking opposition research involving individual politicians.
Whether his Department has provided guidance on whether Ministerial meetings arranged through the Labour Infrastructure Forum should be declared in Ministerial transparency returns.
The Ministerial Code sets out principles for Ministers on meetings with external organisations. Guidance published by the Cabinet Office at the following link sets out the information departments are required to publish as part of their Ministerial transparency return: -https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministers-overseas-travel-and-meetings-publication-guidance/ministers-overseas-travel-and-meetings-publication-guidance.
Pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2025 to Question 68481 on 10 Downing Street: ICT, whether Number 10 has its own operational Bloomberg terminal, independent from the Treasury ones.
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer of 23 July, Official Report, PQ 68481.
Whether he has issued guidance to special advisers on undertaking (a) national and (b) local political activities during working hours when accompanying Ministers in a local election purdah period.
The rules for national and local political activities are set out in the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.
Pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 54875 on Admiralty House: Council Tax, whether Council Tax (a) discount, exemption, disregard and (b) premium is applied to the Government's bill for each of the unoccupied Admiralty House ministerial residences in 2025-26.
Discount, exemption, disregard and premiums billing for Admiralty House are determined by the Local Authority. In this instance, this would be Westminster City Council.
Pursuant to the Answer of 28 July 2025 to Question 66478 on Innovation: Beer and Public Houses, for what reason implementation of provisions on raising the upper alcohol limit for drinks labelled as alcohol-free to 0.5% alcohol by volume from 0.05%, proposed in the consultation entitled Updating labelling guidance for no and low-alcohol alternatives of September 2023, is delayed.
In the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government committed to tackling harmful levels of alcohol consumption through exploring options to standardise which products can describe themselves as alcohol free. One of the first steps will be to explore raising the upper alcohol limit for drinks labelled as alcohol-free to 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) from 0.05% ABV, aligning with international standards.Alongside the plan, a large multi-year National Institute for Health and Care Research study is underway to examine the public health impacts of NoLo products, and we look forward to the findings the study being available in the coming year.
What recent estimate he has made of the number of headcount members of the Government Communication Service; and what estimate he has made of the number of embedded communications across central government that are not included with the Government Communication Service.
Government Communications is made up of around 6,000 professional communicators from across the UK, supporting and promoting the work of 25 ministerial departments, 21 non-ministerial departments and over 300 agencies and other public bodies. The list provided for the response to IR2025/05101 breaks this down further, and will be submitted for entry into the House of Commons library. The Government Communication Service headcount can be found on Gov.uk at this link here.
Communities and Local Government, whether she has received representations from the Mayor of London on the provision in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill to disqualify a person from being a mayor and a Member of Parliament simultaneously.
My department has engaged with Mayors and the local government sector ahead of publication of the English Devolution White Paper, where this policy was introduced. The post of mayor is a significant role at the forefront of delivering change and demands the full attention of any post holder. That is why the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill will prohibit individuals from holding the office of Member of Parliament (or being a member of the devolved legislatures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and mayor simultaneously. This is already the case for Mayors who hold Police and Crime Commissioner responsibilities.