Written questions by Hollinrake.

Whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to create an offence of (a) engaging in nuisance begging, (b) arranging or facilitating begging for gain and (c) trespassing with intent to commit a criminal offence.

On 10th June, the Government announced its intention to repeal the outdated Vagrancy Act 1824. We have introduced targeted replacement measures in the Crime and Policing Bill to ensure police have the powers they need to keep communities safe, including a new criminal 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.We know police forces make effective use of existing powers to tackle anti-social behaviour that occurs in this context, and we will update statutory guidance on the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to provide more certainty on how existing powers can be applied to anti-social behaviour where it occurs in these scenarios.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding was allocated by her Department to support local communities to develop neighbourhood plans in the (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25, (c) 2025-26 financial years; and how much has been allocated for each year of the Spending Review.

Details of the contracts that the Department awarded to support neighbourhood planning are available on the contracts finder website. Funding was allocated to support contracts worth, excluding VAT, (a) £6.37m in 2023/24, (b) £6.96m in 2024/25 and c) £0.43m in 2025/26. Following the Spending Review, my Department announced that it is unable to commission new neighbourhood planning support services for 2025 onwards. Technical support which has already been awarded will continue to be provided but must be completed before the end of March 2026. We will ensure that local planning authorities continue to be appropriately funded for their neighbourhood planning function, including funding for neighbourhood planning examinations. The government remains of the view that neighbourhood plans can play an important role in the planning system. Communities can continue to prepare neighbourhood plans where they consider that doing so is in their best interests.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to funding for level 7 apprenticeships on the number of chartered town planning apprenticeships.

I refer the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton to the answer of 13 June 2025 to Question 57098.

Communities and Local Government, what (a) funding and (b) financing support her Department has allocated to Greater Manchester Combined Authority for housing development loans since 2011.

In line with the English Devolution White Paper Homes England is working closely will all Mayoral Combined Authorities, supporting them to achieve their housing growth, regeneration and placemaking ambitions. Since 2011 Homes England have provided investments totalling over £483 million (£483,466,719) to Greater Manchester Combined Authority through a range of programmes. These investments have supported the delivery of 35,144 homes. My officials would be happy to send full details should this information be required.

Communities and Local Government, what guidance she has issued to local planning authorities on the redaction of the internal layout of proposed developments from (a) planning (i) officers and (ii) councillors and (b) the wider public.

We have not issued specific guidance to local planning authorities on redacting internal layouts of proposed developments.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of (a) Right to Buy receipts on the level of funding for affordable housing and (b) her Department's changes to (i) the level of discounts and (ii) eligibility for Right to Buy on the availability of new housing over the period of the Spending Review 2025.

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 10 June 2025 to Question 54886 on Asylum: Housing, whether she has made an estimate of the number of appeal decisions that have been made by the Planning Inspectorate in relation to (a) hotels and (b) hostels being used to house asylum seekers in the last 12 months.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 60845 on 30 June 2025.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2025 to Question 55284 on Housing: Construction, and with reference to Annex 10 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Impact assessment, published in May 2025, whether she plans to achieve the delivery of the 374,000 annual new additions in England in the (a) 2026-27 financial year, (b) 2027-28 financial year and (c) calendar year 2027.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 55284 on 10 June 2025.

What assessment she has made of trends in the level of the cost to local authorities of providing school transport for SEND children in the last five years.

The department knows that the cost of delivering home to school travel has increased steeply over recent years. In particular, challenges within the wider special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system have created significant pressure on home to school travel. The SEND system we inherited has been failing to meet the needs of children and families for far too long, with a lack of early intervention and support in mainstream schools.The government has committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools so fewer children need to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. The Spending Review announcement on 11 June confirmed significant new funding to support SEND reform and a White Paper setting out further details on our plans will be published in the autumn.

Communities and Local Government, how much was raised in right to buy receipts in each year since 2011-12; and what proportion of those receipts was spent on affordable housing.

Receipts from Right to Buy (or equivalent) sales of local authority stock for the financial year 2012-13 onwards are published in the attached Table. There are no published figures for earlier years. With regard to the proportion of such receipts spent on affordable housing, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 16195 on 5 December 2024.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's publication entitled MHCLG: spending over £25,000, April 2025, published on 30 May 2025, what the services commissioned from Allied Publicity Services Manchester were.

These data lines were published in error. The relevant publication has now been updated

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's transparency data, MHCLG: spending over £25,000, March 2025, published on 28 April 2025, if she will publish the specification of the research commissioned from Frontier Economics Ltd.

The research commissioned from Frontier Economics Ltd. referenced in MHCLG’s transparency data published on 28 April 2025 refers to two separate contracts: the Towns Fund Evaluation and the UKSPF Intervention Evaluation. A feasibility study for these evaluations, which set out the requirements for the work commissioned, has been published and can be accessed here:Gov.uk Towns Fund: evaluation feasibility reportUK Shared Prosperity Fund: intervention-level evaluation feasibility report

Communities and Local Government, what the target number of civil servants in her Department is in each year of the Spending Review 2025.

We are aiming to reduce the number of Civil Servants working in this department by at least 10% over the course of the Spending Review period. This in line with the government’s wider Civil Service reform plan and commitment to reducing administration costs of the civil service by 15% by 2030. We are implementing an ambitious efficiency plan to support this objective, focused primarily on reducing back-office costs and building a leaner, more efficient, and highly skilled workforce. This will enable us to deliver the government’s priorities while maintaining the flexibility to respond to emerging needs. Civil Servants in frontline roles will continue to be aligned with the funding and priority programmes that underpin these activities.

With reference to the publication entitled MHCLG: spending over £25,000, March 2025, published on 28 April 2025, if she will publish the full specification of the research commissioned from Thomas Coram Foundation.

The Thomas Coram Foundation research contract was commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) as part of the Supporting Families programme in 2023. When the programme moved to the Department for Education (DfE) as part of a machinery of government change in 2024 the management of, and funding for, the research contract moved to DfE. The contract continues to be held in MHCLG for commercial reasons.The research contract aims to test whether systemic practice is an effective way to work with families to achieve positive outcomes. It is a randomised control trial working with 12 local authorities. The contract ends in March 2026.Further information is available in the Supporting Families annual report, which was published on 9 June 2025 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-families-programme-annual-report-2024-to-2025.As per research protocol, DfE will publish relevant documents and findings associated with the contract at appropriate points in the research.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Planning Inspectorate has made appeal decisions on asylum accommodation in the last 12 months.

Planning appeals are not routinely categorised by whether an appeal features a decision on asylum accommodation. As such, it is not possible to confirm whether any appeals relating to this have been considered in the last 12 months in the time given.

Communities and Local Government, what funding her Department has provided for cladding removal and remediation in (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25, (c) 2025-26 and (d) each other year of the Spending Review; and how much will be raised in taxes on developers for this purpose.

MHCLG has provided for cladding removal and remediation:(a) 2023-24, £647m (Actuals)(b) 2024-25, £438m (Actuals)(c) 2025-26 £1003m (Current financial year budget allocation) Following the Spending Review which agreed the overall funding envelope for MHCLG, the department will undertake a detailed budget allocation process t for 2026-27 onwards. MHCLG funding for 2026-27 onwards is therefore not currently delegated to a programme level.We estimate that we will need to raise £3.4billion pounds from the Building Safety Levy. The levy is due to come into operation in October 2026 and is likely to be in operation for ten years. The levy will be reviewed every three years.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2025 to Question 53762 on Licensing Laws: Fees and Charges, what her planned timetable is for publishing the response to that consultation.

The response to the consultation Local Authority Principles and Objectives: gov.uk (Local authority funding reform: objectives and principles) was published on Friday 20 June 2025. The link to the response can be found gov.uk here.In parallel, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation, which sets out further questions on Sales, Fees and Charges reform. The link to that consultation is gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, who will cover the duties of the Minister for Housing and Planning whilst he is on jury service.

Duties will be shared amongst the MHCLG Ministerial team when required. As with all departmental business, the Secretary of State maintains overall responsibility for the work of the department

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 May 2025 to Question 53071 on Youth Mobility Scheme: EU Countries, whether he plans to make further bilateral agreements.

We have existing bilateral agreements with Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Luxembourg, which were negotiated by the previous government. The UK is open to further, fully reciprocal bilateral voting agreements but these would be subject to the detail of future negotiations.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's publication entitled MHCLG: spending over £25,000, March 2025, published on 28 April 2025, what the goods or services were commissioned from Oxford Economics Ltd entitled Cambridge Economic Forecasting.

The department commissioned Oxford Economics to model economic growth in Greater Cambridge.