Written questions by Hollinrake.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2025 to Question 51132 on Water Charges, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the rollout of (a) progressive water metering or rising block tariffs and (b) seasonal water metering in addition to the planned trials on its guidance entitled Charging guidance to Ofwat, published in January 2016.

The Government supports innovative approaches aiming to make bills more affordable for their customers. Defra are not conducting separate assessments. Ofwat regulates the trials by requiring companies to ensure all trials are consistent with good practice principles. Companies must also consult with the Consumer Council for Water to protect or exclude vulnerable customers, which ensures customers are protected while these important trials take place.

Whether any special advisers attended the Prime Minister's visit to Doncaster on 10 April 2025.

Special advisers routinely travel with the Prime Minister and did so on 10 April, including so as to provide support in the conduct of any official duties, which can arise at any time.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled The Plan for Drivers, published in October 2023, what progress she has made on updating 20mph zone guidance for England.

The Plan for Drivers was published by the previous Government.Decisions on making local speed limits on roads in England rest with traffic authorities who have responsibility for roads in local areas. The Department for Transport issues best practice guidance to assist authorities setting localspeed limits, designed to make sure that speed limits are appropriately andconsistently set while allowing for flexibility to deal with local circumstances.

Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department has issued on recharging visits that include a mix of political and official engagements from political parties.

In line with the practice of successive administrations, this is considered on a case by case basis, in line with Chapter 10 of the Ministerial Code.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 45696 on Planning Permission, if she will publish the Planning and Infrastructure Bill environmental principles assessment.

Environmental Principles assessments are not routinely published. However, environmental considerations in respect of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill were given due regard in line with the requirements of the Environment Act 2021.

Pursuant to the Answer of 29 May 2025 to Question 52623 on Offences Against Children, if she will place in the Library (a) a copy of the letter sent to all local authorities on 12 March 2025, and (b) the information sent to local authorities on how they can claim funding from the new national fund to support independent local inquiries.

Baroness Louise Casey was commissioned to undertake a comprehensive audit into the nature, scale, and profiles of group-based child sexual exploitation. I updated the House on 2 June that Baroness Casey has requested a short extension to her work from the Home Secretary to allow her to speak directly to victims, fully access the scale of the issue, and submit meaningful evidence-based recommendations to further tackle this vile type of offending.The completed audit will provide the most up-to-date information to this government’s commitment to support local areas to lead their own independent inquiries and related work to understand this issue and the effectiveness of their responses to it. We expect to receive the report very shortly. We will then set out a comprehensive response, as well as next steps on the action we have already announced, including details of support available for local areas.My officials will happily place the 12 March letter from the Home Secretary to all local authority leaders in the Common’s Library which makes clear the Government’s commitment to working closely with local areas to confront these terrible crimes.

Communities and Local Government, what weight her Department gives to planning representations made directly to the Secretary of State after a called-in public inquiry has taken place and prior to the decision-notice by the Secretary of State.

All relevant information is taken into account before the Secretary of State determines a called-in planning application or recovered appeal.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's document entitled MHCLG: spending over £25,000, April 2025, published on 30 May 2025, for what reason her Department has ceased publishing data for (a) expense type, (b) expense area, (c) voluntary and community sector, (d) SME class, (e) postal code and (f) grant since the publication of MHCLG: spending over £25,000, January 2025 on 27 February 2025.

MHCLG reviewed and amended the publication of its spend data to make it more accessible to the lay reader. We are currently in the process of aligning the data that we publish with Cabinet Office mandatory expectations.

With reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Home Department of 2 June 2025, Official Report, column 13, for what reason Baroness Casey requested a short extension to the deadline for the audit on grooming gangs.

Baroness Louise Casey was commissioned to undertake a comprehensive audit into the nature, scale, and profiles of group-based child sexual exploitation. I updated the House on 2 June that Baroness Casey has requested a short extension to her work from the Home Secretary to allow her to speak directly to victims, fully access the scale of the issue, and submit meaningful evidence-based recommendations to further tackle this vile type of offending.The completed audit will provide the most up-to-date information to this government’s commitment to support local areas to lead their own independent inquiries and related work to understand this issue and the effectiveness of their responses to it. We expect to receive the report very shortly. We will then set out a comprehensive response, as well as next steps on the action we have already announced, including details of support available for local areas.My officials will happily place the 12 March letter from the Home Secretary to all local authority leaders in the Common’s Library which makes clear the Government’s commitment to working closely with local areas to confront these terrible crimes.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department provides guidance on the installation of gender-neutral toilets in its estate outside the UK.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Design Guide asks for FCDO estates projects to provide sanitary provision in line with UK Building Regulations, including the Approved Document Part T: Toilets, with adaptations where required to suit more onerous local regulations or address cultural sensitivities.

Representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Electoral Commission's publication entitled FAQ sheet for qualifying foreign citizens in Wales (multiple languages), published on 15 June 2020, for what reason this information was translated into (a) Arabic, (b) Bengali, (c) Chinese and (d) Urdu.

In 2020-21 the franchise was extended to allow qualifying foreign nationals resident in Wales to vote in Senedd and local elections.The Electoral Commission’s role is to provide voters with the information they need to take part in elections. As part of this work ahead of the 2021 Senedd election, it translated resources into the five most commonly spoken foreign languages in Wales. This was intended to support newly enfranchised voters to participate in the election, and is in line with the Welsh Government’s approach to translation of resources for voters.

Media and Sport, what her planned timetable is for publishing the local media strategy.

Sustainability of journalism across the country is an area of particular concern for this Government, and the development of a Local Media Strategy is in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. We recently held a roundtable discussion with local news editors to discuss our planned approach and collaboration with industry on the Strategy. An industry working group has now been set up to consider the issues in more detail and we will announce more in the coming months.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed Chinese Embassy on cyber security for the BT telephone exchange.

In line with my previous response to UIN 29609 on 12 February 2025, the planning application has been called in by the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and she will make this quasi-judicial decision independent from the rest of Government, and from any form of external interference by any other party.The Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary submitted written representations to the Planning Inspector on 14 January. That letter is clear that the Home Office has considered the breadth of national security issues associated with the proposed Embassy. It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on specific matters relating to national security.

What the role of the Bank of England is in ensuring cyber-security of financial institutions and telecommunication exchanges based within the vicinity the City of London.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is the UK's technical authority for cyber security, including helping to protect the UK's critical infrastructure and services from cyber-attacks. The Bank of England, through the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and working closely with the NCSC and other authorities, requires PRA-regulated financial institutions to have rigorous cyber security frameworks in place and requires regular assessment of financial institutions’ cyber security measures. The Bank of England does not regulate telecommunication exchanges.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has provided guidance to local authorities on retaining Community Infrastructure Levy payments for the purpose of using the interest accrued on that funding for servicing spending from local authority General Fund Accounts.

Community Infrastructure Levy receipts must be used for the purposes which are set out in section 216 of the Planning Act 2008 and Part 7 of the CIL Regulations. The Department has not provided guidance to local authorities on retaining Community Infrastructure Levy payments for the purpose of using the interest accrued on that funding for servicing spending from local authority General Fund Accounts.

Whether (a) the Competition and Market Authority and (b) his Department has provided guidance to public authorities on offering loans to developers (i) at less than market rate and (ii) on preferential terms.

The Department for Business and Trade’s statutory guidance for the subsidy control regime helps public authorities to comply with the Subsidy Control Act 2022.This includes subsidies given in the form of loans. We also provide additional guidance to public authorities on request. This would include discussions on below market rate and preferential loans. Where relevant thresholds are met, the Subsidy Advice Unit in the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is responsible for evaluating the relevant public authority’s assessment of compliance with subsidy control rules, and publishing a report of their findings. These can be found on the CMA’s website.

Communities and Local Government, how many affordable homes were built in England in each of the last 30 years; and what type of affordable tenure those homes were.

The amount of new build affordable housing by tenure is available since 1991-92 in Live Table 1009 here. The data is presented separately for new builds and acquisitions.

Innovation and Technology, what role (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) Ofcom play in ensuring the cyber-security of telecommunication exchanges (i) at Wapping in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and (ii) in the City of London.

The Government is committed to ensuring the security and resilience of the UK’s telecommunications infrastructure. The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 introduced a robust security framework requiring public telecoms providers to identify, reduce and prepare for security and resilience risks. We have also included data centres as parts of Critical National Infrastructure.DSIT is responsible for developing policies to help ensure the security of the UK’s public telecoms networks and services. DSIT works with the National Cyber Security Centre as the technical authority providing advice on cyber-security threats and vulnerabilities, the National Protective Security Authority as the technical authority for physical and personnel security, and Ofcom as regulator for the framework.The Government does not comment on the security of specific sites; however, we work with our agencies to respond to specific security incidents or vulnerabilities identified.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to commence the remaining provisions of the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017.

The government intends to commence the temporary possession provisions in the Neighbourhood Planning Act (NPA 2017). To pave the way for this, we are taking forward a measure in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to amend the NPA 2017 temporary possession powers to disapply them to Transport and Works Act Orders, Development Consent Orders and Infrastructure Consent Orders. This will allow the NPA 2017 provisions to be commenced for taking temporary possession of land in respect of compulsory purchase orders made under regimes such as the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 without impacting the delivery of critical infrastructure. Following Royal Assent of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and before commencing the amended NPA 2017 temporary possession power provisions, we will need to consult on regulations relating to the reinstatement of land subject to a period of temporary possession.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 2 June 2025 entitled Planning reform and housing delivery, HCWS673, who will be responsible for determining whether planning applications will fall into tier (a) A and (b) B.

Through regulations we will set out which planning applications should be delegated to planning officers and which could go to a planning committee, if the Chair of the committee and chief planning officer (or equivalent officer in local planning authorities without a chief planning officer) agree that committee consideration is warranted. Further details are set out in the technical consultation on the implementation of our proposals to modernise planning committees that the government published on 28 May. It can be found on gov.uk here.