Written questions by Hollinrake.

What statistics (a) her Department and (b) His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service collates on court waiting times for private rented sector repossession claims.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on timeliness for private landlord claims. The latest data for the quarter January to March 2025 was published on 15 May 2025. This data is available in table 6 which can be found:Mortgage_and_Landlord_Possession_Tables_Q1_Jan_to_Mar_2025.ods.The possession type can be filtered to private landlord in the dropdown above the table.

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, 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.

Pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 45682 on Unite: Annual Report, what the auditing issues are that have led to the delays in providing full returns.

The Certification Officer included an explanatory note alongside her publication of Unite the Union's partial annual returns for 2021, 2022, and 2023. The explanatory note records the Certification Officer's understanding that the issues identified during the auditing process are currently under investigation by other authorities. As such, it would not be appropriate for the Government to comment further on those matters.

Pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2025, to Question 32583, on Independent Commission into Adult Social Care, what is the annual remuneration of Baroness Casey of Blackstock for her role as Chair of the Commission.

Baroness Louise Casey has been appointed as a Direct Ministerial Appointment, and in line with Cabinet Office guidance, this appointment will be remunerated. The commission will report on its financial expenditure in due course.

Representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many Freedom of Information Act requests the Electoral Commission has substantively responded to since 4 July 2024; and what the outcome was of each.

The Commission provided responses to 178 FOI requests between 4 July 2024 and 14 May.A copy of the response to each FOI request submitted to the Commission can be found on its website at www.electoralcommission.org.uk/about-us/freedom-information .

Representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, whether the Electoral Commission has previously released individual RPA candidate spending returns under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Electoral Commission assesses each request under the FOI Act individually. The Act allows certain exemptions to be applied when considering requests, including an exemption for information that is reasonably by other means. Candidate returns are available on request from local authorities for two years for the date of receipt.The Commission takes a range of factors into account when considering disclosure of candidate spending returns. The Commission has previously released a number of redacted individual candidate spending returns under FOI after the two-year period or where the return was not available from the Returning Officer.

Whether the Anti-Islamophobia Working Group provided a training and awareness session in his Department in November 2024.

DESNZ is committed to supporting our colleagues in line with our DESNZ Values and the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance. The Anti-Islamophobia Working Group provided a one-hour training and awareness session in this Department in November 2024.

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, 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, 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, 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.

Pursuant to the answer of 30 April 2025 to Question 46900 on Asylum: Housing, if she will provide a national figure.

I refer the Hon Member to the Answer he received on the 30 April 2025 to UIN 46900.

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.

Whether any gender-neutral toilets have been removed from the Government estate since 4 July 2024.

A number of gender-neutral toilets have been repurposed into alternative toilet types within the Government Property Agency’s managed estate since 4 July 2024, in response to feedback from users of those buildings about the provision of single-sex and gender neutral toilets, and to ensure compliance with changes to Building Regulations.

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, 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, 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.