Written questions by Hollinrake.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has recused herself from discussions on the Birmingham City Council bin strike.

The Secretary of State, the department, and I have been in regular contact with Birmingham City Council since 31 March to support the Council’s efforts to clear the backlog of waste on the streets. However, any talks to settle the equal pay dispute are solely between the employer (Birmingham City Council) and trade union (Unite). The Government has rightly not been involved in these negotiations.

Communities and Local Government, how many hectares of land were designated as green belt in each year since 1997.

The Department publishes an annual release entitled 'Local authority green belt statistics for England', which includes information on hectares of land designated as Green Belt in England, as well as by local authority. An accompanying live table entitled 'Area since 1997' describes the hectares of land in England designated as Green Belt since 1997, and is available here. Figures for the last year will be published in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2025 to Question 41085 on Domestic Waste and Fly-tipping: Health Hazards, whether the Environment Agency has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) fly-tipping and (b) uncollected household rubbish on the environment; and whether it has recent discussions with Birmingham City Council on the issue.

A multi-agency coordinating group was established in response to the declaration of a major incident by Birmingham City Council due to the buildup of waste in Birmingham. The Environment Agency is supporting Birmingham City Council who have led on producing risk assessments and plans as part of the multiagency response. The Environment Agency’s remit is to investigate fly tipping or illegal dumping where there is a single waste deposit of more than 20 cubic metres, more than 5 cubic metres of fibrous asbestos, or 75 litres of potentially hazardous waste in drums or containers. If the offending is believed to be linked to criminal business activity or organised crime, then this may fall to the Environment Agency to investigate and will seek to work jointly with the Local Authority and other partner agencies to resolve the issue. Local Authorities are responsible for assessing, removing and disposing of all fly-tipped waste if it’s on relevant land, which includes land under their direct control and is publicly accessible. The Environment Agency regulates waste-permitted sites to ensure compliance with the conditions of their Environmental Permits and has proactively inspected permitted sites in Birmingham to ensure they are compliant with their permits and no issues arise from the ongoing clean up in the city.

If she will publish the most recent guidance issued by the Government Legal Service guidance to Departments on legal risk.

The Attorney General’s Guidance on Legal Risk was last updated on 6 November 2024. It can be found here: Guidance: Attorney General's Guidance on Legal Risk - GOV.UK.

If he will ensure that Environmental Information Regulation requests are treated equally to Freedom of Information requests.

All access to information requests are answered on a case by case basis and in adherence with the relevant legal framework. Guidance on the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her oral Answer of 7 April 2025, Official Report, column 577, on what evidential basis she said that the number of homes approved on green belt land increased tenfold since 2009.

Figures published by CPRE: the Countryside Charity in Table 1 of the State of the Green Belt 2023, which can be found here, show that the number of homes approved on greenfield land within the Green Belt in 2021-22 was almost ten times the number approved in 2009-10.

Communities and Local Government, how many gender neutral toilets there are in her Department's offices in (a) Marsham Street, (b) Wolverhampton and (c) Darlington Economic Campus.

MHCLG occupies five floors of Fry Building at Marsham Street. There are no gender-neutral toilets in Fry Building. There are no toilets designated as gender-neutral at either the Darlington or Wolverhampton offices. At Darlington, however, there are five single-person toilet rooms and Wolverhampton four single-person toilet rooms. MHCLG is a minor tenant in all the buildings it occupies. It is for the landlord or lead tenant to decide on which toilets are provided.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department engages with Client Earth.

The responsibility for decisions around who officials within MHCLG engage with sits with those policy teams.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 April 2025 to Question 41460 on MHCLG: Equality, what was included within the Inclusion Allies training.

Expenditure of £4,184 was approved by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 29 October 2024 in line with Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance. This training equipped 26 staff within the Department to provide support for marginalised or vulnerable colleagues. The training consisted of webinars, group learning, and hands-on exercises. Materials associated with this training are the intellectual property of the provider, and cannot be published by the Department for contractual reasons.

Communities and Local Government, whether (a) amended and (b) new planning practice guidance requires a (i) public sector equality duty and (ii) environmental principles assessment.

The Secretary of State keeps her duties under the Environment Act 2021 and Equality Act 2010 under consideration regarding any guidance updates. Relevant assessments are undertaken as required.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press release entitled Biggest building boom in a generation through planning reforms, published on 11 March 2025, what steps she plans to take to help ensure that proposed requirements for Environmental Delivery Plans do not increase the cost of developments.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 39021 on 18 March 2025.

Communities and Local Government, how much her Department has spent on consultancy services from McKinsey since 4 July 2024.

As part of a wider suite of support arrangements MHCLG has a zero commitment call off contract with McKinsey, which started on 6 January 2025. There have been neither any commissions nor spend to date.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2025 to Question 41458 on Admiralty House, what the nature was of the logistical support provided by civil servants.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 41458 on 3 April 2025.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the trade union recognition provisions in the Employment Rights Bill on SMEs.

The Government has published a final stage impact assessment on strengthening workers’ rights to access, recognition and representation (see paragraphs 61 to 66 in relation to trade union recognition in particular). This is available at: Impact assessment: Strengthening workers’ rights to trade union access, recognition and representation.The statutory trade union recognition scheme is available to unions where the workplace has 21 or more workers. Therefore the smallest workplaces that have 20 or less workers are not in scope of the scheme.

Pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2025 to Question 44224 on Employment Rights Bill: Local Government Services, if he will consult each (a) local authority and (b)town and parish council.

We will continue to undertake comprehensive engagement and consultation on the implementation of the Plan to Make Work Pay and the Employment Rights Bill, and we will be engaging closely with employers, including local authorities as the policy develops. We will consult extensively on the implementation of the legislation, to ensure it works for workers and employers alike.

With reference to the Certification Officer's corporate reports entitled Unite the Union: annual returns (PDF format), for what reason Unite have provided partial annual returns between 2021 and 2023.

Responsibility for trade union annual returns lies with the Certification Officer. They have been in communication with Unite the Union regarding its annual returns for 2021 to 2023. The Certification Officer is currently satisfied that the delay in providing full returns is due to issues identified during the auditing process. The Certification Officer continues to engage with Unite the Union to ensure that full annual returns are submitted as soon as possible, after which they will be published in full on their website.

Whether the trade union recognition provisions in the Employment Rights Bill will apply to town and parish councils.

Guidance on the trade union recognition scheme is at Gov.uk. This sets out that the scheme is available to unions where the workplace has 21 or more workers. Therefore the smallest workplaces that have 20 or less workers not in scope of the scheme. There are no specific exemptions for town and parish councils.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2025 to Question 41450 on Electoral Commission: Companies House, whether data has been shared between Companies House and the Electoral Commission; and how data sharing requests can be made by the Electoral Commission.

Companies House has not shared data with the Electoral Commission using powers conferred on it under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA). Companies House makes a range of company information available through its online public register, including details about the company itself, its directors, and People with Significant Control (PSCs). This data is accessible free of charge via their online services. Companies House also works with law enforcement agencies and other public authorities to share information not available on the public register using the powers introduced by the ECCTA. This activity takes place via a dedicated team.

Whether HMRC policy requires Government Ministers to pay an income tax charge for political gifts given to them of (a) clothes, (b) glasses and (c) accommodation from party political donors.

Ministers are employees for the purposes of Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions. The normal rules for employment-related benefits apply to employment-related gifts, as set out in HMRC’s guidance at www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim20020 There is an exemption for small gifts costing a total of £250 or less per year to provide, HMRC guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim21715

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 43306 on Birmingham City Council: Finance, whether the cost for the Commissioners has been paid by Birmingham City Council.

Yes, Birmingham City Council pays the Commissioners’ fees and expenses which are published on Birmingham City Council’s website at regular three-month intervals.