Written questions by Moran.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the disaggregation of services in local government reorganisation proposals on (a) governance and (b) service delivery.

Decisions on the most appropriate option for each area will be judgements in the round, having regard to the statutory guidance and the available evidence, including governance and service delivery considerations. All public bodies, including the Government, are required to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010. This duty applies to the local government reorganisation process.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that decisions relating to local government reorganisation meet relevant (a) public sector equality duties and (b) provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

Decisions on the most appropriate option for each area will be judgements in the round, having regard to the statutory guidance and the available evidence, including governance and service delivery considerations. All public bodies, including the Government, are required to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010. This duty applies to the local government reorganisation process.

Communities and Local Government, what the planned timetable is for transferring tenants currently on shorthold tenancies to periodic assured tenancies.

The government intends to set out detailed implementation plans for the Renters’ Rights Act in the near future.

Communities and Local Government, what his planned timetable is for repealing the Vagrancy Act 1824.

It is unacceptable that the antiquated Vagrancy Act 1824 remains on our statute book. The legislation does nothing to target the root causes of homelessness. That is why we are committed to repealing this punitive legislation. We will commence the repeal once replacement measures in the Crime and Policing Bill come into force next year.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of extending the SEND Deficit Override until 2028 on (a) local authority finances and (b) local authority reserves.

This government recognises the pressures local authorities are facing because of their Dedicated School Grant (DSG) deficits, as well as the impacts on local authority reserves. The extension to the DSG Statutory Override is part of a phased transition to a reformed Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system. The Department for Education Spending Review settlement confirmed funding for SEND reform, details of which will be set out in a White Paper in the autumn. As part of this transition process, the government will provide more detail by the end of the year on the plan for supporting local authorities with both historic and accruing deficits. We will set out more detail at the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of implementing a Dispute Resolution Scheme, similar to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, to resolve service charge disputes between landlords and tenants in social housing.

By law, variable service charges must be reasonable. Overcharging through service charges is completely unacceptable. Should tenants of private registered providers of social housing wish to contest the reasonableness of their service charges, they may make an application to the appropriate tribunal. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 includes measures designed to designed to drive up the transparency of service charges and to make them more easily challengeable if leaseholders consider them to be unreasonable. On 4 July, my Department published a consultation on Strengthening Leaseholder Protections for charges and services. It can be found on gov.uk here. The consultation seeks views on how to implement the relevant measures in the Act, and includes proposals to extend aspects of it to social housing tenants. I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 4 July (HCWS780).

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to implement a statutory code of conduct for parking operators.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 42709 on 7 April 2025.