Written questions by Cocking.

Communities and Local Government, what public consultation her Department has undertaken in relation to the proposed prohibition of upward-only rent reviews for commercial leases in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.

No formal public consultation was undertaken prior to the announcement of the policy. However, upwards only rent reviews are an issue of a longstanding concern that artificially inflated rents make it harder for businesses to access commercial property. The government conducted extensive research and expert engagement before deciding to proceed with the ban, which will encourage the market to operate more efficiently, ensuring rents respond to market conditions, and promote less adversarial relations between landlords and tenants.

Communities and Local Government, whether mayors in (a) mayoral and (b) county combined authorities will have rights of veto.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, introduced to the House of Commons on 10 July 2025, makes provision to standardise voting arrangements for mayoral combined authorities and mayoral county combined authorities when making decisions. Unless prescribed otherwise, the standard voting arrangement will be a simple majority of the authority’s members voting and present, including the mayor. This means the mayor must be in the majority for a decision to pass.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the ban on upward-only rent reviews on (a) pension funds and (b) property investments owned by councils.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 68122 on 24 July 2025.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2025 to Question 65373 on Private Rented Housing: Licensing, whether the restrictions on using selective licensing revenues is in scope of the Fair Funding Review's consideration of flexibility on fees and charges.

As stated in the answer to Question UIN 65367 on 14 July 2025, selective licensing fees paid by landlords to local authorities should only be used to cover the costs of running schemes, and local authorities are not expected to profit, nor should they use licensing revenues to fund other local authority services.Through the Fair Funding Review 2.0, the government is consulting on proposals to review local authority fees and charges where they no longer recover the cost of delivery, and to consider where there is a case for updating or devolving the fee. We welcome views on this, including the scope of proposed reforms.

Communities and Local Government, which (a) existing and (b) new combined mayoral elections will take place in May (i) 2026 and (ii) 2027.

The government announced on 17 July that we are taking forward all six places on the Devolution Priority Programme and establishing mayoral strategic authorities via secondary legislation. Subject to the consent of local councils, legislation will be brought before Parliament in order to establish institutions early in 2026. Inaugural Mayoral elections in Hampshire and the Solent, Greater Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk and Sussex and Brighton would be held in May 2026.Following requests by the local authority leaders of Cheshire & Warrington and Cumbria, we’ve agreed the inaugural mayoral elections for those two areas will take place in May 2027. No existing mayoral strategic authorities have elections in 2026 or 2027.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help tackle conditional selling by estate agents.

It is unacceptable for estate agents to withhold offers from sellers because the potential buyer declines to use their additional services. Where there is evidence of such practices, agents can face sanctions including a ban.The government is committed to protecting people from abuse and poor service at the hands of unscrupulous property agents and to improving estate agent standards more generally.The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team (NTSEAT) is the lead estate agent enforcement authority. Alongside local authority Trading Standards teams, they are responsible for ensuring estate agents comply with the Estate Agents Act 1979 and other relevant legislation. NTSEAT have powers to issue warnings and banning orders against rogue agents. In cases of conditional selling, it is essential that any misconduct or manipulation in the offer process is reported to help build a clearer picture of the problem and support potential investigations.My Department engages regularly with NTSEAT to discuss how best to address specific issues, including conditional selling, and continue to look at options to improve standards across the estate agent sector.

Communities and Local Government, whether she consulted the Parliamentary Parties Panel on the policy paper entitled Restoring trust in our democracy: Our strategy for modern and secure elections, published on 17 July 2025.

The government has worked closely with its partners in local and devolved government, with the electoral sector, with education providers and civil society, and with citizens themselves in the development of the strategy for modern and secure elections. We will continue to engage with a range of stakeholders, including with political parties and sector representative organisations such as the Association of Electoral Administrators, to ensure these changes are delivered successfully.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Molior London report entitled Residential Development in London: Q1 2025, April 2025.

The government recognises the significant challenges affecting housing delivery challenge in London. We are committed to working in partnership with the Mayor of London, boroughs, and others to significantly increase rates of housebuilding in the capital.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2025 to Question 65373 on Private Rented Housing: Licensing, what estimate she has made of the average annual licensing and registration fee under (a) selective licensing, (b) Private Rented Sector Database and (c) PRS Ombudsman.

Selective licensing schemes are introduced by local authorities. Fees differ based on regional variations in the administrative and operational costs of schemes. Due to these factors, no estimate of an annual average across all schemes has been made.Fees to register on the PRS Database will be set out in secondary legislation and will take account a range of factors, including burden on landlords.In line with practice across other ombudsmen, the PRS ombudsman will set the fee members would be required to pay. This will be on the basis of their running costs and service provision. The ombudsman would not be able to make profit and the government will ensure that the fee is proportionate and is good value.

Communities and Local Government, how many (a) town and (b) parish councils have Band D council tax precepts above £100.

The Department publishes data on council tax for all local precepting authorities (parish and town councils, charter trustees and the Temples of London) which can be found on gov.uk here Of the 8,911 local precepting authorities that set a precept for 2025-26, 1,563 authorities set the average Band D council tax at £100 or above.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 63 of her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring trust in our democracy: Our strategy for modern and secure elections, published on 17 July 2025, which organisations were impacted by the prohibition on dual registration.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN HL9888 on 4 August 2025.With regards to the impact on election spending limits, we continue to work through the detail on the application of this measure.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 63 of her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring trust in our democracy: Our strategy for modern and secure elections, published on 17 July 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of allowing dual registration on election spending limits.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN HL9888 on 4 August 2025.With regards to the impact on election spending limits, we continue to work through the detail on the application of this measure.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Restoring trust in our democracy: Our strategy for modern and secure elections, published on 17 July 2025, whether the code of conduct for campaigning will be statutory.

As set out in our strategy, we will work with the Speaker’s Conference and the Electoral Commission to consult with political parties to develop a code of conduct which is fit for purpose. This code will be non-statutory.

Communities and Local Government, if she will undertake a public consultation on proposed changes to election law.

The government has worked closely with its partners in local and devolved government, with the electoral sector, with education providers and civil society, and with citizens themselves in the development of the strategy for modern and secure elections. We will continue to engage with a range of stakeholders, including with political parties and sector representative organisations such as the Association of Electoral Administrators, to ensure these changes are delivered successfully.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2025 to Question 65428 on Local Government: Elections, if he will list the councils which could have their elections replaced with elections to new unitary councils in May 2026.

Government is working with local leaders in Surrey to facilitate reorganisation to the most ambitious timeframe possible, meaning that Surrey could have elections to new unitary councils in May 2026, in advance of those councils going live in April 2027.Elections are currently scheduled for May 2026 in Surrey are Elmbridge Borough Council, Mole Valley District Council, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, Runnymede Borough Council, Tandridge District Council, Surrey County Council and Woking Borough Council.

Communities and Local Government, if she will hold discussions with the Chair of the Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Definition on the potential merits of publishing all responses to the call for evidence.

As noted in the Terms of Reference, the advice provided to government by the independent Working Group will be private. Once the Government has had time to review the advice, it will consider its next steps.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to ensure that Ministers who make decisions on (a) called-in planning applications, (b) recovered planning appeals and (c) Special Development Orders will be required to undertake the same training on planning as councillors.

On 28 May 2025, my Department published a technical consultation on proposals for reform of planning committees. It can be found on gov.uk here. We are currently reviewing the feedback received and will set out further details, including in relation to mandatory member training, in due course.

Communities and Local Government, how many staff assigned to work for the Deputy Prime Minister are based in (a) 70 Whitehall and (b) 26 Whitehall.

The Deputy Prime Minister works from multiple locations, including an office in 70 Whitehall. The office in 70 Whitehall can accommodate up to 30 staff. No staff assigned to the Deputy Prime Minister are based in 26 Whitehall.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 4 July 2025 to Question 63255 on Property Development: Repairs and Maintenance, whether the 2026-36 Affordable Homes Programme will allow a proportion of programme delivery to come from (a) acquisitions of existing (i) new build and (ii) second hand homes and (b) funding replacement homes on regeneration schemes.

The government’s new Social and Affordable Homes Programme will not have numerical targets for particular types of homes other than Social Rent nor will it have ringfenced budgets for particular regions or types of home beyond the portion allocated to the Greater London Authority.While the new programme will focus on the supply of new homes, it will also continue to support some regeneration schemes that provide a net increase in homes on a site. The programme will also allow for a limited number of acquisitions of existing housing stock,  to support wider delivery while more rapidly increasing the supply of social and affordable homes.We will allow bids for individual projects on an ongoing basis, and for Strategic Partnerships over the life of the programme, including bids for funds over the entire 10 years of starts with homes completing after 2036 also eligible. A competitive bidding round for Strategic Partnerships will launch this winter, followed by later opportunities.It is our intention to publish a full prospectus for the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme in autumn 2025 and open it for bids in the winter.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2025 to Question 62977 on Housing Construction, what financial guarantees for housing will be provided by her Department for 2025-26.

As of 30 June 2025, MHCLG has provided £270 million of financial guarantees for housing in the 2025-26 financial year.My Department’s guarantees schemes are demand-led and it is therefore not possible to estimate the total guarantees the Department will provide in the 2025-26 financial year.