Written questions by Holmes.

Communities and Local Government, What plans he has to (a) publish the election pilots prospectus on gov.uk and (b) make it available to Hon Members.

Officials shared a prospectus detailing proposed flexible voting pilots with relevant local authorities in August 2025 and are currently engaging with local authorities wishing to pilot at the May 2026 elections. The government will share further details in due course.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding was allocated to the Affordable Housing Programmes in (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25, including funding provided to his Department, Homes England, the Greater London Authority, local councils, housing associations and combined authorities.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 95055 on 5 December 2025.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the official statistics entitled Count of Traveller Caravans, July 2025: England, published on 11 December 2025, what information his Department holds on the reasons for the 22% increase in unauthorised developments on land owned by travellers in the last year.

The July 2025 Traveller Caravan Count reported a 21% increase in unauthorised developments since July 2024. The reported increase in unauthorised developments is due in part to improved reporting in this category; data providers are encouraged to report the excess caravans on sites with planning permission as unauthorised developments where the planning permission has been breached or exceeded. My Department does not systematically collect or hold the reasons for increases in figures of each site type, although some information may be provided by local authorities in order to assist with quality assuring the statistics. Comments provided as part of quality assurance include references to caravans in excess of planning permission on some sites, as well as sites where a planning decision is pending. Local authorities are best placed to provide information on reasons for increases in their area.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Local Authority Housing Fund: Round 4 can be used to provide accommodation for asylum seekers and former asylum seekers other than those from Afghanistan.

The Local Authority Housing Fund Round 4 (LAHF R4) funds local authorities to provide better quality temporary accommodation to those owed homelessness duties, as well as providing sustainable settled housing for families on the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP). Asylum seekers are not eligible for LAHF accommodation, and they are not eligible for social housing. Former asylum seekers who have been granted indefinite leave to remain (ILR), refugee status or humanitarian protection, or leave to remain with recourse to public funds, may be entitled to homelessness assistance and temporary accommodation.

Communities and Local Government, whether his department holds information on the number of local authorities which offer rural rate relief and in which locations.

Rural rate relief is a mandatory business rates relief so can be offered to eligible businesses by all authorities in England. In 2024-25, 159 local authorities reported that they gave some rural rate relief. The data on the amount of rural rate relief given by these authorities can be found in ‘DatasheetPart3’ tab here.

Communities and Local Government, what data his Department holds on the estimated level of council tax receipts in England from 2026-27 onwards, including police, combined authority, GLA and parish precepts.

The Department does not publish specific data on estimated levels of council tax receipts in England for Police, combined authorities, Greater London Authority and parish councils. As part of the provisional settlement the Government has made estimates of changes to Core Spending power for 2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29. This includes estimates of the council tax requirements councils will set for those years. These estimates are set out here. These estimates exclude parish precepts, police and crime commissioner precepts, and the High Value Council Tax Surcharge being introduced from 2028.

Communities and Local Government, If he will place in the Library a copy of the equality impact assessment produced in relation to the revised National Planning Policy Framework, published on 16 December 2025.

The government is currently consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making. The consultation will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here. Duty assessments alongside such consultations. We are seeking views through the consultation on how the proposed policies could affect protected characteristics, and the views we receive will inform our final assessment and the government’s response to the consultation.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Local Authority Housing Fund: Round 4 prospectus and guidance, of 19 November 2025, for what reason the funding can be used for the flipping of forthcoming shared ownership completions into social rented housing; and what the estimated grant per unit is.

Local authorities delivering the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF R4) can shape its delivery according to local circumstances. Converting unsold shared ownership completions into social rented housing is included in a list of possible delivery routes and may be appropriate where there is insufficient demand for shared ownership homes and greater need for social rented housing. There is not a fixed grant intervention rate for converting use from shared ownership homes. The amount of funding which can be applied depends on how the shared ownership scheme was originally funded.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the written statement of 16 December 2025, HCWS1186, on Electoral Resilience, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of political donations to APPGs by foreign donors on democracy.

The registration of APPGs, as well as their compliance with the 'Guide to the Rules on All-Party Parliamentary Groups', is a matter for Parliament. The Government believes it is right that there are strict rules for APPGs regarding benefits from foreign governments and supports the prohibition on foreign governments providing or funding APPG secretariats. Ultimately, MPs must conduct the appropriate due diligence and are responsible for following not only the rules for APPGs, but the House of Commons Code of Conduct as well, which is clear on the requirements for MPs with regards to lobbying and foreign governments. In October, the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) launched specific guidance to help Members of Parliament, councillors, mayors, and their staff better understand and protect themselves from threats like espionage and foreign interference. This guidance provides simple, effective steps to safeguard individuals, their teams, and the integrity of democratic processes. The Government takes any attempts to intervene in democratic processes very seriously. It is, and always will be, an absolute priority to protect our democratic and electoral processes, including from foreign interference. On the 16th of December, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government announced an independent review into countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics to provide an in-depth assessment of the current financial rules and safeguards that regulate political parties and political finance and make recommendations. The terms of reference for the review can be found here. Given the review’s independence, we cannot pre-empt specifics of the ground it will cover, nor the recommendations it will make. It is right that the review is independent of Government and independent of any political party.

Communities and Local Government, if he will re-introduce the guidance entitled Four-day working week arrangements in local authorities, withdrawn on 8 November 2024.

The Secretary of State wrote to all Council Leaders and Chief Executives in England on 19 December 2025, setting out the Government’s policy that local authorities should not be offering full time pay for part time work. This policy is reflected in the Best Value Guidance issued in May 2024.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the second homes council tax premium on house prices.

The use of council tax premiums is at local authorities’ discretion. The Government does not make housing market assessments based on premiums.

Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to issue updated land use in England statistics.

My Department is working to update the land use statistics’ methodology to take advantage of new, more granular data from Ordnance Survey. Publication is expected to resume this year.

Communities and Local Government, what estimate has the Land Registry made of the potential impact of the number of years of the lease length and the capital value of a leasehold (a) flat and (b) house.

It is not within HM Land Registry's remit to conduct estimates of potential impacts of the number of years of the lease length and the capital value for flats or houses.

Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of aggregate council tax receipts in England in (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28 and (d) 2028-29.

As part of the provisional settlement the Government has made estimates of changes to Core Spending power between 2026 and 2029. This includes estimates of the council tax requirements councils will set for those years. These estimates are set out here - Core Spending Power table: provisional local government finance settlement 2026 to 2029 - GOV.UK. These estimates exclude parish precepts, police and crime commissioner precepts, as well as the High Value Council Tax Surcharge being introduced from 2028.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Social and Affordable Homes Programme plan to build 300,000 homes over ten years, of which 180,000 will be for social rent, do these targets exclude (a) completions under the AHP 2021-26, (b) non-grant-funded completions, (c) completions funded by right to buy receipts with no grant, and (d) completions provided from developer contributions with no grant.

Accurately forecasting long-term delivery is inherently challenging, but we believe the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) could deliver around 300,000 social and affordable homes over its lifetime with around 180,000 for Social Rent.We will set initial targets for Homes England and the GLA after receiving bids from Registered Providers, and will review these targets across the lifetime of the programme to maximise delivery.In setting targets for Homes England and the GLA, we will only include homes that have been funded under the SAHP. The housing completions listed in the question will not be included.Our delivery agencies are already taking bids from Registered Providers to deliver homes under the SAHP through the £2 billion new investment we announced in March.Those delivery agencies published guidance for prospective bidders for the SAHP in November, which can be found on gov.uk here. We plan to open for bids in February 2026.

Communities and Local Government, how many (a) headcount and (b) FTE staff are employed by the Building Safety Regulator; if he will list the addresses of its offices; and how many assigned desks for staff it has in total.

As of 2nd October 2025, the Building Safety Regulator’s headcount was 404 and FTE was 394.2.A list of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) offices and their addresses are publicly available on the HSE website - HSE Offices.HSE operates a hybrid working model in which staff are able to work from home or from their designated office. There are no assigned desks in offices for staff, instead using a hotdesking system.

Communities and Local Government, whether the new socio-economic duty will apply to local authorities’ waste policies on household rubbish and recycling collections.

I refer the Hon. Member to UIN 5411 answered on 7 October 2024.

Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to reintroduce Article 5 certificates, in the context of trends in the number of cases where Tree Protection Orders are removed at the request of insurance companies; and what discussions he has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (b) Forestry England and (c) the Association of British Insurers on the proposed new protocol to protect trees at risk of felling.

The Tree Preservation Order system is the primary method of protecting trees and woodlands in England. Anyone applying to a local authority to cut down, top, lop or uproot trees subject to an Order because of tree-related subsidence damage is required to set out evidence which demonstrates that the tree is a material cause of the problem and that other factors have been eliminated as potential influences so far as possible. A local authority is only liable to pay compensation for loss or damage incurred as a result of refusing any consent under an order, and not for loss or damage attributable to the claimant's failure to take reasonable steps to avert the loss or damage or mitigate its extent. I have had no recent discussions with Defra, the Forestry Commission or the Association of British Insurers on this matter and the Government has no immediate plan to amend the current legislation for Tree Preservation Orders.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 August 2025 to Question 69053 on Special Educational Needs: Finance, what recent estimate he has made of the aggregate, accumulated deficits that have been built up under the DSG Statutory Override system in each local authority.

The Department for Education publishes outturn data on local authority-level Dedicated Schools Grant balances in the annual ‘LA and school expenditure' statistical release. The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government publishes outturn data on levels of Dedicated Schools Grant deficit held in local authority Dedicated Schools Grant adjustment accounts in the annual 'Local authority revenue expenditure and financing' statistical release. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government engages regularly with local authorities on the impact of these deficits and the extent to which they are expected to grow.

Communities and Local Government, what changes have been made to (a) funding for individual projects and (b) the total quantum of funding for cultural projects allocated levelling up funding prior to July 2024; and if he will list the projects for which funding was cancelled.

The Levelling Up Fund committed £4.8 billion to mixed use projects under the themes of regeneration, transport and culture. In September this government announced the consolidation of the Levelling Up, Towns and Pathfinder funds into a single, consolidated funding pot, the Local Regeneration Fund. This fund honoured all funding from the constituent programmes; providing local authorities with greater flexibility, more local control and less bureaucracy, freeing them up to get on with delivery impacts in our communities across the UK. An additional £99.8 million of funding was awarded to Levelling Up cultural projects announced by the previous administration at the Spring Budget 2024. Due to the extremely challenging fiscal legacy and unfunded commitments this government inherited these projects were consulted upon, confirming £67 million of funding to 10 projects across the UK and withdrawing funding for six Local Authorities: Maldon, Redditch, High Peak, Erewash, Somerset and Northamptonshire being withdrawn. In September this government announced the consolidation of the Levelling Up, Towns and Pathfinder funds into a single, consolidated funding pot, the Local Regeneration Fund. This fund honoured all funding from the constituent programmes; providing local authorities with greater flexibility, more local control and less bureaucracy, freeing them up to get on with delivery impacts in our communities across the UK.