Written questions by Holmes.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2024 to Question 16542 on Councillors: Data Protection, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of using a Legislative Reform Order to remove the requirement for councillors home addresses to be published.

I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 16542 on 5 December 2024. We consider removal of the requirement for councillors’ home addresses to be published is best achieved by primary legislation and intend to legislate at the first available opportunity.

Communities and Local Government, if she will publish the responses to the consultation entitled Changes to various permitted development rights, which closed on on 9 April 2024.

The government is reviewing feedback from the consultation on changes to various permitted development rights and will publish a response in due course.

Communities and Local Government, if she will publish the full internal Equality Impact Assessment for changes to Right to Buy discounts.

The government published a review of Right to Buy discounts on 30 October 2024. It can be found on gov.uk here. The review concluded that maximum cash discounts should be reduced to pre-2012 levels of between £16,000 and £38,000 to enable councils to replace properties previously sold under the Right to Buy, whilst ensuring that tenants who have lived in, and paid rent on their social homes for many years, retain the opportunity to own their home. The government has not published the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) assessment that was prepared to support the decision.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2024 to Question 18565 on Recruitment: Location, how many and what proportion of civil servants in her Department are on location-neutral employment terms.

None. Almost all members of staff are on a contract which specifies a particular office in which they are based. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 January 2025 to question 21618 which provided the number of staff assigned to work in each of our offices as at 31 December 2024. As at 31 December 2024, 31 members of staff were contractually based at their home; equivalent to less than 1% of the total number of staff in the department.

Communities and Local Government, what plans she has to commence section 113 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023.

The government set out in its response to the NPPF consultation in December 2024 that we will take the steps necessary to implement build out reporting. This will involve implementing the provisions in section 113 of the Levelling–up and Regeneration Act 2023 through regulations, following technical consultation. These provisions will provide local planning authorities with the power to decline future planning applications made by developers who fail to build out at a reasonable rate earlier planning permissions.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2025, to Question 20980, on MHCLG: Photography; whether the photographer was recruited (a) via open and fair competition and (b) on a full-time contract; and what the pay grade of the photographer is.

The role was recruited via fair and open competition. The occupant is on a fixed term loan from another government department, at the pay grade of Grade 7 FTE.

Communities and Local Government, how many times the Communities and Recovery Steering Group has met; on what dates; in which locations; and whether minutes are taken.

The Communities and Recovery Steering Group meets regularly and, as is standard practice, minutes are taken.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2025 to Question 20982 on Civil Servants: Recruitment, what the (a) job title, (b) unit or division and (c) grade is of each Civil Service job not advertised externally; and for what reason her Department is not advertising all jobs externally.

Further to Answer of 10 January 2025 to Question 20982, see table below detailing (a) job title, (b) unit and (c) grade of jobs not advertised externally for the period 4th July to 31st December 2024. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is moving towards an external by default approach to recruitment. In the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles 2018 there are exemptions to this approach for roles which require a niche skills set or experience which can only be found in the Civil Service. In addition, there are exemptions for short term/temporary roles for projects or areas with tight timescales, whereby current Civil Servants can join the department quickly on loan or fixed term agreements with the correct clearances. Departmental groupGrade breakdownJob titleGradeCorporate Group3x Grade 6 5x Grade 7 6x SEOCareers and Development LeadGrade 7Physical Security LeadSEOWorkforce TeamGrade 6StatisticianGrade 7Ministerial Team Security AdvisersSEOHead of Programme DeliveryGrade 6Deputy Head of ProfessionGrade 7Product ManagerSEOAssistant Departmental Records OfficerSEOSenior Product ManagerGrade 7Private Secretary & Business ManagerSEOLive Services ManagerSEOSubject Matter ExpertGrade 7Local Government and Public Services1x HEOCommunications OfficerHEOLocal Growth, Communities and Devolution6x Grade 6 5x Grade 7 5x SEO 3x HEODelivery ManagerSEOHead of UnitGrade 6Head of UnitGrade 6Policy LeadGrade 7Head of PolicyGrade 7Business Support OfficerHEOHead of OfficeGrade 7Programme ManagerGrade 6Programme Management Office ManagerGrade 7Senior Policy AdvisorSEORisk and Issue ManagerSEOStrategy Policy AdvisorHEOPolicy leadGrade 6Fund EvaluatorSEOHead of Elections DataGrade 6Policy & Funding AnalysisGrade 6Policy AdvisorSEOSenior Strategy AdvisorGrade 7Policy AdvisorHEORegeneration, Housing and Planning4x Grade 6 7x Grade 7 4x SEO 1x HEOPolicy Team LeadGrade 7Head of StrategyGrade 6Senior Policy AdvisorGrade 7Senior Policy and Strategy AdvisorsGrade 7Head of Housing Insights & Strategic PolicyGrade 6Social Housing Directorate SEOsSEOProperty Technology Strategy AdvisorGrade 7Policy AdvisorSEOPolicy OfficerHEOPolicy AdvisorSEOSenior Policy AdvisorGrade 7Private SecretaryGrade 7Head of Programme Management OfficeGrade 6Project ManagerSEOHead of Evaluation & InsightGrade 7Head of Economic AnalysisGrade 6Senior Policy AdviserSEOSafer and Greener Buildings1x Grade 6 3x SEO 1x HEOConstruction Products Policy AdviserSEOCommunity Relationship ManagerSEOPolicy AdvisorHEOPolicy and Briefing AdvisorSEOLead Technical ArchitectGrade 6Strategy and Communications1x Grade 6 1x Grade 7 1x HEOHead of Data ScienceGrade 6VideographerHEOSenior Private Secretary/Head of OfficeGrade 7

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14996 on Chinese Embassy: Planning Permission, if she will publish the planning representations made by the (a) Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and (b) Head of Cyber-Physical and Digital Twins, Innovate UK.

We do not routinely publish planning representations seeking call in of applications.

Communities and Local Government, on what criteria she called in the planning application for the Chinese Embassy in London.

The decision to call in these applications was made on the basis of the policy set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 26 October 2012. In line with the Written Ministerial Statement of 26 March 2019, we do not give specific reasons for calling in planning applications.

Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department made of the revenue that would be raised by the (a) small business multiplier and (b) standard multiplier in the 2024-25 financial year; and how much was raised from hereditaments with a rateable value over £500,000.

Local authority estimates on the revenue collected on each business rates multiplier in 2024-25 are published here: National non-domestic rates collected by councils in England: forecast 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK. Part 2 of the local authority data tables contains the relevant breakdown.Local authorities do not publish estimates on the revenue collected on hereditaments with a rateable value of over £500,000. The Valuation Office Agency publish data on the breakdown of rateable values here: Non-domestic rating: stock of properties, 2024 - GOV.UK.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2024 to Question 11925 on Council tax: Greater London, if she will publish a breakdown of the core spending power for 2024-25.

A breakdown of Core Spending Power of local authorities in England for the 2024-25 financial year, including for the Greater London Authority, can be found at the following link.

Communities and Local Government, what plans she has to set a council tax referendum threshold for combined authority mayoral precepts in the 2025-26 financial year.

Details of the proposed council tax referendum principles for 2025-26 will be set out in the local government finance policy statement in late November.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2024 to Question 11925 on Council tax: Greater London, what estimate her Department has made of the (a) value and (b) proportionate increase of the (i) Transport for London and (ii) Greater London Authority precept in the 2025-26 financial year.

Decisions on council tax levels and additional precepts are for relevant individual local authorities, including the Greater London Authority. There is no separate council tax precept charged by Transport for London.

Communities and Local Government, how much and proportion of local government core spending power was compromised of locally-retained business rate receipts in the 2024-25 financial year; and what estimate her Department has made of the revenue from locally-retained business rate receipts in the 2025-26 financial year.

Locally retained business rates are £13.5 billion or 21% of LGFS CSP in 24/25.Information for 2025-26 will be included in the forthcoming Local Government Finance Settlement.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to provide additional funding via the Local Government Finance settlement to help local authorities with the cost of increases to employer national insurance contributions.

We have announced £1.3 billion of new grant funding in 2025/26 for local government to deliver core services, of which £600 million is for social care.The Government has committed to provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer NICs costs. This applies to those directly employed by the public sector, including local government.We will set out further details of how this support will be delivered in due course.

Communities and Local Government, when she next plans to reset business rate retention system.

The government is committed to pursuing a comprehensive set of reforms to public services and the local government funding system while providing as much certainty as possible.The budget confirmed that we will update and improve the approach to funding allocations within the Local Government Finance Settlement, with further detail set out in a policy statement in November.

Communities and Local Government, what datasets her Department used to calculate the Local Government Finance Settlement for financial year 2024-25.

The Department uses a wide range of data to calculate the Local Government Finance Settlement. Each year, the government publishes an explanatory note alongside the settlement, which sets out the methodology used to calculate core spending power and what funding is included within it.For the financial year 2024-25 the note can be found here: Explanatory note on core spending power: final local government finance settlement 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 4.63 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, what methodology her Department plans to use to allocate the £1.3 billion of grant funding for local government; and what steps her Department plans to take to assess the needs of rural areas.

We will be publishing a policy statement in late November, where we will set out our intentions for the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2025-26, including the £1.3 billion of grant funding for local government announced at the Budget, in addition to future reform of the local government finance system.In 2025-26 we will take a deprivation-based approach with additional funding targeted to the places that need it most. Broader redistribution of funding will follow through a multi-year settlement from 2026-27.After years of delaying much needed fair funding reform, we will update and improve the approach to funding allocations within the Local Government Finance Settlement to ensure that it reflects an up-to-date assessment of need and local resources. We want to hear from a range of voices to ensure any conclusions the review reaches are both fair and justified.

Communities and Local Government, for what reasons her Department plans to close its offices in (a) Birmingham, (b) Exeter, (c) Truro, (d) Sheffield, (e) Warrington and (f) Newcastle; what estimate her Department has made of the cost of closing each office; and what plans her Department has for the existing staff in each location.

The department has made the decision to close these six offices over the next two years, as existing leases end, in order to create a more coherent estate across the UK with strong office communities. The department will continue to have an office in every English region, and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We will also continue to have a wider office footprint than similarly staffed departments.The department plans to invest more in some locations and that work is ongoing, we expect to provide net benefits in the long term as a result of these changes. All staff in the six offices which will close will be able to continue in their roles and there will be no compulsory redundancies.