Written questions by Kohler.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is considering to help tackle potential transnational repression of (a) Hong Kong, (b) Uyghur and (c) Tibetan diaspora communities in the UK, in the context of the proposed Chinese embassy at Royal Mint Court.

Freedom of speech and other fundamental rights are protected under domestic law for everyone within the UK, regardless of nationality. Any attempt by a foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK will not be tolerated. All material planning considerations will be taken into account in reaching a decision on the planning application in question. As the application in question is before ministers in MHCLG to determine, it would not be appropriate to comment on specific elements of it.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support leaseholders with the cost of lease renewal.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 includes provisions that will make it cheaper and easier for existing leaseholders to extend their lease or buy their freehold. As set out in my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the government intends to act quickly to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes by implementing the Act’s provisions. These include an amended valuation scheme that leaseholders must follow to calculate how much they should pay to enfranchise. The method set by the Act for the valuation process removes the requirement for marriage value to be paid, caps the treatment of ground rents in the valuation calculation at 0.1% of the freehold value and allows Government to prescribe the rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium. Rates will be set by the Secretary of State in secondary legislation, and we will consult on valuation rates this summer. The Act also includes a new statutory right to a 990-year lease extension for leaseholders of both houses and flats and makes extending a lease cheaper for leaseholders by requiring each side to pay their own process costs, such as valuation and solicitor's fees. The implementation of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will require an extensive programme of secondary legislation and we will set out the details in due course.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of putting the agent of change principle on a statutory footing.

National planning policy is clear about the importance of ensuring that new development can be integrated effectively with existing businesses and community facilities.The ‘agent of change’ principle in the National Planning Policy Framework applies to all forms of existing businesses and community facilities that could be adversely affected by new development in their vicinity and requires the applicant to mitigate any adverse impacts if development is to be allowed.A statutory obligation would be difficult to both create and enforce given the very wide range of circumstances in which the agent of change principle applies.