Written questions by Paul.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Local Government Finance Settlement 2026-27 to 2028-29 on the financial sustainability of Surrey Fire and Rescue Service.

Multi-year funding allocations were published at the final Local Government Finance Settlement on 9 February 2026. The final 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement will make available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026-27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26. By the end of the multi-year Settlement (2028-29), the government will have provided a 15.5% increase in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England, worth over £11.4 billion, compared to 2025-26. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service is primarily funded by the Central Government and council tax precept via its parent authority, Surrey County Council. In 2026/27 Surrey County Council will have a core spending power of £1271.2 million, an increase of 6.6% compared to 2024-25. For Surrey County Council, the Settlement will make available up to £1275.2 million in Core Spending Power by 2028-29, an increase of 6.9% since 2024-25. The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities. Fire and rescue services play a crucial role in making our communities safer, both in prevention and in responding to emergencies.

Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the change in the funding available for Surrey Fire and Rescue Service in (a) each financial year between 2026-27 and 2028-29 and (b) 2025-26.

Multi-year funding allocations were published at the final Local Government Finance Settlement on 9 February 2026. The final 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement will make available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026-27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26. By the end of the multi-year Settlement (2028-29), the government will have provided a 15.5% increase in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England, worth over £11.4 billion, compared to 2025-26. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service is primarily funded by the Central Government and council tax precept via its parent authority, Surrey County Council. In 2026/27 Surrey County Council will have a core spending power of £1271.2 million, an increase of 6.6% compared to 2024-25. For Surrey County Council, the Settlement will make available up to £1275.2 million in Core Spending Power by 2028-29, an increase of 6.9% since 2024-25. The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities. Fire and rescue services play a crucial role in making our communities safer, both in prevention and in responding to emergencies.

Communities and Local Government, what consideration his Department has given to ensuring that council tax flexibility for fire and rescue services is applied across different governance models, including services delivered through county councils and standalone fire and rescue authorities.

Local authorities are responsible for deciding the level of their council tax. The Secretary of State sets referendum principles for a range of local authorities with different responsibilities, including fire services. The principles are considered on an annual basis, taking into account any changes in those responsibilities, and are consulted on as part of the annual Local Government Finance Settlement.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to review the funding distribution methodology for fire and rescue authorities following the Fair Funding Review 2.0.

The Government recognises that the current fire funding formula was designed over a decade ago. In line with responses to the principles of reform consultation in December 2024, the Government updated the fire and rescue relative needs formula by using the most up-to-date data available. We will work with the fire sector on a comprehensive review of the formula ahead of the next Spending Review and will be engaging with stakeholders shortly.

Communities and Local Government, what evaluation his Department has made of the need to ensure that planned reforms to the leasehold system address the matter of leaseholders struggling to sell share-of-freehold properties because of historic but dormant ground rent escalation clauses.

The government is committed to addressing unregulated and unaffordable ground rents and we will do this in legislation. We will set out further details on our detailed plans for existing ground rents in due course.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to replace the Community Ownership Fund.

This Government remains committed to the communities’ sector and to community empowerment.  The Devolution White Paper, which was published on 16 December 2024, set out plans which demonstrate our commitment. As part of the English Devolution Bill, we will legislate to introduce a strong new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces. This will empower local people to bring community spaces back into community ownership and end the blight of empty premises on our high streets. Community Right to Buy will help local people acquire valued community spaces if they come up for sale, keeping these assets in the hands of the community.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to provide additional funding to offset the closure of the Community Ownership Fund.

This Government remains committed to the communities’ sector and to community empowerment.  The Devolution White Paper, which was published on 16 December 2024, set out plans which demonstrate our commitment. As part of the English Devolution Bill, we will legislate to introduce a strong new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces. This will empower local people to bring community spaces back into community ownership and end the blight of empty premises on our high streets. Community Right to Buy will help local people acquire valued community spaces if they come up for sale, keeping these assets in the hands of the community.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending Building Regulations Approved Document S to require (a) landlords and (b) management agents to install electric vehicle charging stations at existing (i) flats and (ii) multi-dwelling units.

The Building Regulation set functional requirements and apply to new building work; they are primarily intended to protect people’s safety, health, and welfare. Building Regulations are not retrospective and thus are not an effective mechanism to encourage action in relation to existing buildings. Building Regulations Schedule 1 Part S sets requirements for infrastructure for charging electric vehicles and applies when new residential buildings are built or if dwellings result from a material change of use; and when residential buildings undergoing major renovation. Government is required to carry out a post implementation review before June 2027 looking at the effectiveness of the Approved Document S as published in 2021, which will assess how the objectives of Part S are working and whether they are still appropriate.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to trial new accessible voting devices to help blind and partially sighted people vote independently.

I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 10319 on 29 October 2024.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an estimate of the proportion of Community Infrastructure Levy spent on each category of infrastructure listed in subsection 2 of s216 of the Planning Act 2008 for (a) Reigate & Banstead, (b) Surrey and (c) England in each year since 2020.

Local planning authorities are required to publish an Infrastructure Funding Statement annually. These should include information on the items of infrastructure on which the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) has been spent, and the amount of CIL spent on these items.You can find the Infrastructure Funding Statements for Reigate and Banstead here. Surrey County Council have published details of their developer contributions here. There is no statutory requirement for a consolidated Infrastructure Funding Statement for England to be published, and one has not been published to date.