Written questions by Raja.

Communities and Local Government, if he will issue planning practice guidance on the weight to be given to Home Office protective security assessments when determining planning applications.

Awaiting answer.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the impact of the administration of National Car Parks Limited on city centre parking capacity in (a) Leicester and (b) England; and whether he is taking steps to mitigate reduced parking provision.

As administrator for National Car Parks Limited, PricewaterhouseCoopers is seeking to make the business viable and to avoid closures or job losses wherever possible. However, some sites that the administrator considered were not commercially viable have closed as part of the administration process. More information on the administrator’s plans for the relevant companies can be found on its website. The government recognises that a number of these closures are in Leicester. Under the Traffic Management Act 2004, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient parking provision to support local communities and the prosperity of their town centres. Through the Local Government Finance Settlement, the government has made available up to £555.2 million in core spending power for Leicester City Council by 2028‑29, the majority of which is unringfenced and may be used at the authority’s discretion to meet local priorities. The government is not responsible for local parking provision and has no current plans to provide additional financial or planning support to reopen closed private car parks, but will continue to monitor developments.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of recent closures of National Car Parks Limited sites in Leicester on (a) local businesses and (b) footfall in Leicester city centre.

As administrator for National Car Parks Limited, PricewaterhouseCoopers is seeking to make the business viable and to avoid closures or job losses wherever possible. However, some sites that the administrator considered were not commercially viable have closed as part of the administration process. More information on the administrator’s plans for the relevant companies can be found on its website. The government recognises that a number of these closures are in Leicester. Under the Traffic Management Act 2004, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient parking provision to support local communities and the prosperity of their town centres. Through the Local Government Finance Settlement, the government has made available up to £555.2 million in core spending power for Leicester City Council by 2028‑29, the majority of which is unringfenced and may be used at the authority’s discretion to meet local priorities. The government is not responsible for local parking provision and has no current plans to provide additional financial or planning support to reopen closed private car parks, but will continue to monitor developments.

Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to provide (a) financial or (b) planning support to help local authorities bring closed private car parks back into operation.

As administrator for National Car Parks Limited, PricewaterhouseCoopers is seeking to make the business viable and to avoid closures or job losses wherever possible. However, some sites that the administrator considered were not commercially viable have closed as part of the administration process. More information on the administrator’s plans for the relevant companies can be found on its website. The government recognises that a number of these closures are in Leicester. Under the Traffic Management Act 2004, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient parking provision to support local communities and the prosperity of their town centres. Through the Local Government Finance Settlement, the government has made available up to £555.2 million in core spending power for Leicester City Council by 2028‑29, the majority of which is unringfenced and may be used at the authority’s discretion to meet local priorities. The government is not responsible for local parking provision and has no current plans to provide additional financial or planning support to reopen closed private car parks, but will continue to monitor developments.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the equity of the current single person council tax discount given the relative burden on single-occupancy households.

A full council tax bill assumes that there are at least two adults living in a dwelling. Where there is only one liable adult resident in a property, the bill is reduced by 25%. This is effectively a 50% reduction in the personal element of the bill. The Government has no plans to change the single person discount.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the number of new homes that could be delivered by reducing the average time taken to determine planning applications.

My Department routinely assesses the impact of regulatory changes in terms of their impact on housing supply.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the relationship between housing supply and economic growth in a) Leicester b) Leicestershire and c) the East Midlands.

Investment in housing and infrastructure in all parts of the country, including Leicester, Leicestershire and the East Midlands, drives future economic growth and higher living standards.

Communities and Local Government, a) what progress has been made on streamlining the planning process to reduce delays for compliant housing developments and b) whether his Department plans to introduce further measures to increase certainty for applicants.

Significant progress has been made in respect of streamlining the planning process to reduce delays for compliant housing developments. A revised National Planning Policy Framework was published on the 12 December 2024. The government is currently consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026. The Planning and Infrastructure Act, which contains a number of provisions designed to improve certainty and decision-making in the planning system, received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. On 18 November 2025, my Department published a consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system. That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, closed on 13 January 2026.

Communities and Local Government, what (a) monitoring and (b) enforcement action his Department undertakes to ensure that temporary accommodation in Leicester meets minimum health, safety and hygiene standards.

Housing authorities must, as a minimum, ensure that all temporary accommodation is free of Category 1 hazards as identified by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Households may request a review of their accommodation if they feel it is unsuitable. If an applicant is not satisfied with how the council has handled their case, they may complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman or take legal action through the courts.

Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on how much local authorities spent on providing temporary accommodation to households containing at least one non-UK national in the last 12 months.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government publishes data on local authority revenue expenditure, including total expenditure on temporary accommodation, which is available here. We also publish data on the nationality of main applicants for households assessed as owed prevention and relief duties. This is available in Table A9 in detailed local authority level files published alongside our annual release here.

Communities and Local Government, what proportion of households on local authority housing waiting lists include at least one non-UK national.

Information on the nationality of all members of a household currently on local authority social housing waiting lists is not collected centrally. As such, it is not possible to determine the proportion of households on local authority social housing waiting lists containing at least one non-UK national.Limited information on the nationality of lead tenants is collected on a voluntary basis and is presented and contextualised for data quality in Section 6.7 of the Social housing lettings in England, tenants: April 2024 to March 2025 statistical publication, which can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding his Department has provided to Leicester City Council to support the provision of temporary accommodation for rough sleepers in each of the last three years.

In each of the last three years the government has allocated councils funding through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, which can be used flexibly according to local need, including for temporary accommodation costs. Over this time the government has also provided specific funding to support people at risk of and experiencing rough sleeping, including through the provision of accommodation. You can find local authority level allocations for homelessness funding through gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of above inflation council tax increases on the delivery of local public services in a) England and b) Leicester.

The Department has not made specific assessments on the impacts of council tax increases on the delivery of local public services. It is for individual councils to set their own level of council tax. The government intends to maintain a core 3% referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept and will consult on this at the provisional local government finance settlement. Local authorities who wish to set their council tax level above the referendum threshold must obtain the approval of local voters.

Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the financial sustainability of local authorities projecting significant drawdowns from reserves within the next three years.

The government considers reserves to be an important part of the resources available to local authorities.We encourage local authorities to consider how they can use their reserves to maintain services in the face of pressures, taking account, of course, of the need to maintain appropriate levels of reserves to support their financial sustainability and future investment.Data from the 2024-5 financial year can be found on gov.uk here.Further information about an individual local authority's reserves can be found in the financial accounts published by that authority. The government will continue to monitor the level of local authority reserves.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to i) support local authorities in managing temporary accommodation costs and ii) ensure value for money in capital investment programmes.

The government has increased funding for homelessness services to over £1 billion, including a £50 million top up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant announced in December 2025. We are also investing £3.5 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years, through more flexible multi-year funding arrangements that enable councils to invest more in prevention.We are also providing £950 million capital for the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund - the largest round of the fund to date - to support local authorities in England to increase the supply of better-quality temporary accommodation and to support resettlement.At Autumn Budget 2025, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury announced he will work across government to improve the value for money of homelessness services and achieve better outcomes so that we can improve the supply of good-value-for-money and good-quality temporary accommodation and supported housing.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to tackle racial discrimination within local authorities.

Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management of their own workforces. The Government is clear that racial discrimination has no place in our society and remains committed to promoting equality, fairness, and respect for all communities.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the value for money of local authorities pursuing repeated appeals against employment tribunal decisions.

The Department does not collect this information. Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management and organisation of their own workforces, including on whether to appeal against employment tribunals. It is the responsibility of individual councils to ensure that value for money is considered.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of removing Sport England’s role as a statutory planning consultee under the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on the consideration of sporting and recreational needs in local planning decisions.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill contains no provisions relating to the role of Sports England in the planning system. The government is committed to reviewing the existing statutory consultee arrangements to ensure they align with the government’s ambitions for growth. As per the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510), we intend to consult on removing a limited number of statutory consultees, including Sports England. We also intend to review the range and type of planning applications on which statutory consultees are required to be consulted and consider whether some types of application could be removed, or addressed by alternative means of engagement and provision of expert advice. Further details will be set out in due course.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities to maintain (a) community centres, (b) libraries and (c) other community assets in (i) Leicester East constituency and (ii) England.

The Government recognises the vital role of community spaces in Leicester and in England as a whole and wants to see them thrive. The Assets of Community Value (ACV) scheme provides communities with a route to nominate any building or land which furthers the social wellbeing or interests of the community and bid to buy the ACV to protect it for community use. Alongside this the Community Asset Transfer scheme, which supports the transfer of ownership and/or management of publicly owned land and assets from a local authority to a community organisation. As part of the English Devolution Bill, we will legislate to introduce a strong new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets which will empower local people to bring community spaces back into community ownership.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to (a) support minority-owned construction firms and builders gain equitable access to housing sector (i) opportunities, (ii) funding and (iii) contracts and (b) promote diversity in the industry in (A) Leicester East constituency and (B) England.

Small and medium sized housebuilders, including those that are minority owned, are essential to meeting the government’s housing ambitions and supporting local economies. The government recently announced a £700m extension to the Home Building Fund which provides financial support to SMEs who would otherwise struggle to access funding. In addition, small and medium-sized housebuilders can access lower-cost lending through the ENABLE Build scheme which was allocated an additional £1 billion guarantees capacity at the Budget on 30 October 2024.My Department is working with DfE and the CITB to explore how we might support diversity, including ethnic diversity, in the construction workforce.