Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that council officers and councillors are held to account for significant public failings on the part of local authorities.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This Government is committed to ensuring that local government is empowered, fully accountable and deserving of people’s trust and confidence.
Councils must fulfil the Best Value Duty when delivering their responsibilities. Government uses a range of statutory and non-statutory intervention models in cases of failure or risk of failure. In cases of Commissioner-led intervention, where appropriate, this can include powers to appoint and dismiss senior staff.
The Government Response to the Strengthen the Standards and Conduct Framework consultation for Local Authorities in England published on 11 November 2025 sets out our ambition to introduce a clearer and consistently applied conduct system that will help local elected members to hold themselves and their colleagues to account in meeting the high standards and conduct their roles demand and the public have a right to expect. We intend to legislate on local government standards reforms when parliamentary time allows.
Council officers and members may also be subject to investigation by relevant bodies if suspected of serious misconduct, including the police and Serious Fraud Office.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the potential risk to public safety arising from the publication of sensitive information relating to the physical security of properties on local authority planning registers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has made no such assessment.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether they will require their department and agencies to offer payroll deductions to all employees to enable them to join a credit union.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG continually reviews the range of financial wellbeing support offered to our employees and does offer general payroll deduction facilities. Currently no specific credit union deduction arrangements are in place. Agency payroll operations are delegated to each individual organisation.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has set incremental targets for its overall housebuilding target in this Parliament.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has not set incremental targets in respect of its Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament. Progress will be measured through the number of net additional dwellings and we will update Parliament in the usual manner.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, under what legislation developers are responsible for mitigating the risk of landslides in their property developments.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 46774 on 29 April 2025.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on setting out plans to seek further evidence from the park homes sector on the rationale for the maximum 10 per cent commission payable on the sale of a park home.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 97962 on 15 December 2025.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 26 January (HL Deb col 715), what assessment they have made of the ability of the 14 remaining areas to deliver local government reorganisation to the proposed timescale of 12 months less time than the six priority areas.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As I set out on 26 January, the remaining 14 local government reorganisation areas do not have 12 months less time than the other areas.
On 5 February 2025, the Government invited two-tier authorities in 21 areas and their neighbouring small unitary authorities to develop proposals for unitary local government. Following the submission of proposals, the Government has since announced two new unitary authorities in Surrey and concluded a statutory consultation on final proposals for a further six areas. Decisions on which proposals, if any, to implement for those six areas will be taken by March 2026. Following elections in 2027, the new unitary councils will go live in 2028.
For the remaining 14 areas, the Government launched a statutory consultation on 5 February, which will close on 26 March. Decisions on which proposals, if any, to implement will then be announced around the time of the Summer Recess in 2026. Following elections in 2027, the new unitary councils will go live in 2028.
My officials are in regular contact with councils to support them to undertake preparatory work to ensure readiness for any transition to new authorities.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that direct funding allocated to the Pride in Place programme will support only legitimate high-street businesses.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has launched its flagship Pride in Place Programme, which will provide up to £20 million of flexible funding and support to 284 neighbourhoods over the next decade. This will serve as the cornerstone of this Government’s support for communities.
The Pride in Place Programme is community-led, with Neighbourhood Boards made up of local people deciding how funding is invested, supported by the local MP and the local authority. Neighbourhood Boards have the flexibility to invest in a wide range of activity where this reflects community priorities, including projects and interventions to support and revitalise local high streets.
Neighbourhood Boards must work with local people and the local authority to develop a Pride in Place Plan, setting out the community’s vision for change over the next decade. Neighbourhood Boards should engage the relevant accountable body to decide how best to manage project appraisals, due diligence, awards to organisations and contractual and payment arrangements.
The Government has put in place robust governance and assurance arrangements to safeguard public funds and ensure appropriate financial oversight across all Pride in Place neighbourhoods, with funding delivered through the relevant local authorities acting as the accountable bodies. Programme assurance follows a three lines of defence model, with the first line provided by local authority Chief Financial Officers, the second by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) through proportionate, risk-based checks, and the third by MHCLG’s independent auditors.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the proposal to cap ground rents before changing to a peppercorn after 40 years in the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Through the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill published on 27 January 2026, the government is proposing to cap ground rent at £250 per year, before changing to a peppercorn in 40 years.
We estimate around 770,000 to 900,000 leaseholders pay over £250 per year in ground rent and will save money this Parliament. Leaseholders across nearly 4 million properties pay a ground rent in England and Wales. We estimate they will save a total of £10-12.7bn over the policy’s lifetime as a result of this change.
For further information, I refer the Noble Baroness to the Written Ministerial Statement HLWS1278 on 27 January 2026 (attached), and to the Policy statement on ground rents (attached) published on that date.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have oversight of sector expenditure by the Greater London Authority.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Full details of expenditure undertaken by the Greater London Authority are set out in the Mayor’s budget published annually and scrutinised by the London Assembly.
From April 2026, the Greater London Authority will receive an Integrated Settlement covering Economic Development and Regeneration, Housing and Planning, Adult Skills and Employment Support, Environment and Net Zero, and Health Wellbeing and Public Service Reform.
The GLA will be held to account for delivery of outcomes associated with the functional responsibilities of the settlement, which are published on gov.uk. The outcomes framework that the GLA agrees with central government will provide a structured approach to defining, measuring and reporting on the GLA’s performance on Integrated Settlement delivery during the Spending Review period. The outcomes framework will be published in due course.