Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to take steps to protect tenants who will be served a Section 21 notice prior to the provisions of the Renters' Rights Act coming into effect in May 2026.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Renters' Rights Act delivers the government's manifesto commitment to overhaul the regulation of the private rented sector, including by abolishing Section 21 'no fault' evictions. We want to see tenants benefit from these reforms as quickly as possible.
From 1 May 2026, the new tenancy system provided for by the Act will apply to all private tenancies – existing tenancies will become periodic, and any new tenancies will be governed by the new rules. We will work closely with tenants groups and the landlord and lettings sector to ensure a smooth implementation.
The government has no plans to introduce additional protections before 1 May 2026. Tenants at risk of eviction can seek advice from specialist providers such as Shelter and Citizens Advice.
£644.17 million in funding through the Homelessness Prevention Grant has been made available to local authorities in 2025/26 to support them to deliver services to prevent and respond to homelessness. This includes an uplift of £203.8 million compared to 2024 to 2025.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to expedite nationally significant infrastructure projects.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government made 21 decisions on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in the first year of this Parliament. This compares with the first year of the last Parliament in which only 15 decisions were made and represents the highest number of annual decisions made since the NSIP programme was introduced in 2011. 27 NSIP decisions have been made so far since the start of this Parliament.
Following acceptance by the Planning Inspectorate, NSIP applications are being processed on average 50 days quicker in this Parliament than in the last.
Through the relevant provisions of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, we are seeking to reduce the average time it takes reach a decision on an NSIP project from its peak of 4.2 years under the previous government.
To achieve our Plan for Change milestone of fast-tracking 150 planning decisions, we will need an average of 32 decisions per year from July 2025. While we have not achieved this in our first year, we expect the rate of decisions to continue to accelerate alongside the already seen increase in projects entering the pipeline.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
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 issues guidance to local planning authorities on ensuring that public consultation and plan-making processes do not appear (a) biased and (b) predetermined.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that local development plans should be shaped by early, proportionate, and effective engagement between plan-makers and communities, local organisations, and businesses.
Regulations under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 require a minimum of two separate public consultations on a local plan. Local planning authorities, as public bodies, should conduct these consultations in an open way, without having a pre-determined view on the outcome. They are legally obliged to have regard to representations received and the Planning Inspectorate independently examines plans before they can be adopted.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of local authorities that will (a) require 100 per cent income protection, (b) receive real-terms protection, and (c) fall within the 95 per cent funding floor due to being assessed as significantly above their Fair Funding Allocation; and whether he will publish (i) the assumptions used to determine the 2025–26 income baseline, including the treatment of locally retained business rates growth since 2013–14, (ii) the modelling used to calculate the cumulative impact of phasing in new allocations in thirds over the three-year Settlement, and (iii) the projected year-by-year funding changes for each authority once transitional protections, council tax flexibility assumptions, and business rates reset adjustments have been applied.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We expect the vast majority of local authorities with social care responsibilities will see their Core Spending Power increase in real terms over the multi-year Settlement, and most other authorities will see their income increase in cash terms.
We will support local authorities to manage their updated funding positions through a package of transitional arrangements. We will introduce changes over the multi-year Settlement and protect councils’ income, including locally retained business rates growth, through a range of funding floor levels appropriate to specific groups of authorities’ circumstances.
Further details on the proposed operation of these transitional arrangements, including the detail of the income baseline, is set out in the local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29. Plans for delivering the business rates retention reset were also published alongside the policy statement. This sets out a full method of how current business rates income will be measured for the 2025-26 income baseline.
We will publish multi-year local authority allocations, including funding for transition and year-on-year Core Spending Power changes, at the upcoming provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this month.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2025, to Question 91362, on Waste Disposal: Birmingham, what proportion of the 9.8% increase in core spending power in Birmingham in 2025-26 was made up of council tax.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Information on Core Spending Power for Birmingham Council, including how much is available from Council Tax, can be found here.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to amend electoral law to prevent councillors standing for election in overseas countries.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is clear that any councillor elected by local people to serve their interests must continue to do so as their highest priority. I am considering whether a change in legislation is needed to address the rare instances where serving councillors seek election overseas. Any legislative change would be subject to securing Parliamentary time.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2025, to Question 88665, on Local Government Pension Scheme: Councillors, if he will make it his policy to amend secondary legislation to ensure that local residents are informed of any pension payments in the annual statement of payments to councillors.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government believes transparency in local government is the foundation of local accountability, and this extends to councillors. The consultation on pensions for mayors and councillors is still open and so no final decisions have been taken, but I will consider the Rt Hon. Member’s suggestion.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will re-issue Best Value intervention notices against councils operating four day working weeks on full pay.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government is committed to working in partnership with local authorities and will not micromanage their day-today running. However, the Government does not support the use of part-time work for full-time pay by local authorities.
Best value notices may be considered and issued by the Government where it is deemed necessary to seek further assurance that a local authority is complying with the best value duty and taking steps to secure continuous improvement.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 undertaken a risk review of the contractual arrangements underpinning the use of agency workers in local authority waste services, and whether such arrangements create vulnerabilities in service continuity during disputes.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management and organisation of their own workforces, including the decision to use agency workers to fill vacancies and the accompanying contractual arrangements.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, further to the written statement of 25 November 2025, HCWS1097, on Devolution and Growth, and further to the Visitor levy policy paper published on 26 November 2025, whether the monetary value of the overnight visitor levy will be increased or uprated each year.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has announced powers for Mayors to introduce a visitor levy on short-term overnight accommodation in their region, to drive economic growth including through support for the local visitor economy.
The Visitor Levy Consultation, running until 18 February 2026, sets out the details of the proposals for this power. This consultation will ensure the public, businesses, and local government can shape the design of the power to introduce a levy that will be devolved to local leaders.
The impacts of the levy will largely be determined by local decisions. Mayors will decide whether to introduce a levy and, if so, consult with businesses and their communities on specific proposals including the rate at which the levy is set – which will determine the revenue raised. Rates vary across the world, for example from 2% in Turkey to 12.5% in Amsterdam. Mayors will also be required to produce an Impact Assessment.