Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 3 April 2025 entitled Local Government Best Value, HCWS576, whether her Department has taken recent steps to issue guidance to other Departments on strengthening assurance requirements for (a) new and (b) ongoing funding for the Tees Valley Combined Authority.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Under the department’s stewardship and the Best Value Notice issued on 3 April, Tees Valley Combined Authority is leading its own improvement efforts and working with local partners to build on the progress made following the independent Tees Valley Review. It remains the responsibility of relevant ministers and Senior Responsible Owners overseeing a grant programme to ensure they have sufficient assurance and performance management arrangements that an authority has the capacity and capability to deliver a programme effectively.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 3 April 2025 entitled Local Government Best Value, HCWS576, whether her Department's quarterly engagement with the Tees Valley Combined Authority includes consideration of the management of the Transport for City Regions funding allocation.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
While individual funding programmes are managed and assured independently by their respective departments, an ongoing assessment of the authority's progress against the best value notice will be based on a holistic judgement of all available information and considered engagement with the authority
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's transparency data entitled MHCLG: spending over £25,000, March 2025, published on 28 April 2025, what the spending to AtkinsRéalis UK Limited, reference Consultancy was for.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The contract with AtkinsRéalis UK Limited is for the audit of the government approved accreditation schemes who have the responsibility for maintaining the quality of energy performance certificates. This contract provides assurance that the requirements of section 22 of the Energy Performance of the Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 are being met.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's document entitled Remote attendance and proxy voting in local authorities: consultation results and government response, published on 5 June 2025, whether she has considered the potential merits of proxy voting of quasi-judicial committees (a) and its compatibility with the principles of non-determination on those committees and (b) in general.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We stated in gov.uk here that we plan to require all principal councils in England to introduce proxy voting schemes for full council meetings. We also stated that for all other meetings, proxy voting may be used but will not be required, and that substitute or pairing schemes may be more appropriate. We trust councils to develop clear and sensible policies that will work for their local areas.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the number of people not from the UK or EU who are sleeping rough.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The expectation is that migrants coming into the UK should be able to maintain and accommodate themselves without recourse to public funds. This reflects the need to maintain the confidence of general public that immigration brings benefits to our country, rather than add costs to the public purse.
When individuals granted refugee status leave Home Office accommodation, they are entitled to help with finding accommodation from their local authority if homeless. If in priority need, they will be provided with temporary accommodation.
The Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant funding can be used to help anyone, as long as areas act within the law in doing so.
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, whether (a) her Department and (b) local government improvement bodies financed through departmental funding centrally (i) collate and (ii) monitor the practice or frequency of local authorities operating four day weeks on full pay.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management of their own workforces. While it is not government policy to support a four-day working week in local authorities, the government will not be micromanaging them on this and does not collect data on this working practice.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many local authorities charge an empty homes premium on council tax in England in 2025–26, and what are the percentage rates of those premiums.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government annually publishes data on council taxbases including their use of any council tax premiums. Data for the 2024 snapshot is available here. Data for the 2025 snapshot will be published in November.
This data sets out that 292 billing authorities made use of the long-term empty homes premium in 2024. The data also provides a breakdown for each billing authority and the various percentages of premiums they have applied.
Councils have had the power to charge a council tax premium on second homes since April this year. Data on the number of billing authorities making use of the second home premium will be published in the 2025 council taxbase statistics in November.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many local authorities charge a second home premium on council tax in England in 2025–26.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government annually publishes data on council taxbases including their use of any council tax premiums. Data for the 2024 snapshot is available here. Data for the 2025 snapshot will be published in November.
This data sets out that 292 billing authorities made use of the long-term empty homes premium in 2024. The data also provides a breakdown for each billing authority and the various percentages of premiums they have applied.
Councils have had the power to charge a council tax premium on second homes since April this year. Data on the number of billing authorities making use of the second home premium will be published in the 2025 council taxbase statistics in November.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (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 expected cumulative increase in band D council tax in the next four years.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Council tax levels are decided by individual local authorities. The Office for Budget Responsibility has projected a continued 5% principle for the next spending review period. However, the government determines referendum principles annually with the approval of the House of Commons to give residents the final say over excessive increases.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions she has had with the Electoral Commission on potential provisions for the planned elections bill.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has engaged with, and continues to engage with, various stakeholders, including the Electoral Commission, ahead of the publication of the Government's Strategy for Elections. As the independent regulator, the Electoral Commission offers valuable insight, and its contributions are helping to inform policy development in a number of areas.