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, further to the revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 16 December 2025, what assessment has been made of the potential effect of the proposed changes on the number and size of residential gardens in suburban neighbourhoods.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is currently consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making.
The consultation includes policies that will support development within residential curtilages, including gardens. The relevant policies make clear that new development within residential curtilages should not occupy more than twice the footprint of the existing building on the site and should retain at least half of the non-developed area within the building’s curtilage. These policies would safeguard residential gardens from being lost and prevent inappropriate development which would be out of scale with the existing dwelling(s) taking place, while also allowing gentle increases in density in suitable locations.
Individual development decisions would be made by landowners/homeowners.
The consultation will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential level of overlap of proposals for appointing Public Safety Commissioners in mayoralties with the position of Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Where a mayor is responsible for Police and Crime Commissioner functions, they must appoint a Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, who works with them to oversee policing. Where mayors are also responsible for fire and rescue, they can delegate this to the DMPC. This means one individual can lead on policing and fire.
The Public Safety Commissioner (PSC) will be a new optional appointment, whose role would be to lead on the ‘public safety’ area of competence for a mayor, including matters beyond policing and fire. They could be delegated fire functions but not policing.
This gives mayors a choice on how to best deliver public safety in their area. They could delegate all their public safety functions to the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime or appoint a separate Public Safety Commissioner to manage non-policing functions, such as fire.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether HM Land Registry has a duty to report if property in the UK is purchased by other nation states.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
HM Land Registry records show that The People’s Republic of China is the registered proprietor of 58 registered titles in England and Wales.
Two further titles are registered in the name of The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, and four titles are registered in the name of The National Tourism Administration of the People's Republic of China.
Although HM Land Registry does not have a formal duty to report new acquisitions of UK land registered in the name of foreign states, this information is held by HM Land Registry and can be accessed where required by government and others subject to the general law relating to data protection and freedom of information.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many properties registered with HM Land Registry are owned by the People's Republic of China.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
HM Land Registry records show that The People’s Republic of China is the registered proprietor of 58 registered titles in England and Wales.
Two further titles are registered in the name of The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, and four titles are registered in the name of The National Tourism Administration of the People's Republic of China.
Although HM Land Registry does not have a formal duty to report new acquisitions of UK land registered in the name of foreign states, this information is held by HM Land Registry and can be accessed where required by government and others subject to the general law relating to data protection and freedom of information.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (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 number of rough sleepers in (1) London, and (2) each other region in England and Wales.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government inherited a homelessness crisis - the number of people sleeping rough is far too high. The latest published management information estimated that 2,195 people slept rough across the month in London in September 2025 and 9,292 people slept rough across the month in England. Housing and homelessness is devolved, but the government publishes data on the number of people sleeping rough in England, including regional breakdowns, 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, pursuant to the answer of 18 December 2025, to Question 96897, on MHCLG: Public Appointments, when he plans to publish this data.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We will publish data on MHCLG’s Direct Ministerial Appointments in line with recent guidance in the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many planning appeals relating to grey belt land have been allowed in the past two years.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Planning Inspectorate does not hold the requested information in a readily searchable way, and planning appeals do not have a marker for Grey Belt. As such, it is not possible to identify planning appeal decisions relating to grey belt in the past two years.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether local authorities will be expected to pass on high needs deficits to any new unitary councils created following local government reorganisation.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In general, as with previous restructures, there is no proposal for council debt to be addressed centrally or written off as part of reorganisation. It is the Government’s expectation that any debt held by a council will be transferred to the new council. Councils remain responsible for managing their budgets, and it is standard for councils to borrow and to hold debt, which they will do in the normal course of business. Local government re-organisation does not change this and it is essential that councils continue to deliver their business-as-usual services and duties during and after local government reorganisation.
In relation to the high needs deficit, the Fair Funding Review 2.0 announced a two-year extension to the Dedicated Schools Grant Statutory Override, now due to end in March 2028. We will set out more detail on our plans to support local authorities with historic and accruing SEND deficits later in the Settlement process.
Once the Statutory Override ends in March 2028, funding for SEND deficits will be managed within the overall government DEL envelope and would not be expected to fall to local authority general funds.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (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 high street closures on town centre vitality and local employment, particularly in areas with limited alternative sources of work.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The high street provides a critical source of employment and skills in our economy, accounting for 4.4m jobs in 2018.
No specific data is held on the impact of closures on employment. However, the national rate of persistently vacant high street retail and leisure properties increased to 5.3% in 2023, up from 3.6% in 2018, reflecting factors including long term shifts in consumer behaviour, rising costs, and retail crime.
The Government is acting to reverse this decline with support for high street businesses, such as banning upwards only rent reviews in commercial leases and reforming licensing rules, strengthening powers to tackle retail crime and anti-social behaviour, and empowering councils to auction the lease of persistently vacant premises on our high streets.
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 17 November 2025 to Question 87319, and to the Answer of 19 June 2025 to Question 58975, on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Remote Working, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the number of desks for civil servants working in Darlington on their ability to attend the office for 60 per cent of the working week.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Darlington Economic Campus is an integrated shared facility between several Government Departments. Currently, due to the available capacity, MHCLG staff are expected to attend the office for 40% of their time.