Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support local authorities in providing permanent housing for victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Statutory guidance strongly encourages local authorities to give priority for social housing to victims and their families who have escaped abuse and are being accommodated in a refuge or temporary accommodation.
Local authorities are also encouraged to give additional priority to people who are homeless and require urgent rehousing as a result of domestic abuse.
The government has also taken action to remove barriers for victims of domestic abuse to access social housing. Regulations, which came into force on 10 July 2025, mean that victims of domestic abuse moving as a result of that abuse will no longer need to meet a local connection or residency test in order to access social housing.
We also intend to work with partners to update statutory guidance on social housing allocations to ensure that allocations reflect local need and effectively support vulnerable households, such as those with victims of domestic abuse.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Home Ownership for people with a long-term disability scheme will receive funding for the 2026/2027 financial year.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Home Ownership for People with Long-term Disabilities scheme is a specialist form of shared ownership and we have confirmed that it will continue to be funded under the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme where proposals meet programme requirements and deliver value for money.
To support housing association participation, my Department is working with Homes England to publish further guidance on eligibility and delivery, including for specialist shared ownership models such as the Home Ownership for People with Long‑term Disabilities scheme.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps were taken to encourage housing associations to partake in the Home Ownership for people with Long-term Disabilities scheme.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Home Ownership for People with Long-term Disabilities scheme is a specialist form of shared ownership and we have confirmed that it will continue to be funded under the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme where proposals meet programme requirements and deliver value for money.
To support housing association participation, my Department is working with Homes England to publish further guidance on eligibility and delivery, including for specialist shared ownership models such as the Home Ownership for People with Long‑term Disabilities scheme.
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, how many hereditaments claimed Retail Hospitality and Leisure rate relief in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26, excluding those at the £110,000 cash cap.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The number of hereditaments receiving the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief as at 31 December 2024 can be found in Table 4 here.
This is based on a snapshot taken by local authorities on or as close to the 31 December 2024. It is not possible from the data collected to exclude properties at the cash cap.
The snapshot as at 31 December 2025 is currently being collected and will be published by the end of March.
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 press release, Councils offered flexibility to complete reorganisation, of 18 December 2025, whether district council Returning Officers would still be obliged to organise county council elections in May 2026 in their district area, if a scheduled district council election was cancelled but not the county council election.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Yes.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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 Department for Transport guidance entitled Cycle infrastructure design (LTN 1/20), published on 27 July 2020, whether he plans to revise (a) the National Planning Policy Framework and (b) guidance to require new residential and mixed-use developments to provide high-quality permeability for walking and cycling.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that transport issues should be considered from the earliest stages of plan-making and development proposals, using a vision-led approach to identify transport solutions that deliver well-designed, sustainable, and popular places. This should involve identifying and pursuing opportunities to promote walking and cycling.
The Framework also outlines that when assessing sites that may be allocated in local development plans, or specific development applications, it should be ensured that sustainable transport modes are prioritised taking account of the vision for the site, the type of development and its location, and that safe and suitable access to the site can be achieved for all users. Within this context, applications for development should give priority first to pedestrian and cycle movements, both within the scheme and with neighbouring areas, and should create places that are safe, secure, and attractive and which minimise scope for conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles.
We are currently consulting on changes to the Framework, including updated policies on sustainable transport which seek to further embed a vision-led approach to transport planning. The consultation will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the time taken to fund the M5 Junction 10 improvement scheme on housing development.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 104999 on 19 January 2026.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
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 ability of vulnerable groups to access planning consultations.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Under the Equality Act 2010, all public bodies have a Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) to have due regard to certain equality considerations when exercising their functions, this includes public engagements such as planning consultations.
Planning consultations are carried out through a range of methods and local planning authorities are required to publish these on their website. Public authorities must make their website accessible and publish and keep updated an accessibility statement on their website.
The duty should always be applied in a proportionate way depending on the circumstances of the case and the seriousness of the potential equality impact.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what criteria will be used to assess whether a train station is well-connected for the purposes of a planning application receiving a default yes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 102319 on 12 January 2026.
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, how much Luton Borough Council received in retained business rates in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26, and what are the projected figures for each of the next three years under the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026-27.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Luton Borough Council reported their retained business rates for 2024-25 to the department here in the document ‘Revenue outturn summary (RS) 2024 to 2025’, in the ‘LA Dropdown’ tab line 870. For 2025-26, their estimated retained business rates is here in the document ‘Revenue Account Budget (RA) data 2025-26 (part 1)’, in the ’LA Dropdown 25-26’ tab in line 970.
At the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026-27 to 2028-29 the department published local authorities’ baseline funding levels. The baseline funding level does not represent the total amount of business rates an authority will retain in a year but amount of an individual local authority’s Fair Funding Assessment provided through the local share of retained business rates income. The values for 2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29 are published here, in column L of the relevant years’ tabs.