Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 adequacy of building regulations in ensuring the quality, efficiency, and resilience of installed heat network systems.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Regulations set performance requirements for buildings, including buildings connected to heat networks, but they are not responsible for regulating the detailed design or operation of heat network systems themselves. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is also consulting on mandatory technical standards for heat networks, that include proposals to ensure new and existing heat networks are designed, built, and operated to a standard, that will deliver good outcomes for consumers.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding is available to leaseholders for cladding remediation works on buildings under 11 metres in height.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Funding is not currently available for buildings under 11 metres in height. However, the Department announced targeted funding for multi-occupied residential buildings under 11 metres in the Remediation Acceleration Plan update. This funding will be available in exceptional cases, where there are life-critical fire safety risks from cladding and no alternative route to funding.
Additional details about funding for exceptional cladding remediation in buildings below 11 metres in England will be shared by the Department in due course.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for each of the past five years, what proportion of households refused a homelessness duty were (a) UK nationals, (b) EU nationals and (c) non‑EU nationals, and what proportion were refused due to immigration‑related ineligibility.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government publishes quarterly data on the number of households refused a homelessness duty, which you can access in Table A1 of the quarterly and annual statutory homelessness data published on gov.uk here. This data does not include the reason why a household was refused a duty.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of mandating technologies such as solar panels or electric vehicle chargers in the Future Homes Standard.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Future Homes Standard (FHS) was published on 24 March 2026.
The Future Homes Standard will require new homes to achieve very low carbon emissions and high levels of energy efficiency. Although the FHS is performance based, and does not mandate specific technologies, we expect that in most cases, the requirements will be met through the installation of rooftop solar panels, subject to practical constraints such as site conditions. We expect the majority of new homes to include solar, helping to save families hundreds of pounds a year, while also strengthening energy security by reducing families’ exposure to international gas markets.
Electric vehicle charging points are already required for new residential buildings with parking spaces under existing Building Regulations introduced in 2021, and this requirement will continue to apply.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Future Homes Standard will require new homes to be built with solar panels installed.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Future Homes Standard (FHS) was published on 24 March 2026.
The Future Homes Standard will require new homes to achieve very low carbon emissions and high levels of energy efficiency. Although the FHS is performance based, and does not mandate specific technologies, we expect that in most cases, the requirements will be met through the installation of rooftop solar panels, subject to practical constraints such as site conditions. We expect the majority of new homes to include solar, helping to save families hundreds of pounds a year, while also strengthening energy security by reducing families’ exposure to international gas markets.
Electric vehicle charging points are already required for new residential buildings with parking spaces under existing Building Regulations introduced in 2021, and this requirement will continue to apply.
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 9 Match 2026, to Question 116479, on Elections: Proof of Identity, whether the cash withdrawal cards that will be accepted as identification will include reloadable, non-bank-account-linked payment cards.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the Representation of the People Bill 2026, which sets out the requirements that a card must meet in order to be accepted at the polling station – they must be a physical credit card, charge card, debit card or prepaid card; they must display the individual’s first name and last name, or first initial and last name; the card must be issued by a person who is regulated or authorised by either the Financial Conduct Authority or the Prudential Regulation Authority. It may be possible for a reloadable, non-bank-account-linked payment card to meet these criteria.
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 make it his policy to introduce statutory guidance to Returning Officers so there is an explicit obligation to enforce the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 in polling stations and intervene to stop the practice of so-called family voting.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt. Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 119522 on 18 March 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, pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2026, to Question 116488, on Absent Voting: British Nationals Abroad, what consideration has the Electoral Commission made of this issue.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Electoral Commission operates independently of Government and addressed the experience of Overseas Electors in its report on the 2024 General Election.
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, what criteria the Electoral Commission uses to accredit election observers.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Electoral Commission operates independently of government. I would recommend that the Rt Hon. Member contacts them directly to discuss their approach to accrediting election observers.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
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 16 February 2026 to Question 112231, whether his Department holds data on (a) the number of fires involving road vehicles of all types attended by Fire and Rescue Services in England each year and (b) fires involving electric vehicles as a distinct category.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG collects data on incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) in England through the Fire and Rescue Data Analysis Platform (FaRDaP), and previously through the Incident Recording System (IRS). This includes information on primary fires, fire-related fatalities, and non-fatal casualties in road vehicles.
Data on the number of fires involving road vehicles of all types attended by FRSs in England is published in the Department’s fire statistics data tables, available on gov.uk here. In particular, table FIRE 0302 ‘Primary fires, fatalities and non-fatal casualties in road vehicles by motive and vehicle type, England’ presents the number of primary fires for each recorded type of road vehicle per year.
However, the data currently collected by FRSs does not identify whether a vehicle involved in a fire was an electric vehicle. The Department is therefore not able to provide data on fires involving electric vehicles as a distinct category.
Work is ongoing to update the data FaRDAP will collect covering both the questions and answer categories to capture lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles, and more.