Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 his Department’s press release entitled PM: “We're capping ground rents at £250”, published on 27 January 2026, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed cap to ground rent on levels of rent set by landlords.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 27 January 2026 (HCWS1278) as well as the corresponding ground rent policy statement which can be found on gov.uk here.
An Impact Assessment and response to the 2023 ground rent consultation will be published in due course to support scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 his Department’s press release entitled PM: “We're capping ground rents at £250”, published on 27 January 2026, what estimate his Department has made of the number of residential leaseholders paying more than £250 on ground rent.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 27 January 2026 (HCWS1278) as well as the corresponding ground rent policy statement which can be found on gov.uk here.
An Impact Assessment and response to the 2023 ground rent consultation will be published in due course to support scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 his Department’s press release entitled PM: “We're capping ground rents at £250”, published on 27 January 2026, what proportion of leaseholders will have ground rents reduced immediately upon commencement of the cap.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 27 January 2026 (HCWS1278) as well as the corresponding ground rent policy statement which can be found on gov.uk here.
An Impact Assessment and response to the 2023 ground rent consultation will be published in due course to support scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 his Department’s press release entitled PM: “We're capping ground rents at £250”, published on 27 January 2026, whether the proposed peppercorn ground rent cap after 40 years will apply retroactively.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 27 January 2026 (HCWS1278) as well as the corresponding ground rent policy statement which can be found on gov.uk here.
An Impact Assessment and response to the 2023 ground rent consultation will be published in due course to support scrutiny of the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
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 19 January 2026 to Question 104789 on Council Tax: Tax Yields, whether his Department has unpublished working estimates of the revenue from council tax in England in each year from 2026-27 onwards based on the assumptions in the Spending Review.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department routinely considers a range of council tax data as part of policy development and has published its estimates of the revenue from council tax in England in each year from 2026-27 onwards.
As part of the multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement, the Government has made estimates of changes to Core Spending Power for 2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29. This includes estimates of the council tax councils will set for those years. These estimates are set out here. These estimates exclude parish precepts, police and crime commissioner precepts.
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 information his Department holds on the (a) number, (b) total and (c) individual amount of local authority exit payments by authority in 2024-25.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government publishes data on local authority exit payments on an annual basis. It is available on gov.uk 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 the Land Registry holds information on the numbers of sales of primary homes by local authority area in 2025.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
HM Land Registry does not collect or hold information that confirms whether a registered property purchase is a primary residence.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the cost to local authorities was of providing social care to asylum seekers in each financial year since 2019-20 by (a) adults, (b) children in families and (c) unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG collects data about local authorities’ spend on all services through the General Fund revenue outturn collection, including spend on social care for asylum seekers in the General Fund Revenue Account Outturn RO3 - Social Care and Public Health Services. The collection for each financial year is published online here: Local authority revenue expenditure and financing - GOV.UK. The guidance notes which describe what should be captured in each line can be found here: General fund revenue account outturn: specific guidance notes - GOV.UK.
The reported spend is available for both the national and local authority level.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on (a) changes in local authority spending on social care for asylum seekers between 2019-20 and 2024-25 and (b) the reasons for those changes.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG collects data about local authorities’ spend on all services through the General Fund revenue outturn collection, including spend on social care for asylum seekers in the General Fund Revenue Account Outturn RO3 - Social Care and Public Health Services. The collection for each financial year is published online here: Local authority revenue expenditure and financing - GOV.UK. The guidance notes which describe what should be captured in each line can be found here: General fund revenue account outturn: specific guidance notes - GOV.UK.
The reported spend is available for both the national and local authority level.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 list the ten local authorities which incurred the highest asylum-related social care costs in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG collects data about local authorities’ spend on all services through the General Fund revenue outturn collection, including spend on social care for asylum seekers in the General Fund Revenue Account Outturn RO3 - Social Care and Public Health Services. The collection for each financial year is published online here: Local authority revenue expenditure and financing - GOV.UK. The guidance notes which describe what should be captured in each line can be found here: General fund revenue account outturn: specific guidance notes - GOV.UK.
The reported spend is available for both the national and local authority level.