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 Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide the Valuation Tribunal for England with additional resources to deal with further tribunals following the introduction of the high value council tax surcharge.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
MHCLG sponsors and funds the Valuation Tribunal for England (VTE). The Department keeps the VTE’s funding under review to ensure it can respond to any appeals within the local tax system. Any additional burdens that result from new taxes will need to be funded. The government will consult on the design and operation of the High Value Council Tax Surcharge early in 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance is issued to local authorities on the digitisation of marked electoral registers following elections, and whether they plan to legally require local authorities to make digital marked electoral registers available for purchase following elections.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Specified persons can request a copy of relevant parts of the marked copy of the register of electors, and other related lists, for a fee. This request can be for a paper or data copy. The Government has no plans to change these arrangements.
The Electoral Commission provides guidance on the supply and inspection of marked registers.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations officials in the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government have made to the Greater London Authority about the 35- per-cent affordable housing quota.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
On 23 October the Housing Secretary and Mayor of London announced a package of targeted and temporary support to drive up housebuilding in London. This includes a new, time-limited planning route and consultation on the removal of some design restrictions which limit the density of development. For further detail, please see the Written Ministerial Statement made on 23 October 2025 (HCWS991).
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 impact of removing the statutory requirement to consult local authorities as part of the pre-application stage for nationally significant infrastructure projects, and the impact of removing that statutory requirement on local authorities securing community benefit.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Replacing the statutory requirement to consult on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) will give applicants and local authorities greater flexibility to engage in a more proportionate way. The Government has designed its policy to ensure local authorities can continue to play an important role in the NSIP regime. Applicants will be required by law to notify local authorities of their schemes. Local authorities will also be able to continue to provide Local Impact Reports to the Examining Authority and the Secretary of State outlining the impacts of a scheme on their area. The Government has also committed to extending the power for local authorities to recover costs from applicants for their advice. A consultation seeking views on how to achieve this closed on 28 October. Community benefits are typically secured through legally binding development consent obligations (DC obligations), which remain enforceable regardless of changes to consultation requirements.
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 will not be able to deliver a five-year housing land supply in their local plan following the decision to increase mandatory housing targets, and which local authorities will not be able to deliver that supply.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Planning Policy Frameworks sets out that local authorities should identify and update annually a five-year housing land supply (5YHLS) of deliverable housing sites (with appropriate buffer) for decision making. We have restored this test to safeguard the delivery of homes.
While the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) may be aware of an authority’s 5YHLS position at the time of a specific appeal, this position is not static. It may change over time due to annual updates or as a result of subsequent planning appeal decisions. As such, my Department does not collect live data on the 5YHLS status of individual local planning authorities.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to incentivise housing developers to speed up to allow local authorities to adopt new housing estates.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the Noble Lady to the answer given to question UIN 81305 on 24 October 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the difference between commissioners and envoys in the context of local government intervention.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Secretary of State may intervene under the Local Government Act 1999 where they are satisfied that a council is failing to meet its Best Value Duty to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement. Intervention typically involves directing the council to take specific actions to improve and appointing individuals to work with the council to support their improvement.
Commissioners have been appointed to seven councils to provide challenge and exercise specified council functions if necessary to accelerate improvement.
Ministerial Envoys have been appointed to two councils to provide support and guidance, helping them drive their own improvement, and generally do not have the ability to exercise council functions.
Some Ministerial Envoys hold powers in reserve to exercise council functions, which are intended to be used only as a last resort to ensure compliance with the Best Value Duty.
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 impact of the decision to stop funding the Neighbourhood Planning Support Programme on the creation of new neighbourhood plans, and why that decision was taken.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Following the Spending Review, my Department has announced that it is unable to commission new neighbourhood planning support services for 2025 onwards.
Technical support which has already been awarded will continue to be provided but must be completed before the end of March 2026.
The government remains of the view that neighbourhood plans can play an important role in the planning system. Communities can continue to prepare neighbourhood plans where they consider that doing so is in their best interests.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of uncontracted and unsold affordable homes across England; and how many housebuilders have been supported since the Section 106 Affordable Housing Clearance Service was launched in 2024.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government does not collect or publish data on uncontracted and unsold affordable homes in England.
The Homes England clearance service launched in December 2024 to help improve the functioning of the market for affordable housing, by supporting buyers and sellers to find each other more effectively - with developers able to share details of unsold section 106 affordable homes for registered providers and local authorities to search. Since its launch, as of March 2025, 411 organisations have registered. This includes:
The government calls on all developers with uncontracted Section 106 affordable homes, as well as registered providers and local planning authorities, to engage proactively with the service.