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 charge an empty homes premium on council tax in England in 2025–26, and what are the percentage rates of those premiums.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government annually publishes data on council taxbases including their use of any council tax premiums. Data for the 2024 snapshot is available here. Data for the 2025 snapshot will be published in November.
This data sets out that 292 billing authorities made use of the long-term empty homes premium in 2024. The data also provides a breakdown for each billing authority and the various percentages of premiums they have applied.
Councils have had the power to charge a council tax premium on second homes since April this year. Data on the number of billing authorities making use of the second home premium will be published in the 2025 council taxbase statistics in November.
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 charge a second home premium on council tax in England in 2025–26.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government annually publishes data on council taxbases including their use of any council tax premiums. Data for the 2024 snapshot is available here. Data for the 2025 snapshot will be published in November.
This data sets out that 292 billing authorities made use of the long-term empty homes premium in 2024. The data also provides a breakdown for each billing authority and the various percentages of premiums they have applied.
Councils have had the power to charge a council tax premium on second homes since April this year. Data on the number of billing authorities making use of the second home premium will be published in the 2025 council taxbase statistics in November.
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 expected cumulative increase in band D council tax in the next four years.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Council tax levels are decided by individual local authorities. The Office for Budget Responsibility has projected a continued 5% principle for the next spending review period. However, the government determines referendum principles annually with the approval of the House of Commons to give residents the final say over excessive increases.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they keep records of the embassies or consulates that have not followed the convention of following local laws and process in relation to planning issues.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
MCHLG does not record such information. Responsibility for planning enforcement rests with 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 advice they provide to local authorities on taking out insurance for potential cyber attacks.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government Cyber Security Strategy sets a clear target for all public bodies to be resilient to known vulnerabilities and common attack methods by 2030. Cyber insurance should be considered as part of wider cyber security resilience measures taken by organisations. The NCSC (The National Cyber Security Centre) has provided helpful guidance for organisations thinking about taking out cyber insurance.
In 2024 MHCLG introduced the Cyber Assessment Framework for local government to help councils assess and improve their cyber security. The framework also aims to promote good cyber security practices and cultures within councils to minimise the impact of cyber-attacks.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to respond to those local authorities that have submitted interim reorganisation proposals.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
On 3 June the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution (Jim McMahon OBE MP) has updated the House to confirm that the Department had provided individual written feedback to each area on the interim plans for local government reorganisation that they submitted by 21 March 2025. Areas have been encouraged to share that feedback with MPs and the Department also published a summary of the feedback to support all areas in progressing their proposals and in the interests of transparency.
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 number of planning permissions that were granted for properties that ended up not being built in each of the past five years, broken down by local authority.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Department does not hold the requested information.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish all formal correspondence with local authorities about local government reorganisation, and whether they will place copies of that correspondence in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Useful documents, including letters to councils, announcements and news items on the local government reorganisation programme will appear on gov.uk at Local government reorganisation: Policy and programme updates - GOV.UK. We anticipate that during this programme of local government reorganisation there will be a significant volume of correspondence with local authorities. We do not anticipate publishing all of that correspondence, nor do we consider it appropriate to place copies in the Library of the House. We will ensure that the House is updated at key moments, as we have done since the publication the English Devolution White Paper on 16 December 2024. I am of course happy to meet Noble Lords at any point.
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 allocate the £7.6 million of capacity funding for local government reorganisation, and when that funding will be made available.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
On 24 March the government announced it has made £7.6 million available as ‘proposal development contributions’ to support the 21 areas undergoing local government reorganisation.
This is the first time that capacity funding has been made available for reorganisation proposals, recognising the priority that this government attaches to this. Further information will be provided on how this will be allocated soon, and we intend to make payments as soon as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will require planning officers who determine planning applications through their national scheme of delegation to declare any interests; and whether the bill will require local authorities to create a register of interests for planning officers along the lines of those for local councillors.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Our live tables on planning statistics show that in 2024 for district planning decisions 96% of applications were delegated to officers, and for county planning decisions 81% of applications were delegated to officers.
Proposals in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in relation to planning committees and a national scheme of delegation do not include changes to requirements to declare interests for either officers or councillors.
Clause 46 of the Bill gives the Secretary of State the power to, through regulations, require planning decisions to be made by committees or officers. We will consult on the details of this in due course.