Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what definition they use for green belt land, and grey belt land.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Land is Green Belt if designated as such in the Local Plan. The purposes of Green Belt and the definition of grey belt are set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (12 December 2024).

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow local authorities to retain part of the income from vehicle tax in their area for use by highways departments.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government uses the proceeds of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) and other tax revenues to support public services and investment in infrastructure including the road network. There are no current plans to devolve or hypothecate VED revenues in part or in full to local authorities.

The Government is going well beyond its promise to fix an additional one million potholes per year, by providing a £500 million cash increase on 2024/25 local roads maintenance baseline funding. This will be enough to fix the equivalent of more than seven million extra potholes in 2025/26.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations in the Electoral Commission report on the 2024 UK parliamentary general election and the May 2024 local elections, published on 7 October 2024.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The government has, on 12 February 2025, published its response to the Electoral Commission’s report on the May polls and the UK Parliamentary general election last July.

We are grateful to the Commission for its reports and have and will continue to carefully consider its findings and recommendations.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the Local Government Finance Report (England) 2025–26 (HC 623), why the London Boroughs of Croydon, Harrow, Bexley and Bromley are not to receive the Recovery Grant for the 2025–26 financial year.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Recovery Grant, worth £600 million, is only one part of the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement, which makes available over £69 billion in 2025-26 and ensures that no council will see a decrease in Core Spending Power.

To start correcting the system, the government needs to make difficult decisions. As a result, some councils will not receive an allocation through the Recovery Grant.

The Recovery Grant is targeted towards areas with greater need and demand for services (we have used deprivation as a proxy for this) and less ability to raise income locally.

Bexley, Bromley, Croydon and Harrow will all see a real-terms increase in their core spending power for 2025-26.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the next meeting of the Council of Nations and Regions is due to take place, and how many meetings they plan to hold each year.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Council of the Nations and Regions will meet biannually, as provided in its Terms of Reference, published on GOV.UK. The Council first met in October 2024, and will reconvene in the Spring.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have had discussions with local authorities regarding the prospect of providing interest repayment holidays on loans issued to local authorities by the Public Works Loan Board.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government engages regularly with local authorities on a range of issues and is committed to working in partnership with local authorities to deliver for their residents. The Public Works Loan Board lending facility provides cost-effective loans to local authorities and the terms of lending and requirements for interest repayments are set out in published guidance.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they issue guidance to local authorities on the frequency of reviews of social housing waiting list, and whether they hold data on when each local authority last conducted a review of their social housing waiting list.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

My department does not issue guidance or collect data on local authority reviews of social housing registers (waiting lists). Local authorities manage their own housing registers and as such the frequency of reviews varies between local authorities.

Found: Atkinson MP The Earl of Cork and Orrery Juliet Campbell MP Lord Dannatt Tom Collins MP Baroness Eaton