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 plan to introduce legislative proposals to amend section 245 of the Local Government Act 1972 to extent the right for a local authority to apply for borough status to parish councils.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government has no intention to extend the right for a local authority to apply for borough status to parish councils.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to remove abandoned vehicles from Crown Estate land; and whether Crown Estate land is designated as off road for the purposes of vehicles in receipt of a Statutory Off Road Notification.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Crown Estate is an independent commercial organisation, and the Government is not involved in its operations and day-to-day decision making.
Removal of abandoned vehicles is primarily the responsibility of the relevant local authority; therefore, where vehicles are abandoned on land under the Crown Estate’s control and management, they will engage with the relevant authorities to address the issue.
Crown Estate land is not automatically considered “off road” for Statutory Off Road Notification purposes.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what governance arrangements are in place for strategic authorities that are formed before the election of mayors to those authorities.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Subject to constituent authorities’ consent, we will establish the Mayoral Strategic Authorities in the six Devolution Priority Programme areas as soon as possible, to ensure sufficient time for preparatory work ahead of the Mayor taking office and allowing areas to build local collaboration.
The governance of these new Mayoral Strategic Authorities will be specified in the establishing Statutory Instruments. We laid the establishing Statutory Instruments for Cumbria and Cheshire and Warrington on 18 December 2025,
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Crown Estate holds a register of escheat land based on square footage; and if so, whether that register is a publicly accessible document.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Crown Estate does not manage escheated land, which is effectively ownerless. The Crown Estate has a limited remit in relation to escheated property and the only action that it may take is to dispose of the land to an appropriate person or body. This disposal would create a new freehold interest in the property.
Consequently, there is no requirement for the Crown Estate to be notified of escheated property, and it does not maintain a comprehensive register of such properties.
The Crown Estate does have a record of properties that has been notified to it by external parties as potentially subject to escheat, but this information has not been verified and is not published.
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 will take to give (1) council leaders, and (2) directly elected mayors, the statutory right to sit on local resilience forums in their areas.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There are currently no plans for council leaders or mayors to sit on Local Resilience Forums (LRFs). Through the Devolution White Paper and the UK Resilience Action Plan, the Government has committed to working with local leaders to clarify and strengthen the role of local government and mayors in local resilience. The Government believes stronger links to elected leaders will increase our overall resilience as responses will be better tailored to geographic areas, accounting for local challenges and needs. As part of MHCLG’s Stronger LRF Trailblazers Programme, five local areas have begun testing new methods to strengthen accountability to democratically elected local leaders.
The Government will review the Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) and its supporting regulations through the next Post-Implementation Review, with a report due to be laid in Parliament by March 2027. This review will consider the impact of wider reforms on English devolution and will look to clarify and strengthen the role of Strategic Authorities and Mayors in local resilience.
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 Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the sex ratios at birth in the United Kingdom reports for (1) 2018 to 2022, and (2) 2019 to 2023.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The sex ratios at birth in the United Kingdom reports for 2018 to 2022 and 2019 to 2023 will be published when capacity allows, prior to which the dates for publication will be announced.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, whether they are still advising local authorities to consider the "Traffic Advisory Leaflet 01/13: Reducing Sign Clutter", published in January 2013; and if not, whether it has been revised in an updated publication.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
"Traffic Advisory Leaflet 01/13: Reducing Sign Clutter", has been withdrawn and superseded by the updated Chapter 1 of the Traffic Signs Manual, published in 2018. Section 2.3 provides guidance on reducing sign clutter.
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.