Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will amend the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to make it easier for local authorities to carry out covert surveillance in areas with a high incidence of fly tipping.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Since 2012, local authority authorisations for directed surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 have been subject to enhanced arrangements. This includes a requirement for local authorities to obtain prior judicial approval before conducting activity and for that activity to be for the purpose of preventing or detecting criminal offences that are punishable by at least six months' imprisonment.
The Government believes that these additional safeguards remain important to strike the right balance in protecting rights while ensuring local authorities have the ability to authorise directed surveillance to investigate offences in an appropriate and lawful manner, which can include the investigation of the criminal offence of fly tipping.
The Government keeps all legislation related to investigatory powers under review.
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 Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much Vehicle Excise Duty was collected in each local authority area, every year since 2020.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The information requested is not held as the amount of vehicle excise duty collected cannot be broken down by local authority area. The annual amount of vehicle excise duty revenue collected since the financial year 2019/20 is shown in the table below.
2019/20 | £6.8 billion |
2020/21 | £6.9 billion |
2021/22 | £7.1 billion |
2022/23 | £7.3 billion |
2023/24 | £7.8 billion |
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they hold data on the number of demotion orders under section 82A of the Housing Act 1985 that social housing providers applied for in 2024.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested is not held.
The Ministry of Justice publishes data about possession proceedings at Mortgage and landlord possession statistics: October to December 2024 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, before selecting hotels as accommodation for asylum seekers, it is their policy to consult the chief executives and leaders of affected local authorities.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government inherited an asylum system under exceptional strain, with tens of thousands of people stuck in limbo without any prospect of having their claims processed. At their peak use under the previous Government, in the autumn of 2023, more than 400 asylum hotels were being leased by the Home Office, at a cost of almost £9 million a day.
Inevitably, due to the size of the backlog we inherited, the Government has been forced to continue with the use of hotels for the time being. It remains our absolute commitment to end the use of hotels over time, as part of our reduction in overall asylum accommodation costs.
When a hotel has been identified for use as contingency accommodation, Home Office officials will write to the local authority Chief Executive and the constituency MP to inform them of plans to accommodate asylum seekers there.
The Home Office continues to work closely with local authorities to manage all the pressures arising from the provision of asylum accommodation including the impact on wider local authority obligations and plans.
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.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of planning applications that were considered by local authorities in 2024 were determined by (1) planning applications committees, and (2) planning officers.
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.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the English Devolution White Paper published on 16 December 2024 (CP1218), what steps they are taking to ensure that the boundaries of fire and rescue authorities are coterminous with the boundaries of newly created strategic authorities.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As set out in the English Devolution White Paper, where mayoral geographies align with police force and fire and rescue geographies, Mayors will be, by default, responsible for exercising Police and Crime Commissioner and Fire and Rescue Authority functions. This is the case in three of the six places being considered under the Devolution Priority Programme.
We will explore, in time for the English Devolution Bill, the possibility of a single Mayor taking on Police and Crime Commissioner and Fire and Rescue Authority responsibilities across two or more Police Force and Fire and Rescue Authorities, where boundaries align.
Where Strategic Authorities do not currently align with these boundaries, or where alignment is not appropriate for new devolution areas, we will take steps to achieve alignment over the longer term. Future new Strategic Authorities will be considered with existing Police and Crime Commissioner and Fire and Rescue Authority boundaries in mind.