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.
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 Written Statement by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 24 June (HLWS735), what assessment they have made of the administrative and financial implications for councils that will be mandated to move from a committee model to a cabinet model.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In the statement of 24 June, we set out the Government’s intention to bring forward primary legislation when Parliamentary time allows to ensure all local authorities in England operate an executive model of governance. If Parliament agrees this legislation, councils operating the committee system will have one year following commencement of the new legislation within which to change to the leader and cabinet model. Councils which are to be abolished under local government reorganisation in their area will be exempt. This timeline gives councils which need to make the change time to prepare.
Going forward, simplifying executive governance models across the sector, and preventing the establishment of new mayoral councils, will avoid further such costs arising to local taxpayers and will provide certainty to councils as to their governance arrangements as unbudgeted costs of responding to petitions and hosting referendums will be prevented, ultimately saving councils time and taxpayers money.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they expect to publish a white paper on special educational needs provision before the Parliamentary summer recess.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed and thrive in their education and as they move into adult life.
The department is aware of the challenges in the current SEND system, and the government is urgently considering how it needs to be reformed. However, these are complex issues which need a considered approach to deliver sustainable change.
The department is working closely with experts on reforms, including appointing a strategic advisor for SEND, who is playing a key role in convening and engaging with the sector, including leaders, practitioners, children and families.
The department has also established an expert advisory group for inclusion to improve the mainstream education outcomes and experiences for children and young people with SEND, and a Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group to provide a shared understanding of what provision and support in mainstream educational settings should look like for neurodivergent children and young people within an inclusive system.
The department is working at pace to address these challenges and will be setting out our plans to do so 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, with regard to their press release “Government backs SME builders to get Britain building” published on 28 May, whether councillors on local authorities will be able to refer tier A planning applications to a planning application committee for consideration.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Our proposals to introduce a national scheme of delegation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would be mandatory for local planning authorities as defined in the Bill.
As set out in the technical consultation on reform of planning committees published on 28 May 2025, all applications in Tier A would be delegated to planning officers.
However, Question 5 asks for views on whether there should be a mechanism to bring a Tier A application to committee in exceptional circumstances and, if so, what would those circumstances be and how would the mechanism operate.
Applications in Tier B would be presumed to be delegated unless the chief planning officer (or equivalent officer in local planning authorities without a chief planning officer) and Chair of Committee agree it should go to Committee based on a gateway test.
The consultation is open for views until 23 July 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether their plans for a national scheme of delegation as referenced in documents accompanying the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will consist of guidance to local authorities or whether local authorities will be required to follow the scheme.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Our proposals to introduce a national scheme of delegation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would be mandatory for local planning authorities as defined in the Bill.
As set out in the technical consultation on reform of planning committees published on 28 May 2025, all applications in Tier A would be delegated to planning officers.
However, Question 5 asks for views on whether there should be a mechanism to bring a Tier A application to committee in exceptional circumstances and, if so, what would those circumstances be and how would the mechanism operate.
Applications in Tier B would be presumed to be delegated unless the chief planning officer (or equivalent officer in local planning authorities without a chief planning officer) and Chair of Committee agree it should go to Committee based on a gateway test.
The consultation is open for views until 23 July 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to their press release “Government backs SME builders to get Britain building” published on 28 May, how they define tier A and tier B planning applications.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Our proposals to introduce a national scheme of delegation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill would be mandatory for local planning authorities as defined in the Bill.
As set out in the technical consultation on reform of planning committees published on 28 May 2025, all applications in Tier A would be delegated to planning officers.
However, Question 5 asks for views on whether there should be a mechanism to bring a Tier A application to committee in exceptional circumstances and, if so, what would those circumstances be and how would the mechanism operate.
Applications in Tier B would be presumed to be delegated unless the chief planning officer (or equivalent officer in local planning authorities without a chief planning officer) and Chair of Committee agree it should go to Committee based on a gateway test.
The consultation is open for views until 23 July 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much is the 2025–26 council tax on the ministerial residence in Admiralty House.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Admiralty House residences are valued in Council Tax Band H.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to their press release “Government backs SME builders to get Britain building” published on 28 May, how they plan to allocate the £10 million to local authorities to fund more specialists to speed up environmental assessments.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The funding is being allocated to all local planning authorities, county councils and combined authorities in England. The uses to which the funding can be put are broad and there is no definitive list as requirements will differ across authorities. Some of this funding may be used to help expand the capacity of ecologist and planning teams, but ultimately it is for the local authorities to determine how they spend the funding depending on local circumstances.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what threshold needs to be met by utility companies to start emergency roadworks without a permit under highway authority permit schemes.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Emergency works are defined in legislation as works needed to deal with dangers to life and property and so must be carried out urgently. For these, and other urgent works needed to restore customer connections or deal with leaks, permits must be submitted to the relevant highway authority within two hours of works starting on site. The authority can assess these permits and request works are completed by a particular time.