Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies Spending on special educational needs in England: something has to change, published on 10 December 2024, and in particular its findings on special educational needs debt within local authorities.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. Total high needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is over £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year.
The department is providing the increase in high needs funding to help meet the increase in costs local authorities will be facing this financial year, as they in turn provide support to schools and colleges, and ultimately to children and young people with SEND.
Nevertheless, the government recognises that the rising costs of SEND provision are putting a strain on local government finances, and in particular, the impact of dedicated schools grant deficits on councils’ finances. In the Spending Review on 11 June, we confirmed that the Core Schools Budget, which includes funding for local authorities’ high needs budgets, will rise to £69.5 billion by 2028/29. We intend to set out plans for reforming the SEND system in further detail later this year. Our objective is to ensure that local authorities, schools and colleges can deliver high quality services for children and young people with SEND in a financially sustainable way.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to amend section 81 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 so that local authorities can levy fines against utility companies that fail to maintain street apparatus to their reasonable satisfaction.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government does not currently have any plans to amend the legislation in this way. Utility companies already have a duty to maintain their apparatus in the street. Where a local authority becomes aware of defective apparatus they should notify the owner of the apparatus. If the apparatus presents a hazard that could result in danger to the public, then the authority should take any appropriate action, which might include an officer remaining on site until the owner of the apparatus attends, or ensuring that suitable actions to make the site safe are carried out. The authority can recover reasonable costs for doing so from the asset owner.
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 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 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 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 Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what advice the Deputy Prime Minister received from (1) the Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office, (2) the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, and (3) the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team, regarding ministerial discussions with the Unite trade union.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As set out in the Ministerial Code, there is an established process in place for the declaration and management of private interests held by ministers. This ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any actual or perceived conflicts of interest. Any advice given to ministers as part of this process would be in confidence.
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.