Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2025 to Question 97277 on Business Rates: Tax Allowances, if he will modify the Business Rates Information Letter (5/2025) sent to English Billing Authorities on 26 November 2025 so that the calculation for Base Liability aligns with the case studies in the Budget 2025: Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure Factsheet.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Business Rates Information Letter (5/2025) is already aligned with the Budget 2025: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure factsheet.
On 15 December 2025, the government published the 2026 Supporting Small Business Relief local authority guidance which is intended to support billing authorities in administering the scheme. It can be viewed on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will modify the Business Rates Information Letter (5/2025) sent to English Billing Authorities on 26 November so that that the formula for the calculation of Transitional Relief calculates 2025-26 BL as A multiplied by M minus RHL relief where applicable.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At the Budget the Chancellor announced a Transitional Relief Scheme and a Supporting Small Business Relief scheme – both of which help ratepayers that are seeing significant bill increases as a result of the 2026 business rates revaluation.
The 2026 Supporting Small Business Relief Scheme provides support for ratepayer losing certain reliefs including the current 40% relief for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
As is made clear in paragraph 8(b) of the Annex to the Business Rates Information Letter issued on 26 November, the Base Liability (BL) within the Supporting Small Business Relief Scheme will reflect any Small Business Rate Relief, Rural Rate Relief, 2023 Supporting Small Business Relief or 2025/26 Retail Hospitality and Leisure relief applicable at 31/3/26.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he will publish guidance for Businesses on the application of the a.) Transition Relief Scheme, b.) Transition Relief Supplement, and c.) Supporting Small Business Relief Scheme.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At the Budget the Chancellor announced a business rates Transitional Relief, Transitional Relief Supplement and Supporting Small Business Relief. Regulations providing for the Transitional Relief Scheme and the Transitional Relief Supplement must be made by 31 January 2026 and will be laid in the coming weeks.
The Government will publish guidance for local authorities on the administration of the Supporting Small Business Relief Scheme in the coming weeks ahead of the 2026/27 billing cycle.
The Government has provided information on the Transitional and Supporting Small Business Reliefs that will apply from 1 April 2026 on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with planning authorities in the (a) South West, (b) South East, (c) West Midlands, (d) East Midlands and (e) the East of England on the designation of new green belts.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Government policy in respect of the designation of new Green Belts may be found in Chapter 13 of the National Planning Policy Framework, which sets out that new Green Belts should be established only in exceptional circumstances.
The Framework was recently updated following extensive consultation, including with local planning authorities.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what HM Land Registry's average response time is on requests to merge title deeds.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government does not hold the information in the format requested.
HM Land Registry processing times for a range of broad application categories can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department offers paternity leave to its staff from their first working day.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Paternity Leave entitlement is based on 26 weeks of continuous service ending with the 15th week before the baby is due. Qualifying service includes employment with another civil service organisation.
As with any changes to employment legislation, internal policies and processes will be updated as appropriate in preparation for when the Employment Rights Bill 2024 comes into effect.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of immigration on the length of waiting lists for social housing in (a) Horsham, (b) Chichester District and (c) Arun District.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department does not hold information on the immigration status of those on the waiting lists.
Local Authority Housing Statistics show that, at 31 March 2023, Horsham District Council had 740 households on the waiting list for social housing, Chichester District Council had 2,029 households on the waiting list, and Arun District Council had 1,732 households on the waiting lists.
Local Authority Housing Statistics also show that Horsham District Council has a local connection test in place to determine who qualifies for social housing, Chichester District Council has both a residency and local connection test, and Arun District Council has a residency test.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her oral contribution of 30 July 2024, Official Report, column 1194, what steps she (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to amend social housing allocation policy to give priority to local residents.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local councils already have necessary powers to give priority to local residents, and most are doing so. In March 2023, 89% of councils had a local connection test and/or a residency test in place.
Responses to the recent consultation on changes to social housing allocation tests made it clear that mandating a local connection test would not add to existing powers that councils have in any meaningful way and would only serve to remove vital flexibility to design and operate qualification tests in a way that best meets the needs of individual local areas.
The response is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-reforms-to-social-housing-allocations/outcome/government-response-to-the-consultation-on-changes-to-social-housing-allocation-tests.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the provisional allocations of the annual government finance settlement for local authorities in Sussex.
Answered by Luke Hall
Provisional local government finance settlement allocations for local authorities in England in 2021-22 were published on 17 December. The provisional allocations for local authorities in Sussex can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/core-spending-power-provisional-local-government-finance-settlement-2021-to-2022.
I intend to bring forward a final settlement for debate and a vote in the House shortly.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support (a) high street businesses and (b) community stores during the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021.
Answered by Luke Hall
This Government is fully committed to supporting the businesses and communities that make our high streets and town centres successful as the nation responds to the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Government has provided a comprehensive package of support of £200 billion to help businesses that have been affected by Covid-19. This package includes the small business grants, the coronavirus loan schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, as well as deferral of income tax payments.
We are also delivering the £50 million Reopening High Streets Safely Fund to support local authorities with rolling out extra measures to support their business communities and have introduced measures protecting commercial tenants from eviction if they are unable to pay their rent.
The High Street Task Force is also playing a vital role in supporting the recovery of our local economies, through providing intelligence and evidence to support government in its response to the Covid-19 outbreak through the creation of monthly reports, a series of webinars to help support local recovery frameworks, and Covid-specific resources in the High Street Task Force’s online resource library.