Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
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 8 September 2026, to Question 20294, on Recreation Spaces: Planning Permission, if she will place in the Library a copy of the survey sent to stakeholders on the review into recreational green spaces.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The survey formed part of targeted stakeholder engagement and was not a public consultation. The Government intends to place a copy of the survey in the Library of the House.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
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 8 September 2026 to Question 20159 on Council Tax, if she will make it her policy to provide additional financial flexibility and funding to the six councils in order to avoid increases in council tax above the council tax referendum thresholds set for the generality of councils.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to ensuring the local government funding system is fair for taxpayers across the country. We have removed referendum principles for six areas to provide the councils with flexibility to manage their financial position. It is for the councils to decide which level of council tax to set.
The six councils that will have referendum principles removed for two years currently have extremely low bills - band D taxpayers are paying £450-£1280 less than the average in England.
This policy has enabled the government to allocate over £250 million more funding to public services in places with higher need, rather than effectively subsidising low bills for 500,000 households in these areas.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
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 8 September 2026, to Question 20159, on Council tax: City of Westminster and Wandsworth, and of 9 September 2026, to Question 20138, on council tax, what is the mathematical formula for the resource adjustment, in relation to the change in council funding as a consequence of a local authority’s Band D rate, excluding police, mayoral and parish precepts, being set below the national notional council tax.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The amount of grant a council receives is unaffected by the level of tax it charges. Instead, the government's approach via the resources adjustment better takes into account of the council tax raising ability of each authority, not the level of council tax set by each council, through the use of a measure of the council tax base. To account for differing council tax raising ability, we multiply each council’s tax base (the number and band of properties) by a notional level of council tax. The technical annex on the resources adjustment published at the final Local Government Finance Settlement 2026-27 sets out how the band D equivalent council tax base is calculated which can be found, here.
More detail on Fair Funding Allocations can be found here.
A council’s actual Band D level in 2025-2026 was the basis for calculating their Core Spending Power for 2026-27 to 2028-29, with the response to UIN 20159 setting out the methodology for the each of the six councils. The actual level of council tax remains a local decision for individual councils, taking into consideration a range of local factors including the impact on taxpayers.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
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 16 September 2026, to Question 28983, on Council Tax: City of Westminster and Wandsworth, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Greater London Authority’s representation to the draft Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026-29.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government’s response to the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement Consultation is available on gov.uk here. This sets out a summary of the responses received. Individual consultation responses are not routinely published by the Department.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which organisations within the (i) public, (ii) private and (iii) voluntary sector her Department has (a) engaged with to date and (b) intends to engage with on the adoption of the new anti-Muslim hostility definition since the publication of the final definition.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government encourages organisations across the public, private and third sectors to consider how the definition may be applied in their own contexts in ways that are useful and lawful. As part of our next steps, we will work with sectors to consider practical, proportionate approaches to provide guidance and support effective implementation.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what role Ministers in the Office for Equality and Opportunity have in policy development and decisions on faith and belief; and whether Equalities Ministers attend MHCLG Ministerial meetings.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) leads the Government’s work to support and engage faith and belief groups, and coordinates the Government’s work to tackle religious hatred. While the Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith in MHCLG holds primary responsibility for faith and belief policy, they will work with other Ministers from across government who develop policy and make decisions that may impact faith and belief communities. For example, the Office for Equality and Opportunity is responsible for the Equality Act 2010, including its protections against discrimination and harassment on the basis of religion or belief.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
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 16 September 2026, to Question 28983, on Council Tax: City of Westminster and Wandsworth, whether her Department has received representations from the Hon Members for the Parliamentary constituencies representing (a) Westminster and (b) Wandsworth, relating to the government funding for their respective councils in the three-year 2026-29 Local Government Finance Settlement.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department regularly engages with MPs on a range of local government finance matters, including the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Department does not routinely provide details of individual representations or discussions.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to introduce new policies to allow councils to address the frustration of planning enforcement through the sub-division of land.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given Question UIN 80283 on 10 October 2025.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the London Plan policy on Strategic Industrial Land on housebuilding in London.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has not made a specific assessment of the London Plan policy on Strategic Industrial Land on housebuilding in the capital.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
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 the (a) Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards and (b) the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics Team on the publication of her memoir; and whether any book advance has been (a) declared as a Ministerial Interest or (b) returned to the publisher.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All relevant interests have been declared in the usual way.