Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
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 to help tackle foreign financial interference in domestic politics from (a) Open Society Foundations and (b) think tanks and academics funded by foreign governments.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The UK Government takes attempts by any country to intervene in democratic processes very seriously. It is, and always will be, an absolute priority to protect our democratic and electoral processes, including from covert political funding.
The National Security Act 2023 provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to deter, detect, and disrupt modern-day state threats, including interference. Amongst other things, it is illegal for foreign states to engage in conduct that interferes with our elections and other political processes. The Act also provides for the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS). The scheme’s aims are twofold: firstly, to strengthen the resilience of the UK political system against covert foreign influence and, secondly, to provide greater assurance around the activities of specified foreign powers or entities who pose a national security risk to the UK.
In addition, as set out by the Security Minister in Parliament on 4 March, under the counter-political interference and espionage plan, officials are developing a programme of work to engage with the UK’s think-tanks and non-profit sector to discuss the threats that they face from foreign interference.
In December 2025, the Secretary of State commissioned former permanent secretary Philip Rycroft to lead an independent review into foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics. The government is committed to responding formally and in full to the Rycroft Review in advance of the Commons report stage of the Representation of the People Bill.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what use of National Insurance numbers is made to verify (a) electoral registration, (b) postal vote registration and (c) the submission of completed postal votes, for (i) in UK Parliamentary elections in Great Britain, (ii) Scottish Parliamentary elections, (iii) local elections in England, (iv) local elections in Wales, (v) local elections in Scotland, (vi) Welsh Senedd elections and (vii) elections in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Applicants for electoral registration in Great Britain are required to provide a National Insurance number or, if they are not able to do so, the reason they cannot provide it. The applicant’s National Insurance number is checked to confirm that the details provided match those on record at DWP for that National Insurance number.
Since the introduction of the online absent vote application services in 2023, National Insurance numbers are also collected as part of postal vote applications. This acts to ensure that the person making the application is the same individual entitled to apply for the postal vote. While they are not yet a requirement for applications for postal votes for devolved elections in Scotland and Wales, this requirement will be introduced following passage of the Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Act 2025.
The provision of a National Insurance number is compulsory for electoral registration in Northern Ireland. Postal vote applications in Northern Ireland are checked against information held on the register, including the National Insurance number.
National Insurance numbers are not used for the submission of completed postal votes.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) discussions has his Department had with, and (b) representations has his Department received from, Labour Together / Think Labour in relation to its proposals for compulsory voting.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department has had no discussions with, and received no representations from, Labour Together / Think Labour in relation to proposals for compulsory voting.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the sufficiency of corporate information published on Companies House to help political parties meet the proposed (a) ‘revenue’ test and Person of Significant Control tests and (b) due diligence requirements for political donations.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In most cases, sufficient information will be publicly available on Companies House to determine the permissibility of companies and limited liability partnerships wishing to make political donations.
The revenue test requires recipients to check that the company or Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) has made sufficient revenue to cover their donation. This information can generally be found in the accounts published on Companies House. Where these are not publicly available, for example for small and micro companies, the recipient will need to request the information in order to carry out the check.
The Person of Significant Control register on the Companies House website contains the information required for the recipient of a donation to carry out this test. The register also includes notices where the information is in the process of being updated.
We will work closely with the Electoral Commission on the development of the statutory guidance for the know your donor scheme, to ensure it provides sufficient support to recipients of donations to undertake their know your donor risk assessment.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has considered reforming the law on election petitions.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department currently has no plans to make reforms to the law on election petitions.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
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 the news story entitled Appointment of Mo Baines as Lead Non-Executive Director, published on 15 May 2026, whether Mo Baines was appointed by open and fair competition, and whether she made a declaration of previous political activity under the Governance Code for Public Appointments.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Mo Baines was appointed via fair and open competition and provided a full declaration of interests to MHCLG prior to her appointment as Lead Non-Executive Director. This was shared with the Department in line with the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
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 the transparency data, "MHCLG: spending over £25,000, February 2026", published on 17 April 2026, what was the purpose and specification of the payment to Cognizant Worldwide Limited, Ref: 5105609895, on Priorities Dashboard 01, for £39,156.72.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The purpose and specification of the of the payment to Cognizant Worldwide Limited, Ref: 5105609895, on Priorities Dashboard 01, for £39,156.72 was for specialist technical resource to design and develop a dashboard tool to measure and track delivery priorities.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
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 the gov.uk collection entitled Local government reorganisation: Policy and programme updates, updated 12 March 2026, whether he intends to hold shadow unitary elections in each of the localities listed, other than Surrey, in May 2027.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is continuing to take forward the programme of local government reorganisation and councils should continue to plan on the basis of the current timetable.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the support of the local authority is a necessary condition of a proposed development being part of the Government’s new towns programme.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authority support is not a condition of a proposed development being part of the new towns programme.
As per Annex C: Locations Methodology of the New Towns Draft Programme consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, sub-criteria and guidance in respect of programme objective 4 makes clear that locations should have the backing of either a local authority, a Mayoral Combined Authority, and/or a developer.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Ministerial Envoys in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets have inspected the accounts and finances of Aspire.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is not the Ministerial Envoys’ role to inspect the accounts and finances of political parties in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
The Electoral Commission is the independent regulator responsible for overseeing elections and regulating political finance. Political parties are required to submit an annual statement of accounts to the Electoral Commission. Any breaches of the rules are a matter for the Electoral Commission and the police.