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 the annual cost will be of the draft Local Government Pension Scheme (Fair Deal) Regulations 2026.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Some one-off costs to service providers and authorities are expected, relating to bringing a small number of workers providing local services under outsourced contracts into the Local Government Pension Scheme who are not currently members. These costs are expected to be offset over time by savings for service providers and authorities from improved risk-sharing arrangements, increased competition in the market, and simpler administration and actuarial funding arrangements.
We will consider information on costs provided in response to the consultation launched on 13 October 2025.
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 her Department has issued guidance to local authorities on the access of journalists to council proceedings.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Transparency and openness should be fundamental to everything councils do. Under the Local Government Act 1972, all local authority meetings must be open to the public, including journalists, except in limited, defined circumstances.
The most recent guidance remains the 2014 ‘Open and accountable local government: plain English guide’ that was designed to support members of the public, including journalists, accessing, recording, or reporting on local authority meetings and obtaining meeting documents.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what her planned timeline is for the introduction of a mandatory short term let registration scheme.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Parliament legislated for a registration scheme for short-term lets in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023. A pilot will launch later this year with the scheme launching in 2026.
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, which Minister in his Department is the designated Planning Minister for the called-in Chinese Embassy planning application.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 62966 on 7 July 2025.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the letter from the Rt hon. Member for Braintree of 8 September 2025 on Wethersfield.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
I apologise to my Rt Hon friend for the delay. He will receive a response by 28 October 2025.
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 had discussions with local authorities on running election pilots in the May 2026 local elections.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government committed in its manifesto to encourage greater participation in democracy. To support this, the Government is exploring ways to make voting in person more efficient, more convenient, and better aligned with the expectations of today’s electors.
Local authorities were invited to submit applications to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England, and these are being considered for approval.
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, if he will publish the representations made to the Special Development Order planning inquiry for the Entertainment Resort Complex in Bedford.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 3 July 2025, my Department published a document titled ‘Request for planning permission: Entertainment Resort Complex, Bedford: Environmental Impact Assessment Handling, Publicity and Consultation Arrangements’.
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to this document which sets out how the Department intends to conduct publication, notification and consultation in considering a request for planning permission for an Entertainment Resort Complex and associated development in Bedford. It includes how the public will be informed of the final decision.
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 paragraph 97 of his policy paper entitled Pride in Place Strategy, published on 25 September 2025, whether the Cumulative Impact Assessments process will regulate existing betting premises.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Cumulative Impact Assessments will give local authorities powers to determine whether the cumulative impact of the number or density of gambling premises in a local area undermines the licensing objectives, particularly in areas that have been identified as vulnerable to gambling-related harms. We will introduce Cumulative Impact Assessments when parliamentary time allows.
While we expect that this would apply to new premises seeking a gambling licence or variations of existing licences, local authorities do already have a number of tools to manage existing betting premises, such as site inspections, restrictions on opening hours and suspending or revoking a gambling premises licence if premises are found to be non-complaint with the licensing objectives.
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 local government finance statistics collated by his Department, what information he holds on how much local authorities made in profit on (a) on-street and (b) off-street parking in 2024-25.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government holds the below On and Off-Street Parking income data for Local Authorities in England for 2024-25. This is sourced from Revenue Outturn returns submitted by each authority in England.
All monetary values are presented in thousands of pounds (£000)
Type of Parking | Sales, Fees and Charges | Other Income | Total Income |
On-street parking | 1,362,370 | 99,522 | 1,461,892 |
Off-street parking | 842,644 | 33,513 | 876,158 |
Local authorities are empowered to determine their parking arrangements through the Traffic Management Act 2004, which requires them to ensure that parking policies be proportionate, support town centre prosperity, and reconcile competing demands for kerb space whilst ensuring traffic moves freely and quickly on their roads and the roads of nearby authorities.
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, how much (a) revenue and (b) capital he plans to allocate to the Pride in Place programme in each constituent nation in each year of the next 10 years.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We recently announced the Pride in Place programme, which will see up to £280 million shared among 14 places in Scotland, each receiving up to £20 million over 10 years. Up to £180 million will be provided to a further 9 Welsh communities as part of the programme.
These areas will join 10 areas in Scotland and 5 in Wales where work is already underway, taking the totals up to £480 million over 10 years in Scotland and £280 million over 10 years in Wales.
For Northern Ireland, corresponding funding will be made available. MHCLG and the Northern Ireland Office are working in partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive to determine the appropriate delivery approach.
Further details on the neighbourhoods selected, individual funding profiles and the breakdown between revenue (RDEL) and capital (CDEL) will be shared in due course.