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 plans the UK Government has to agree further (a) Town Deals, (b) Growth Deals and (c) County Deals, with local councils and local areas, in (i) England and (ii) other parts of the United Kingdom.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There are no plans for further Town Deals. The programme is currently in delivery. There is no new funding available via the Towns Fund.
The English Devolution White Paper and subsequent legislation has indicated a move away from County Deals, as an approach to devolution, and towards the creation of Strategic Authorities, with a consistent set of powers and functions as defined by the Devolution Framework. Our ambition is that everywhere in England has, or is in the process of establishing, a Strategic Authority with the powers needed to deliver good growth in every postcode by the end of 2027, and Strategic Authorities in place everywhere by the end of 2028.
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 is the status of each Growth Deal signed in the last two Parliaments.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Historic ‘Growth Deals’, which provided funds to local enterprise partnerships or LEPs (partnerships between local authorities and businesses) for projects that benefited the local area and economy, were all signed between 2014 and 2017, prior to the last two Parliaments.
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 MHCLG annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, HC484, 15 July 2026, page 86 (footnote 3) and page 88, whether the monetary value of the benefit in kind of the Ministerial residence in 2024-25 was reported to HMRC on time for that tax year.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG officials are responsible for reporting benefits in kind to HMRC as the Department is the employer. Due to an administrative error, this was done so after the usual reporting deadline, however all related personal tax issues were dealt with on time.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the London Borough of Tower Hamlet's Cabinet paper entitled JP Morgan Chase’s Canary Wharf Development and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), of 27 March 2026, if he will place in the Library a copy of the final Memorandum of Understanding between her Department, the Greater London Authority and London Borough of Tower Hamlets on the business rates exemption for the proposed JP Morgan building in Canary Wharf; whether the programme has Subsidy Control consent; and what the gross cost of business rate relief is in each year to the public purse for each of the next 20 years.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The provision of business rates relief will be subject to a formal subsidy control assessment. The actual level of relief will be subject to the actual rates and liabilities incurred by the development and certain criteria being achieved. The level of total relief will be capped to protect the value for money this investment offers to the taxpayer.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 22 June 2026, to Question 9325, on Council of the Nations and Regions: National Identity, for what reason it has met twice.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The government works in partnership with Mayors and devolved governments through a range of intergovernmental fora such as the Council of the Nations and Regions, the Mayoral Council, and the National Economic Council. The Council of Nations and Regions met twice to discuss inward investment and trade and AI respectively. We will continue to use these forums to deliver on shared priorities.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Council of Nations and Regions will continue to meet under the new Administration.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The government works in partnership with Mayors and devolved governments through a range of intergovernmental fora such as the Council of the Nations and Regions, the Mayoral Council, and the National Economic Council. The Council of Nations and Regions met twice to discuss inward investment and trade and AI respectively. We will continue to use these forums to deliver on shared 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 oral contribution of the Minister of State for Local Government and Homelessness in response to the question from the hon. Member for New Forest East during the Urgent Question on Local Government Reorganisation of 13 July 2026, Official Report, column 618, if she will place in the Library a copy of the response to the Rt hon. Member for New Forest East.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not routinely publish correspondence between Ministers and Members of Parliament. The reasons for the local government reorganisation decision in Essex were set out in the then Secretary of State’s decision letter to local council leaders of 25 March 2026, available here.
On 7 September 2026, the Government announced that it had withdrawn this decision and the proposals for Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock will now be considered alongside the wider local government reorganisation programme.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to the No10 press release, Whitehall officials to be posted into mayors' offices as PM marks first month of No10 North, of 21 August 2026, what the estimated cost is of the mayoral secondment programme; from which budget it will be allocated and whether additional civil service staff will be hired.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Departments will cover the cost to support the capacity and capability building of MSAs as they go through the process of institution building. It is not expected that additional civil servants will be hired by departments to fill roles for individuals participating in this secondment programme.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any recommendations in relation to local government have been submitted to the Call for Ideas on the 7th National Action Plan for Open Government.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The call for evidence for the Seventh UK National Action Plan for Open Government received 17 ideas that specifically mentioned ‘local government’. These are organised against different sub-themes such as open data, public participation, anti-corruption, and Freedom of Information. Further Information about themes and sub-themes are contained within ANNEX I: Detailed Theme Assessment Tables of the call for evidence outcome document.
We will look at the local aspect of sub-themes as relevant commitments are taken forwards.
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 MHCLG annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, HC484, 15 July 2026, page 56, what was the nature of the Parliamentary Ombudsman complaint that was upheld in full, and whether compensation has been paid.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The complaint concerned a longstanding individual case involving historic legal costs and a Charging Order. The Department followed the Ombudsman’s recommendation for a financial remedy.