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, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2026 to Question 105220 on MHCLG: Publicity, which suppliers his Department has used for publishing content in foreign languages in the last 12 months.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department does not hold the information in the format requested.
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 make an assessment of the potential impact of the Greater London Authority supplementary business rate arising from increases in Rateable Values from the 2026 business rates revaluation on the business rates of medium-size pubs in London in 2026-27.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Greater London Authority currently levies a Business Rates Supplement (BRS) to fund the costs of the Crossrail project (renamed Elizabeth line in 2016). The Mayor of London approved the Crossrail Business Rate Supplement policies for 2026-27 via a formal decision published on 16 January 2026, increasing the rateable value threshold above which the BRS applies from £75,000 to £92,000 from 1 April 2026 in line with average percentage increase in rateable values. In line with the requirements of the Crossrail BRS final prospectus published when the supplement was introduced in 2010-11, the Mayor is required to increase the threshold in line with the average change in rateable values in London at each revaluation. The intent of this threshold increase is to ensure that the total number of ratepayers liable to pay the BRS remains broadly unchanged each year.
On 27 January the government announced that for 2026/27 it was providing a further 15% business rates relief to pubs and live music venues on top of the support already announced at the Budget. Where business rate reliefs are implemented under section 47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, such as the Pubs and Live Music Venues Relief Scheme, Business Rates Supplements are adjusted to reflect the percentage relief provided by those schemes in line with the requirements of section 13(7) of the Business Rates Supplement Act 2009. It is for the 33 London billing authorities and the Greater London Authority to ensure that the required determinations and resulting adjustments are made to ratepayer bills in respect of BRS liabilities.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason the proposed High Value Council Tax Surcharge will be levied on the property owner of the dwelling.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The High Value Council Tax Surcharge is intended to address aspects of unfairness in the current Council Tax system. Owners of properties worth £10 million should not be paying less tax than those renting an ordinary family home.
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, pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2026, to Question 107026, on Asylum: Housing, what criteria was used to select the range of local authorities to engage with on the new model for asylum accommodation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has worked in close partnership with local authorities to develop a new, more sustainable model for asylum accommodation.
A cross-section of local authorities were selected across different geographies and political colours so that a range of perspectives could be considered throughout the development of the new model.
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 are the internal areas within the proposed Chinese Embassy that would be exempt from UK inspection and verification.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Full reasons for the decision in question are set out in the Secretary of State’s decision letter which can be found on gov.uk here.
The letter and associated Inspector’s Report must be read in their entirety. Planning enforcement is addressed at paragraphs 103-105 of the decision letter.
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 there is a tracker document for the (a) pipeline and (b) applications in relation to the 150 national infrastructure application target.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department tracks the progress of the commitment to decide 150 planning decisions on major infrastructure projects by the end of this Parliament.
The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) are responsible for the Infrastructure Pipeline.
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, pursuant to the answer of 28 May 2024, to Question 53574, on Chinese Embassy: Planning Permission, and with reference to page 26 of the Section 106 agreement, for what reason the agreement references Articles 13 and 141 of the EU Treaty Articles.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Full reasons for the decision in question are set out in the Secretary of State’s decision letter which can be found on gov.uk here.
The letter and associated Inspector’s Report must be read in their entirety. The EU Treaty Articles are addressed at footnote 47 of the decision letter.
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 many Section 321 directions have been issued to allow for closed planning hearings in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In the last ten years Section 321 directions have been issued in relation to two applications.
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 potential impact of changes in council tax on the cost of living from April 2026.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Council tax levels are decided by local authorities, and the Department has not made specific assessments on the impact of council tax levels on the cost of living for households. For the vast majority of councils, the government intends to maintain a core 3% referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept. The government will set out final referendum principles as part of the local government finance settlement. Councils are required to put in place council tax support schemes to support those on low incomes.
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 Northern Growth Strategy, January 2026, CP1485, paragraph 4 and footnotes 3 and 4, what is the evidential basis for the underlying statistics of the 2.2% productivity growth per year in the largest northern mayoral strategic authorities.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Footnotes 3 and 4 of the Northern Growth Strategy: Case for change outline how the calculation of compound average productivity growth rate in the largest northern Mayoral Strategic Authorities is based on ONS Official Statistics, using subnational estimates for Gross Value Added and hours worked.