Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June 2025 to Question 54290 on Chinese Embassy, whether the Bank of England has any role in relation to the cyber-security of financial institutions in and near the City of London.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is the UK's technical authority for cyber security, including helping to protect the UK's critical infrastructure and services from cyber-attacks. The Bank of England, through the Prudential Regulation Authority and working closely with the NCSC, requires PRA-regulated financial institutions to have rigorous cyber-security frameworks in place and requires regular assessment of financial institutions’ cyber security measures.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2025 to Question 60473 on Defending Democracy Taskforce, if she will publish a redacted version of the findings.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Written Ministerial Statement I issued on 14 May provided a transparent and comprehensive overview of the Review’s key findings and recommendations, while protecting sensitive national security information which could be of use to our adversaries.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Table 5.8 of the Spending Review 2025, published on 11 June 2025, how much of the spending line Memo: Police Core Spending is made up of (a) government grant and (b) council tax receipts in each year.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As set out in the Spending Review 2025 document, published 11 June 2025, the Phase 2 settlement provides an average 1.7% real terms increase per year in police spending power. Over the SR period, police spending power is projected to increase by an average 2.3% per year in real terms.
Police core spending power includes projected spending from a mix of central government funding and local taxation through the police council tax precept. This 2.3% projection is therefore premised on the police being funded through increases to both. However, this remains subject to final decisions on precept levels and individual police and crime commissioner decisions. The government will set out spending plans for police forces in England and Wales, including the final precept level and core government funding, at the annual police funding settlement in the usual way.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has had recent discussions with the Charity Commission on the activities of (a) Dar Al-Hekma and (b) Abrar Islamic Foundation.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth recently met with the Charity Commission to discuss a range of issues. The Charity Commission has live regulatory compliance cases open into the Abrar Islamic Foundation and the Dar Alhekma Trust and they will not hesitate to take regulatory action if necessary. Given the nature of the allegations, the Commission has also referred the serious allegations to the Metropolitan Police Service.
As the independent regulator, the Charity Commission has a wide range of powers to tackle misconduct or mismanagement in charities. It acts robustly to tackle those who abuse charities. We keep the Charity Commission's powers under regular review and are actively considering whether further powers are required.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
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 23 June 2025 to Question 60129 on Local Government Finance, whether the LG DEL figures of (a) £15.0bn in 2025-26, (b) £15.4bn in 2026-27, (c) £15.6bn in 2027-28 and (d) £15.8bn in 2028-29 set out in Table 5.17 of CP1336 were used as the evidential basis for the core spending power calculations in the Spending Review 2025.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Core Spending Power (CSP) figures in Table 5.17 of the Spending Review document do contain the uplift from the LG Resource DEL figures, although not all of LG DEL is distributed through CSP. However, the CSP figures also contain estimations for Council Tax revenue which reflect the referendum principles announced at the Spending Review. They also contain an adjustment reflecting the impact of MHCLG retaining grant funding from 2026-27 onwards that has been surrendered in previous years to offset the impacts of additional business rates retained in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, as outlined in footnote four of the table as well.
There is £3.4 billion of new grant funding which will be delivered through the Local Government Finance Settlement within financial years 2026-27 to 2028-29, and individual local authority CSP figures will be confirmed at settlement in the usual way.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
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 7.12 of her Department's publication, Local authority funding reform objectives and principles consultation: summary of responses published on 20 June 2025, whether she plans to set a higher council tax referendum threshold for councils with a Band D council tax below the notional council tax.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognised in its response to the consultation a number of respondents had requested increased council tax flexibility to reflect funding reform. The Spending Review confirmed the government intends to maintain the 3% threshold with an additional 2% for the adult social care precept, in line with OBR forecasts. Final referendum principles will be confirmed at the local government finance settlement, subject to approval by the House of Commons, in the usual way.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
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 publication entitled Count of Traveller Caravans, January 2025: England, published on 25 June 2025, what steps she is taking to help tackle the increase of (a) unauthorised traveller development on land they own and (b) unauthorised traveller encampments and trespass on land they do not own.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Whilst the number of caravans on unauthorised sites did increase between the 2024 and 2025 counts, local authorities have been encouraged to report excess numbers on authorised sites as unauthorised so the reported increase may reflect improved data quality, rather than a genuine increase in the number of caravans on this site type.
More widely, the number of caravans on unauthorised encampments is a very small proportion of the overall number of caravans reported (1%) and subject to more fluctuation than other site types.
In relation to local planning authority enforcement powers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 46336 on 30 April 2025.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2025 to Question 58059 on Street Trading: Licensing, what guidance he has given to local authorities on the use of Public Space Protection Orders to ban street stalls by political campaigners engaging in lawful free speech.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The statutory framework for PSPOs sets out clear conditions for their use.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
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 6.2.5 of the consultation entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of council tax increases on funding allocations to local authorities with average Band D council taxes below £2,000.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government’s proposal is to make funding available in a way that enables all local authorities to provide the same level of service to their residents. We propose to do this by setting the notional Council Tax level at the average Band D level of Council Tax in England, which will fully equalise for a local authority’s ability to raise Council Tax.
The Spending Review confirmed that the government intends to maintain the 3% core referendum principle and a 2% principle for the adult social care precept, in line with the previous government’s policy and OBR forecasts. These principles are to protect working people and ensure residents have the final say on excessive increases. We have set out further detail on these proposals and are inviting views on their potential impact, in the Fair Funding Review 2.0, which is open until 15 August 2025. Final referendum principles will be confirmed at the local government finance settlement in the usual way.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
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 implications for her policies of the report by Localis entitled Reorganisation, local government and the future of English Devolution, published on 25 June 2025; and what estimate her Department has made of the reduction in the number of councillors from local government reforms.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I would like to thank Professors Copus and Leach for their analysis of the short and long-term history of English local government reform, which my officials are considering. The department has not made an estimate of the reduction in the number of councillors from local government reforms. It is important that councils have the right number of members to achieve the strategic, decision-making and representative roles of the authority. As I set out in my answer to PQ 26697 on 4 February 2025, my department is liaising closely with the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) so that they are involved at the appropriate time to ensure fair electoral arrangements across the area of any new unitary local authorities.