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, whether legislation will provide for the visitor levy to be charged, unless otherwise exempted, on (a) Airbnb lets, (b) holiday caravan pitches, (c) holiday caravan rentals, (d) YMCA hostels, (e) holiday campsites, (f) scout and girl guide campsites, (g) musical festival tents and yhurts.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The visitor levy will apply to commercially let visitor accommodation, including short term lets. National exemptions will apply to temporary accommodation, local authority-run shelters and refuges. Strategic authorities will also have the option to exempt certain types of accommodation in their areas, such as camping and tent pitches, hostels and dormitory-style accommodation that are often used for residential trips by youth groups.
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 14 September 2026 to Question 21260 on Local Government: Elections, if her department will update the published timetable to include all relevant mayoral elections scheduled for (a) 2027 and (b) 2028.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department regularly publishes lists setting out local authority, combined authority and combined county authority election cycles in England which was last updated 22 July 2025.
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, if she will place a copy of the Ministerial submissions for (a) the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation and government response, (b) draft and final Local Government Finance Settlement 2025-2028 in the Library.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation and Government response are available on gov.uk here.
The final Local Government Finance Settlement 2025-26 and associated documents are available on gov.uk here.
The final Local Government Finance Settlement 2026-27 to 2028-29 and associated documents are available on gov.uk here.
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 14 September 2026, to Question 21260, on Local Government: Elections, and with reference to the guidance, Local authority, combined authority, and county combined authority election cycles in England, updated 22 July 2025, what discussions have been made with local authorities on moving the date of the scheduled May 2028 combined authority and county combined authority elections.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Government has received written representations from areas on the Devolution Priority Programme regarding rescheduling the mayoral elections for combined and county combined authorities that are currently scheduled for May 2028. Local leaders also brought these up in conversations with Ministers on recent engagement calls.
We are pleased with the progress made so far on devolution in these areas and reflect positively on the appetite to have a mayor in place sooner. After considering these representations we have concluded that on balance it provides more certainty to stay with the 2028 timetable for mayoral elections in these areas, at which point they will also be joined by the new mayoral elections for areas announced at the Budget.
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 plans she has to undertake a governance review of the (a) Greater Lincolnshire and (b) Hull and East Yorkshire mayoral combined authorities.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In September 2024, when the decision to proceed with the implementation of the Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority and the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority devolution agreements was announced, I agreed with the leaders of all the now constituent councils that there would be a review of governance and geography in the third year after the mayors were elected. We agreed the review would report on the effectiveness of partnership arrangements in delivering successful economic and public service outcomes which reflect the unique nature of the Humber area, with the exact terms of reference to be confirmed by MHCLG.
The Department committed to consider the recommendations of the review in good faith and to co-operate with the newly established Authorities, Councils, Police and Crime Commissioners, Members of Parliament and other stakeholders, in order to maximise the benefits of devolution, securing vital investment and better outcomes for the communities and economies of Greater Lincolnshire, and Hull and East Yorkshire.
To meet the timetable agreed to it is my intention to initiate the preparation of the review in early 2027, with the review itself taking place from May 2027 onwards.
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 9 October 2026 to Question 28657 on Local Government: Devolution, what consideration she has given to extending the right to request to other local authorities; and if she will make it her policy to open up the right to local councils.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As set out in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, the Right to Request is a formal mechanism through which Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities can ask the Government directly for further powers, funding or partnerships. It is right that this is for mayoral authorities, as Mayors are elected directly and are at the forefront of the expansion of the devolution framework.
We are committed to expanding powers, as promised in the Rewiring the State Cabinet Statement. We will set out in the upcoming Delivery Plan how we will do this, and are working closely with Strategic Authorities, local authorities and other sector bodies and leaders to make sure we deliver the greatest transfer of power out of Whitehall in a generation.
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 2 September 2026 to Question 19365 on Local Government: Reorganisation, for what reason the Electoral Commission was not consulted on the cancellation of council elections announced on 18 December 2025.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government wrote to the Commission on 18 December 2025 and considered its representations ahead of decisions about the potential postponement of local elections in 2026. However, there was no requirement to consult the Electoral Commission.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2026 to Question 21228 on Labour Rural Research Group, if she will place in the Library a copy of the letter from the Research Group and the reply.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The requested correspondence will be placed in the Library.
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 3 September 2026 to Question 20860 on Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, what assessment her Department has made of whether foreign funding is being used to lobby on divestment policies in the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG recognises that Local Government pension funds, asset pools and councils face pressure from campaign groups to adopt divestment policies. The scheme operates under a robust framework, which includes a clear approach to divestment, helping to protect funds from such influence. While administering authorities should consider member views, the Department has published statutory guidance on Investment Strategy Statements which makes clear they should not place disproportionate weight on the views of particular campaign groups or consultation respondents where those views may not be representative of the wider membership.
The statutory guidance on Investment Strategy Statements, which was published on 29 June 2026 also sets out that Local Government Pension Scheme asset pools are responsible for implementing the investment strategies which their partner administering authorities have set, and strategies should not set exclusions for investments in individual countries, investment styles or companies.
The guidance can be found here.
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, if she will provide a relevant hyperlink to the guidance from the Local Government Boundary Commission for England that councils are expected to follow when submitting proposals for new boundaries and warding; and whether it is the policy of the Secretary of State to have regard to that guidance when determining proposals from local authorities for new shadow unitary structures, prior to any post-implementation review by the Commission.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England provides guidance to councils undergoing reorganisation on boundaries and warding, which is accessible on their website under the Online Resources section here.
In formulating proposals for councillor numbers of new unitary authorities, councils were asked by government to have regard to Local Government Boundary Commission for England guidance when developing proposals.
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has wide-ranging experience of recommending local boundary arrangements, as well as their published guidance and can support councils in relation to local government reorganisation. There are two main areas where they have offered to assist councils in developing proposals for submission to the Secretary of State and ultimately inclusion in the structural change order: identifying the number of councillors to be elected to a new authority and, subsequently, developing interim warding arrangements to enable the new authority to run its elections. Once new unitary authorities exist in law, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (the Commission) is then able to carry out an electoral review of the new authority. Ministers will have regard to all information available to them, when reaching a decision on which proposal, if any, to implement.