Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
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 made an assessment of the potential impact of the second homes council tax premium on house prices.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The use of council tax premiums is at local authorities’ discretion. The Government does not make housing market assessments based on premiums.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2025 to Question 95881 on council tax, what data was provided to Office for Budget Responsibility by her Department to assist them in the calculation of the council tax receipts in England.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The OBR forecast methodology for council tax can be found on their website, including information about the data they commission.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to issue updated land use in England statistics.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department is working to update the land use statistics’ methodology to take advantage of new, more granular data from Ordnance Survey. Publication is expected to resume this year.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of aggregate council tax receipts in England in (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28 and (d) 2028-29.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As part of the provisional settlement the Government has made estimates of changes to Core Spending power between 2026 and 2029. This includes estimates of the council tax requirements councils will set for those years. These estimates are set out here - Core Spending Power table: provisional local government finance settlement 2026 to 2029 - GOV.UK. These estimates exclude parish precepts, police and crime commissioner precepts, as well as the High Value Council Tax Surcharge being introduced from 2028.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 52 of her Department's publication entitled HMT Budget 2025: Policy Costings, published in November 2025, what is the estimated uplift in the non-payment rate of council tax.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The High Value Council Tax Surcharge (HVCTS) is a new tax and is separate to Council Tax. HVCTS costings do not assume any increase in the non-payment of Council Tax. The assumptions used to estimate the revenue raised by the HVCTS are set out in the costing note published at Budget 2025.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
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 re-introduce the guidance entitled Four-day working week arrangements in local authorities, withdrawn on 8 November 2024.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Secretary of State wrote to all Council Leaders and Chief Executives in England on 19 December 2025, setting out the Government’s policy that local authorities should not be offering full time pay for part time work. This policy is reflected in the Best Value Guidance issued in May 2024.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate has the Land Registry made of the potential impact of the number of years of the lease length and the capital value of a leasehold (a) flat and (b) house.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is not within HM Land Registry's remit to conduct estimates of potential impacts of the number of years of the lease length and the capital value for flats or houses.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 30 of her Department's publication entitled Budget 2025: Policy Costings, published in November 2025, and pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2025 to Question 88672 on Business Rates: Tax Allowances, what estimate her Department has made of the average monetary value of the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief or multiplier to an average RHL hereditament in (a) 2024-25, (b) 2025-26 and (c) 2026-27.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.
The total change in business rates revenue is set out in the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 30 of her Department's publication entitled HMT Budget 2025: Policy Costings, published in November 2025, and to the Answer of 18 November 2025, to Question 88672 on Business Rates: Tax Allowances, for what reason the £965 million value of the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure multipliers in 2026-27 is less than the £1.4 billion value of Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief in 2025-26.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.
The total change in business rates revenue is set out in the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 30 of her Department's publication entitled HMT Budget 2025: Policy Costings, published in November 2025, what is the notional increase in revenue from the abolition of the 2025-26 centrally funded RHL relief in 2026-27.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.
The total change in business rates revenue is set out in the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook.