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, whether Viva Midco Limited (parent company of Avant Homes) remains a member of the Responsible Actors Scheme.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Yes, Viva Midco Limited, parent company of Avant Homes, remains a member of the Responsible Actors Scheme. The names of Scheme members are listed on gov.uk.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that patients referred for NHS elective eye care are offered an adequate choice of NHS and independent sector providers.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients have a legal right to choose where they go when referred for consultant-led care. This includes NHS-funded elective eye care where clinically appropriate for both NHS and independent sector providers delivering NHS services. We are protecting patient choice through the Health Bill and strengthening it through improved digital services, helping patients make informed choices about their care.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, with reference to the answer of 20 April 2026 to Question 124681 on Vistry Group: Affordable Housing, if he will publish the Vistry grant agreement with Homes England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In relation to Homes England’s 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, Vistry has successfully delivered against the milestones in their delivery plan. The delivery plan is not published and there are no plans currently to publish this.
The Department and Homes England hold information on the following funding provided through the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26 and the Home Building Fund.
The total amount of grant funding paid by Homes England to Vistry under the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme in each of the financial years requested was £54,636,334 for 2024-5 and £65,925,098 for 2025-6.
In addition, 2025-26 also saw Homes England enter into a Joint Venture with Vistry through the Home Building Fund, with Homes England committing c. £60m, of which c. £18.4m was drawn down in 2025-26.
Grant agreements with individual partners are not published because they contain commercially sensitive information. Homes England does, however, publish example grant agreements, which can be found on gov.uk here.
In London, the Greater London Authority publishes a delegated approvals log which shows allocations approved for housing providers, which can be found on gov.uk here.
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, with reference to the answer of 20 April 2026 to Question 124681 on Vistry Group: Affordable Housing, if he will publish the Homes England Vistry delivery plan.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In relation to Homes England’s 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, Vistry has successfully delivered against the milestones in their delivery plan. The delivery plan is not published and there are no plans currently to publish this.
The Department and Homes England hold information on the following funding provided through the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26 and the Home Building Fund.
The total amount of grant funding paid by Homes England to Vistry under the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme in each of the financial years requested was £54,636,334 for 2024-5 and £65,925,098 for 2025-6.
In addition, 2025-26 also saw Homes England enter into a Joint Venture with Vistry through the Home Building Fund, with Homes England committing c. £60m, of which c. £18.4m was drawn down in 2025-26.
Grant agreements with individual partners are not published because they contain commercially sensitive information. Homes England does, however, publish example grant agreements, which can be found on gov.uk here.
In London, the Greater London Authority publishes a delegated approvals log which shows allocations approved for housing providers, which can be found on gov.uk here.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2026 to Question 9578 on Vistry Group: Affordable Housing, whether Vistry Group is meeting its delivery targets according to information held by (a) Homes England and (b) his Department.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In relation to Homes England’s 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, Vistry has successfully delivered against the milestones in their delivery plan. The delivery plan is not published and there are no plans currently to publish this.
The Department and Homes England hold information on the following funding provided through the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26 and the Home Building Fund.
The total amount of grant funding paid by Homes England to Vistry under the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme in each of the financial years requested was £54,636,334 for 2024-5 and £65,925,098 for 2025-6.
In addition, 2025-26 also saw Homes England enter into a Joint Venture with Vistry through the Home Building Fund, with Homes England committing c. £60m, of which c. £18.4m was drawn down in 2025-26.
Grant agreements with individual partners are not published because they contain commercially sensitive information. Homes England does, however, publish example grant agreements, which can be found on gov.uk here.
In London, the Greater London Authority publishes a delegated approvals log which shows allocations approved for housing providers, which can be found on gov.uk here.
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 was the total amount of central government funding given to the Vistry Group in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In relation to Homes England’s 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, Vistry has successfully delivered against the milestones in their delivery plan. The delivery plan is not published and there are no plans currently to publish this.
The Department and Homes England hold information on the following funding provided through the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26 and the Home Building Fund.
The total amount of grant funding paid by Homes England to Vistry under the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme in each of the financial years requested was £54,636,334 for 2024-5 and £65,925,098 for 2025-6.
In addition, 2025-26 also saw Homes England enter into a Joint Venture with Vistry through the Home Building Fund, with Homes England committing c. £60m, of which c. £18.4m was drawn down in 2025-26.
Grant agreements with individual partners are not published because they contain commercially sensitive information. Homes England does, however, publish example grant agreements, which can be found on gov.uk here.
In London, the Greater London Authority publishes a delegated approvals log which shows allocations approved for housing providers, which can be found on gov.uk here.
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, pursuant to the answer of 17 June 2026 to Question 8252 on Election Pilot schemes, for what reason the applications were withdrawn; how much was spent on cancelled voting pilots; and whether any other local authorities had cancelled pilots and compensation.
Answered by Samantha Dixon
A number of local authorities withdrew their applications to participate in flexible voting pilots for the May 2026 elections following the planned postponement of their polls, which meant pilots could no longer be delivered as intended, despite the elections going ahead.
In addition, Plymouth City Council withdrew due to safety concerns arising from a planned protest outside the proposed pilot venue on the day of the pilot.
The total provided in respect of pilot delivery activity that could not proceed following a local authority's withdrawal from the May 2026 flexible voting pilots was £394,272. Funding was also provided for the development of wider pilot capability that was not deployed at the May 2026 elections but may be used to support potential future pilots.
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, pursuant to the answer of 4 June 2026 to Question HL325 on Local Government: Elections, if he will make it his policy to bring the other new combined authority mayoral elections forward to May 2027.
Answered by Nesil Caliskan
There are currently no plans to bring forward the mayoral elections in Greater Essex, Hampshire and the Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk, or Sussex and Brighton.
As previously stated, the government remains committed to the indicative timetable for local government reorganisation set out in July 2025, which will see new unitary authorities created in April 2028. We intend to hold inaugural mayoral elections in the four new combined authority areas in May 2028 to allow them to first complete the reorganisation process and ensure there are firm institutional foundations in place before the mayor takes office.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2026 to Question 5340 on MHCLG: Darlington, what was the average percentage attendance rate of assigned Darlington staff in the most recent working week for which figures are available, expressed as percentage of assigned staff attending the workplace.
Answered by Samantha Dixon
In the most recent working week for which figures are available, 44% of staff assigned to the Darlington office attended the workplace. This equates to attendance by 74 staff from a total assigned workforce of 168 colleagues based in Darlington.
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 information his Department holds on the the term limits for the positions unitary authorities elected in May 2027.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
If the Secretary of State decides to implement a proposal for unitary local government, secondary legislation, which will be subject to Parliamentary approval, will be required to abolish existing councils, establish new structures and make transitional arrangements. Those transitional arrangements, consistent with precedent, would include replacing scheduled local elections in May 2027 with elections for the new councils.
Those councillors elected to new councils in May 2027 will operate initially as councillors for shadow unitary authorities, before the new councils take on full responsibilities and go live in April 2028. The councillors serving in the existing councils being abolished that would ordinarily have had elections in May 2027 will have their terms extended for 11 months to the end of March 2028 to cover the transition period. Term lengths for councillors elected to the new councils will be provided for in the secondary legislation required to implement any proposal.