Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if her Department will issue guidance on the steps steps a local authority can take to compel a developer to comply with the conditions of their original planning consent relating to highway upgrades and adoption where the developer appears to be avoiding compliance by submitting further planning applications intended to delay or circumvent those obligations.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Guidance on local planning authorities’ enforcement powers can be found in the relevant planning practice guidance on gov.uk here.
Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities and it is for them to decide how and when they use their powers.
The government believes the current powers remain appropriate but will continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of enforcement powers available to local authorities in respect of developers who fail to comply with planning conditions on a site, while continuing to submit further planning applications within the same local authority area.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Guidance on local planning authorities’ enforcement powers can be found in the relevant planning practice guidance on gov.uk here.
Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities and it is for them to decide how and when they use their powers.
The government believes the current powers remain appropriate but will continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what national formula will be applied in calculating national distribution of the debt from county councils that are disbanded; and by what date that will be published.
Answered by Jim McMahon
On 5 February 2025 I formally invited unitary proposals from all the councils in two tier areas and their neighbouring small unitaries. It is for councils to develop robust and sustainable proposals that are in the best interests of their whole area. It is the responsibility of councils to manage their budgets, and it is standard for councils to borrow and to hold debt, which they will do in the normal course of business. Local government re-organisation does not change this.
As set out in the invitation, the default position is that assets and liabilities remain locally managed by councils. In general, as with previous restructures, there is no proposal for council debt to be addressed centrally or written off as part of reorganisation. For areas where there are exceptional circumstances where there has been failure linked to capital practices, proposals should reflect the extent to which the implications of this can be managed locally, including as part of efficiencies possible through reorganisation.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to explore alternative funding models of Internal Drainage Boards.
Answered by Jim McMahon
I refer to the Answer of 10 April 2025 to Question 43491 on Internal Drainage Boards: Finance.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, on how many days she has worked from her Department's office in Wolverhampton since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Deputy Prime Minister and ministerial team work from a number of locations and offices across the country. The Deputy Prime Minister does not regularly work from the Wolverhampton office or Darlington Campus.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
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 March 2025 to Question 30616 on Asylum: Health Services, if she will make it her policy to collect information on the amount spent by local authorities on services to support (a) refugees and (b) people seeking asylum to access healthcare services.
Answered by Jim McMahon
As set out in my answer to Question 30616, the department does not hold this information to the level requested. At this time, line 49 in the local authority expenditure and financing statistics accounts for services or interventions for asylum seekers, including:
MHCLG engages with local authorities and other government departments to understand what data is a priority to capture within the local authority expenditure and financing statistics, and considers making changes on a case by case basis. At present, we do not have plans to collect additional information on local authority spend on refugees.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the amount that was spent by local authorities on services supporting (a) refugees and (b) people seeking asylum to access healthcare services in the last 12 months.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The department does not hold this information to the level of detail requested. The department releases data on local authority spend through the local authority revenue expenditure and financing statistics, in which line 49 accounts for services or interventions for registered asylum seekers, including:
The department has not yet published data for the 2024/25 financial year. The first revenue outturn release for 2024/25 will be released in September 2025.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many full time equivalent equality, diversity and inclusion positions are there in her Department including those unfilled.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We can confirm that the department holds this information, but we are withholding it as we cannot provide details where the numbers are five or fewer as the individuals concerned in this group or in other groups could be identifiable.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to increase the transparency of charges levied on residents of new estates where freehold estate management fees apply.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244).
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the written statement of 28 November 2014 by the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, HCWS50, on support for small scale developers, custom and self-builders, when he plans to publish revised planning guidance.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The changes the Government has made to Section 106 thresholds to encourage house building and cut the cost of new housing are a change in national policy. Associated planning guidance was also updated at the same time.
Planning guidance is kept under review and is updated as required, and we are open to representations on any practical areas where further assistance is needed to help facilitate the implementation of new policy.
I also refer my hon. Friend to the answer of 12 February, to Question 223174, which outlines the rationale for our policy changes.