Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
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 take steps to permit Automatic Number Plate Recognition to be used in council car parks.
Answered by Nesil Caliskan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department has no current plans to alter how local authorities can use Automatic Number Plate Recognition for enforcement purposes in England and Wales but will keep this position under review.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact for his policies of (a) expanding permitted development rights or (b) amending guidance to simplify planning applications for antenna installation for amateur radio broadcasters.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 124803 on 10 April 2026.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework on the number of intensive livestock farms.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has not made a specific assessment of the potential impact of proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework on the number of intensive livestock farms.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
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 take steps to ensure that local councils in England do not count Universal Credit Transitional Protection as income when calculating council tax payment in cases prior to 10 November 2025.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Councils are responsible for designing local council tax support schemes for working age people in consultation with their residents. The Government is aware of the variations in the way schemes assess legacy benefits, Universal Credit and transitional protection payments. The Government has recently written to billing authorities on this issue, encouraging them to reflect on the impact of their approach on low-income households. The letter can be found here.
Councils also have discretion, under section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, to provide council tax discounts where they consider this appropriate.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
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 13 January 2026 to Question 103108 on Supported Housing, what estimate he has made of the number of people with additional needs awaiting a Specialised Supported Housing home, rather than people in the Supported Housing band more broadly.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The response to Question UIN 103108 gave details of the government’s estimate of unmet need in the supported housing sector. Local authorities have now received new burdens funding, and guidance has been published, to support the development of their local supported housing strategies. The strategies require local authorities to make an assessment of current supply, unmet need and future demand in their local area and will allow for more informed, data-driven decisions about supported housing.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
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 July 2025 to Question 69040 on Park Homes: Sales, what his proposed timeline is for reviewing the 10% commission on the sale of park homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 69040 on 24 July 2025.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
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's upcoming leasehold reforms will include changes that will impact those living in (a) park homes and (b) accommodation purchased under the Mobile Homes Act 2013.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The reforms to the leasehold system already in statute which the government is bringing into force, as well as the wider set of reforms necessary to end the feudal leasehold system for good, including measures contained in the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, apply to residential leasehold properties.
The changes will not apply to park homes because they are caravans and the owners occupy their pitches under licence arrangements. The rights and obligations of park home residents are set out in the Mobile Homes Act 1983.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changing the rules which prevent families from bidding for social houses that have too few bedrooms on waiting times for social housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government expects registered providers of social housing to develop solutions that make best use of their stock.
When framing the rules which determine the size of property to allocate to different households and in different circumstances, local housing authorities are free to set their own criteria, provided they do not result in a household being statutorily overcrowded.
As announced in our National Plan to End Homelessness in December last year, we will work with stakeholders to review and update statutory guidance on social housing allocations to ensure that allocations reflect local need and effectively support vulnerable households.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of extending the statutory override for local authorities until the end of 2027/28 on the financial security of those local authorities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises that local authorities are continuing to face significant pressure from Dedicated Schools Grant deficits on their accounts. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government engages regularly with local authorities and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy on the impact of the Dedicated Schools Grant deficits, and in June 2025, we announced a two-year extension to the Dedicated Schools Grant Statutory Override to support local authorities to manage these impacts. We recognise that the size of deficits that some councils may accrue while the Dedicated Schools Grant Statutory Override is in place may not be manageable with local resources alone. We will provide further detail on our plans to support local authorities with historic and accruing deficits and conditions for accessing such support later in the Local Government Finance Settlement process.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
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 13 January to Question 103107 on Monuments, whether he is taking steps to ensure that scheduled monuments will (a) continue to be protected under planning rules and (b) not be considered as Grey Belt land.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Scheduled Monuments continue to be protected as designated heritage assets of the highest significance under both the current National Planning Policy Framework and the draft revised Framework which is currently out for consultation.