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 27 January 2025 to Question HL4075 on Royal Mint: Buildings, what steps the Planning Inspectorate is taking to ensure that it receives advice on national security matters as part of its inquiry on the Chinese Embassy application; and whether such advice must be shared with the applicant.

When dealing with evidence relating to national security, or any other matters, the Inspector will exercise impartial judgment and must not be subject to any improper influence, nor appear to be subject to such influence.

There should be no evidence before the Inspector, which is not also available to the parties, and it will be solely for the Inspector to decide what weight to attribute to any evidence when writing their report to the Secretary of State.