Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
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 set out the differences in (a) scope and (b) the terms and reference between the (a) Community Cohesion and Resilience Programme and (b) Community Recovery Fund in 2024-25; and if will list the local authorities that received funding from both in 2024-25.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The scope and terms of reference of the Community Cohesion Resilience Programme was set out in my response to Parliamentary Question UIN 78216. Those for the Community Recovery Fund are set out on GOV.UK Community Recovery Fund: Guidance - GOV.UK including the Councils receiving the funding.
The Councils to receive funding through the Community Cohesion Resilience Fund were:
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential enforcement challenges associated with implementing the proposed generational smoking ban in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Measures in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will strengthen enforcement and will help to ensure the successful implementation of the smoke-free generation policy. Age of sale restrictions for tobacco products are already in place in Northern Ireland, with enforcement led by district councils. The Department of Health in Northern Ireland, through the Public Health Agency, funds tobacco control officers to conduct test purchases and support retailer compliance. These arrangements are expected to continue under the new legislative framework and will include additional products. The Department of Health in Northern Ireland is working closely with councils in preparation for implementation of the smoke-free generation policy on 1 January 2027.
The bill also gives ministers in Northern Ireland the ability to introduce a licensing scheme for the retail sale of tobacco, vaping, and nicotine products. This will strengthen enforcement, support legitimate businesses, and crack down on rogue retailers who breach the law. Once implemented, this will replace the existing retailer register for tobacco products in Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Assembly provided its legislative consent for the Tobacco and Vapes Bill on 10 February 2025.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) parish and (b) district councils to improve access to disabled toilet facilities in rural communities.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities are best placed to assess and manage toilet provision and location.
However, through our £30.5 million Changing Places Toilet programme, we have supported the installation of 483 new disabled toilet facilities across 220 local authority areas in England. This targeted investment helped address gaps where provision was limited or non-existent, particularly in rural towns and coastal areas.
Although this programme closed on 31 March 2025, changes to building regulations have made it mandatory to include Changing Places facilities in new public buildings (or those undergoing major redevelopment) that fall above a certain size threshold. This aims to significantly increase the availability of these vital facilities over time and makes accessibility a mainstream consideration in how we plan and build our public spaces.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking with the Minister for Defence to ensure that veterans in receipt of means-tested support who are living in areas with district councils are not disadvantaged by the move to unitary authorities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There will be no changes to how we expect councils to continue to support the armed forces community throughout the local government reorganisation process.
By abolishing two-tier local government across England, we will set up strong unitary councils that will improve public services, bringing them under one roof, improving join up with local partners, and making life easier for local residents.
We are committed to working with the Minister for Defence and across government to make sure unitarisation improves public services for all residents, including the armed forces community.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions her Department has had with (a) district and (b) county councils in Norfolk and Suffolk on cancelling the planned local elections in May 2026.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department has had no discussions with district or county councils in Norfolk or Suffolk about cancelling the planned local elections in May 2026.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question
To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of the reviews by the Local Government Boundary Commission of (a) district council and (b) county council boundaries in two tier areas since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England typically starts 25 reviews a year. With each review taking approximately 15 months to complete, around 50 can be in progress at any time.
In February 2025, following the issuing of a statutory invitation to submit unitary proposals to all two-tier authorities, the Commission took the decision to pause all live reviews in those areas.
In the period between July 2024 and February 2025, 23 reviews of district councils were in progress. Based on the average cost per stage of a review of a district council, the Commission estimates that it spent up to £368,000 on these reviews during this period.
Additionally, six county council reviews were completed as planned within this timeframe. Based on the average cost per stage of a review of a county council, the Commission estimates that it spent up to £137,000 on these reviews during this period.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether shadow council elections in 2027 for new councils will utilise existing district magnitudes.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to ending two-tier local government in England in this Parliament, and to move to new structures as soon as possible, including elections to new unitary councils in May 2027 in areas other than Surrey.
The government has not yet made decisions on those elections. The first stage is for areas to prepare proposals for unitary councils. We received proposals from the six areas in the Devolution Priority Programme by 26 September and for the remaining 14 areas the deadline is 28 November. In the statutory invitations we asked councils to include councillor numbers in their proposals, and they may choose to include information about electoral arrangements.
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (the Commission) have offered support with guidance and a series of webinars. Once Ministers have reached a decision on which proposal, if any, to implement, then electoral arrangements for the new councils will be included in the structural changes order that establishes any new councils. These will be built using a mixture of existing wards, divisions or, in some cases, parishes. The government expects to work closely with the relevant councils and the Commission to ensure these arrangements are fit for purpose for the first elections and have regard to the Commission’s criteria. The Commission then expects to carry out an electoral review of all newly established councils after their first elections and before their subsequent elections.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the (1) district council, (2) delayed county council, and (3) existing unitary council, elections scheduled for May 2026 in the Greater Essex area will be cancelled; and if so, whether they will be replaced with (a) a Mayoral Combined County Authority election in May 2026, or (b) a new unitary council election in May 2027.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government’s starting point is for all elections to go ahead, unless there is strong justification. In May 2026, we intend that mayoral elections for new strategic authorities will take place, subject to parliamentary approval for the necessary legislation, alongside those district and unitary elections already scheduled and elections postponed from May 2025. The government will work with areas to hold elections for new unitary councils as soon as possible as is the usual arrangement in the process of local government reorganisation. We anticipate elections to new unitary authorities in May 2027.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Food Standards Agency on the regulation of imported protein (a) powders and (b) supplements.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the lead department for food safety, including food supplements. Local authorities, and district councils in Northern Ireland, are the enforcers of food law in their respective local authority areas. The FSA produces advice and guidance for businesses, local authorities and consumers.
While food supplements, including those that are imported, are not required to receive pre-market approval before being placed on the United Kingdom market, there is a legal duty on businesses to only place onto the market food that is safe. The FSA provides guidance for businesses to aid legal compliance and provides clarity to local authorities in the form of a toolkit to help support enforcement.
The FSA also provides advice for consumers on the consumption of food supplements containing caffeine, and it is currently working on general food supplements advice aimed at helping consumers consume supplements safely.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Section 23 of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908 for ensuring that (a) district and (b) parish councils provide allotments in response to public demand.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Under the Small Holdings and Allotment Act 1908, local authorities have a duty to provide allotments if there is sufficient demand. The responsibility for the running, management, and organisation of these allotments also falls on the local authority. A local authority, when faced with sufficient demand, must acquire suitable land, freehold or leasehold by agreement or, if necessary, by compulsion. At present, we have made no formal assessment of the effectiveness of the Act to ensure demand is met by district and parish councils.
We are content with effectiveness of the clearly defined legal process to protect allotments as outlined under the Allotments Act 1925. The National Allotment Society stated that the eight approvals quoted in parliament from July 2024 to July 2025 represented a slight decrease in allotment disposals in recent years, and that it had not challenged any of the applications as they had all met the legal threshold with either low take-up of plots or alternative allotment space provided elsewhere.