Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2026 to Question 103561 on Anti-social Behaviour, what steps her Department is taking to tackle barriers faced by county councils in using (a) closure notices and (b) closure orders under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 in areas where district councils exist.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Referring to the response to question 103561, county councils may already issue a closure notice and apply directly for closure orders in England and Wales providing that there is no district council in the area. Where there is a district council in the area, the county council would be expected to work with the relevant district council to issue the closure notice. Closure orders are made by Magistrates courts, not local councils.
We are taking steps, through the Crime and Policing Bill, to enhance the closure power. We are extending the timeframe that relevant agencies can apply to a magistrates’ court for a closure order from 48 hours after service of a closure notice to 72 hours. This will give agencies more time to progress an application for a closure order, protecting the victim and community in the interim while a closure order is sought.
We are also extending the power to issue closure notices to registered social housing providers. Currently only local authorities and police can issue closure notices. This is despite registered social housing providers often being the first agency to be aware of the ASB in question. Extending this power to social housing providers helps ensure that the right agencies have the right tools to tackle ASB quickly and effectively, saving police and local authorities time as housing providers will be able to make applications directly.
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, pursuant to his letter to council leaders whose elections he is seeking to postpone published on 22 January 2026, what assessment he has made of the administrative impact on councils of running town and parish elections while district or county-level authority elections are postponed.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Where a decision has been made to postpone local elections in an area, parish and town council elections will still be proceeding as planned, given they are outside of local government reorganisation.
Councils will deliver the elections they are required to and the costs of town and parish council elections can be passed on to those town and parish councils.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with Lancashire County Council and district councils in Fylde and Wyre on the design and delivery of Northern Powerhouse Rail.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) will deliver turn up and go railway services between Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and York. The economic rationale for NPR is to enable these areas to function as a single high productivity growth corridor. The Government has worked closely with local leaders in these areas and will continue to do so in taking the design and delivery of NPR forward.
The Government will still consider future rail improvement schemes more widely for areas such as Lancashire, for example through the future rail network enhancement programme, and it will engage with local leaders and Members on their priorities in the normal way.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending to county councils the provisions of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 on issuing closure notices in cases of illegal trading of tobacco and vaping products on the high street.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The closure power, under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, enables police or local councils - including county councils where there is no district council - to close premises quickly which are being used to commit nuisance or disorder.
The closure power, along with all the powers in the 2014 Act, is deliberately local in nature, and it is for local agencies to determine whether its use is appropriate and meets the legal test in the specific circumstances.
The global supply of illicit tobacco is significant and the high profit margins continue to attract organised criminal networks. HMRC are fully aware of this threat and take robust, coordinated action in response. Working in close partnership across government, we target production at its source, intercept illicit products at the border and in retail environments, and pursue and prosecute those involved in the illicit tobacco trade.
Stubbing out the problem: A new strategy to tackle illicit tobacco - GOV.UK sets out how HMRC, Border Force and partner agencies tackle illicit tobacco. It seeks to target loopholes at all stages of the supply chain, to keep ahead of the criminals. The strategy:
National Trading Standards plays a key part in tackling illicit tobacco at a local level. It provides both a visible and tangible deterrent that organised criminality and anti-social behaviour surrounding the supply of illicit tobacco will not be tolerated. HMRC values the close working partnership it has with National Trading Standards through Operation CeCe and is committed to building on its success by increasing the level of funding available to Trading Standards. This means that we can have an even greater impact in tackling the illicit tobacco trade, undertaking more visits, creating more disruption, detecting and seizing more illicit product, tackling underage sales and reducing community harm.
HMRC is progressing preparations for the 1 October 2026 introduction of Vaping Products Duty with a strong focus on compliance readiness and illicit market risk.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help county councils in using closure notices and closure orders under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The closure power, under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, enables police or local councils to quickly close premises which are causing or likely to cause nuisance or disorder.
County councils may issue a closure notice and apply directly for closure orders in England and Wales providing that there is no district council in the area.
The closure power, along with all the powers in the 2014 Act, is deliberately local in nature, and it is for the relevant local agencies to determine whether its use is appropriate in the specific circumstances.
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, further to the press release, Councils offered flexibility to complete reorganisation, of 18 December 2025, whether district council Returning Officers would still be obliged to organise county council elections in May 2026 in their district area, if a scheduled district council election was cancelled but not the county council election.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Yes.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason he has reduced the cash grants from Government element of Core Spending Power to (a) Maldon District Council; and (b) Braintree District Council as part of Core Spending Power in the local government settlement published on 17 December 2025.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The provisional Settlement 2026–27 will make available almost £78 billion in Core Spending Power (CSP) for local authorities in England, a 5.7% cash-terms increase compared to 2025–26. By the end of the multi-year Settlement in 2028-29 Maldon will have a total of £11.3 million, and Braintree will have a total of £24.2 million in CSP.
The government has been clear that councils furthest above their new funding allocations which have benefitted the most from the existing system will need to accept some income losses, to ensure funding can be redirected to where it is assessed as being needed most. Recalculating available business rates alongside a new assessment of funding need will ensure that business rates income is reallocated to meet these changes in relative need - restoring the Business Rates Retention system to its intended purpose of providing a responsive funding stream for local government while rewarding authorities for business rate growth. This group of authorities will still receive protection of 95% of their income, including business rates growth.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 9 December 2025, to Question 96551, on Police: accountability, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of adding district-level licensing authorities in two-tier areas to the new Policing and Crime Boards.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government intends to legislate as soon as Parliamentary time allows to create Policing and Crime Boards to replace Police and Crime Commissioners where it is not possible for policing functions to be held by a Strategic Authority Mayor. These changes will take effect in May 2028.
Councils in two-tier areas are currently undergoing local government reorganisation, and the Government is on track to deliver unitary local government in all areas by 2028. Therefore, no district-level authorities will exist from that point.
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, whether Warwick District Council sought advice from his Department prior to introducing its second home council tax premium.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government does not provide advice to councils on the application of the council tax premiums. The Government has published guidance on the administration of premiums. Councils must make their own decisions on whether to charge a premium based on the legislation and their own local circumstances. Councils administer council tax independently of central government. Where necessary, councils should seek their own independent legal advice on the interpretation of legislation.
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, what representations he has received from Castle Point Council regarding the preferred restructuring of Essex councils.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Basildon Borough Council, Castle Point Council, Essex County Council, Rochford Council, Southend-on-Sea Council and Thurrock Council, together with 9 other councils in Essex, submitted four proposals for unitary local government in Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock.
Southend-on-Sea City Council, Chelmsford City Council, Basildon Borough Council, Brentwood Borough Council, Castle Point Borough Council, Colchester City Council, Harlow District Council, Maldon District Council, Tendring District Council and Uttlesford District Council proposed 5 unitary councils.
Essex County Council, Braintree District Council and Epping Forest District Council proposed 3 unitary councils.
Rochford District Council proposed 4 unitary councils.
Thurrock Council proposed a different 4 unitary councils.
The 15 principal councils collectively wrote to the department to state that whilst there was no consensus on one proposal, there was collective agreement that regardless of the final decision, all partners are committed to working together to ensure that whichever model is selected is delivered in the best possible way.
The 15 principal councils in the area were invited to respond to the statutory consultation on the four proposals, which closed on 11 January. The House will be updated in due course on the outcome of the consultation.