Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
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 18 December 2025to Question 96897 on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Public Appointments, when and where he will publish this this information; and if it will include all sitting DMAs.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Cabinet Office has created a gov.uk page for departments to publish Direct Ministerial Appointments (DMAs). In line with their guidance, MHCLG now publishes details of all new appointments and extensions, and extant appointments will be published in due course.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of his Department's staff are on full-time pay with compressed hours.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At 31 January 2026 there were 760 active payroll staff, 19% of total headcount, who worked full‑time hours over a compressed period, meaning they received full pay. This figure includes a range of different compressed full‑time working arrangements.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the statutory right to connect new developments to the public sewer network on storm overflow discharges.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working together with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure the right to connect for water supply and to the sewerage system supports the Government’s housing delivery objectives and enables sustainable development.
The Government is committed to taking a systematic approach to tackling the issues with drainage and wastewater. This includes a real focus on tackling the root causes of sewage pollution.
We will enable a step change to allow for more ‘pre-pipe’ solutions to reduce the volume of rainwater and pollutants entering the sewerage system. This includes better rainwater management, including sustainable drainage systems, and tackling sewer misuse.
This approach will have benefits for communities, the environment, flood prevention and urban development, ensuring policies and services work better together to deliver real benefits for people and nature. It will also enable economic growth, creating headroom for new development, and create opportunities to alleviate pressures on water supply.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the required hours of working are for staff in his Department on full-pay who work a compressed four-day week.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Staff who work full-time, have the following conditioned hours per week:
If they were appointed to the Civil Service within the department on or after 1 June 2013:
Net hours do not include meal breaks.
Staff working a compressed four-day week have the flexibility to agree their daily working pattern to reach the required conditioned hours per week.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what is the timetable for the implementation of automatic voter registration, (a) pilots and (b) implementation, and whether it will be rolled out nationally in part by (i) area or (ii) datasets or characteristics to be automated.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is working on the design of direct registration pilots, including timetable and approach, which will be set out in secondary legislation subject to the affirmative procedure. This will give the opportunity for Parliament to scrutinise the plans.
Our plan is to test automated registration in a range of different locations and settings, with different characteristics and challenges, to ensure anything we implement permanently works for everyone. We will be guided throughout by principles of fairness and open engagement. We are consulting a range of stakeholders to develop this programme, including the Electoral Commission, the Association of Electoral Administrators, local authorities and civil society organisations. We will also continue to offer engagement with political parties.
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, pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2026, to Question 110398, on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Publicity, in what formats does his department hold data on expenditure on publishing content in foreign languages.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG holds information about suppliers that have undertaken translation activities for the Department. The information will not differentiate between whether the translatory service was undertaken to support published content or for any other reason, nor would it consistently differentiate between translation work undertaken into the Welsh language or other languages.
Asked by: Baroness Falkner of Margravine (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has declined to lay before Parliament a draft statutory code submitted by an arm's-length body between January 2015 and December 2025, where that code has not been subject to litigation.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We have no central record of declining to lay a draft statutory code submitted by an arm’s length body before Parliament.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 108091 on MHCLG: Repairs and Maintenance, on what date the PFI contract for 2 Marsham Street expires; and which organisation will own the building on expiry.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The PFI expiry date is 2nd April 2031. It is anticipated an option will be called to allow the property to revert to His Majesty’s Government ownership from that date.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the community engagement principles guidance published in March 2024, whether the application of a departmental policy of non-engagement means that written representations to a Government consultation or call for evidence from an individual or organisation subject to non-engagement are not read or substantively considered in that consultation process.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Although The Home Office does not comment on specific groups or individual cases, I would like to reassure you that we are committed to addressing the full range of threats that we currently face as a country and tackling anyone who spreads views that promote violence and hatred against individuals and communities. The Home Office is continually building our knowledge of potential threats, including information exchange and cooperation with partners on shared issues of concern. Each department must consider their own due diligence when choosing to engage with any organisation or individual and, if asked, we will advise and share information to help inform their decisions.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who are the members of the Group Infrastructure Board; and has it has met.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Defra Infrastructure Board formally launched, as recommended in the Corry review, in September 2025 and has been meeting regularly since. Membership consists of seniors across Defra Group and other Government departments, including the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.