Written questions by Simmonds.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to replace the Exceptional Financial Support regime with long term debt-restructuring.

We are under no illusion about the fragile state of the sector and the pressures that some councils are facing, and recognise the potential for continued instability as we work to fix the foundations of local government. That is why we have a framework in place to support councils in the most difficult financial positions. On 20 February 2025 we wrote to thirty councils to confirm in-principle support, primarily in the form of capitalisation, through the Exceptional Financial Support process. It is the responsibility of councils to manage their budgets, and it is standard for councils to borrow and to hold debt in the normal course of business. There are councils currently under statutory Best Value intervention that hold exceptional levels of debt. As part of the Spending Review, we are working with those councils, particularly in the context of local government re-organisation to understand how these councils’ exceptional debt can be managed.

Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the number of former foreign national asylum seekers granted (a) refugee status and (b) settlement claiming (i) emergency homeless and (ii) temporary accommodation.

The most recent statutory homelessness statistics (July – September 2024) is available at: Homelessness statistics - GOV.UK, which includes former asylum seeker households that are owed a homelessness duty.

Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the number of former foreign national asylum seekers granted (a) refugee status and (b) settlement claiming social housing.

My Department does not hold information on former foreign national asylum seekers claiming social housing who were formally granted refugee status and/or settlement. The Department’s social housing lettings in England statistical series includes information based on self-reported status. It can be found on gov.uk here. It shows that 2.0% of new social housing lettings in 2023/24 were to households who self-reported as refugees (4,100 households). There were 1,000 households who self-reported that they were housed by The National Asylum Support Service immediately before their new social letting (0.4% of new social lettings). Care should be taken when considering figures for new social lettings to refugees and asylum seekers. CORE data is based on specific definitions and there may be overlaps and households missing from the statistics presented above.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the merits of introducing a separate needs formula for homelessness.

The previous government committed to improving and updating the way in which local authorities are funded through the “fair funding review” - but this was not delivered. We will make good on this commitment and implement long-awaited reforms through a multi-year settlement in 2026-27. We invited views from the local government sector through the “local authority funding reform objectives and principles consultation”, which was open from 18 December 2024 to 12 February 2025. It sought views on the approach to local authority funding reform to be implemented via the Local Government Finance Settlement from 2026-27. We will be consulting on more detailed proposals, including our proposed relative needs formulae, following the Spending Review in June.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of reliability of the Index of Multiple Deprivation to accurately reflect levels of deprivation and need.

The English Indices for Deprivation are a designated National Statistic. They have demonstrated, through assessment, that they meet the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value, set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics by the Office for Statistics Regulation.Building on the measures in the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement, the Government is committed to introducing an improved and updated approach to funding local authorities from 2026-27.We sought views on our principles and objectives for funding reform through a consultation which ran from 18 December 2024 - 12 February 2025. This consultation and engagement will inform the development of our detailed proposals, which will follow the multi-year Spending Review concluding later this year.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to account for housing costs when measuring deprivation as part of local government funding reform.

The English Indices for Deprivation are a designated National Statistic. They have demonstrated, through assessment, that they meet the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value, set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics by the Office for Statistics Regulation.Building on the measures in the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement, the Government is committed to introducing an improved and updated approach to funding local authorities from 2026-27.We sought views on our principles and objectives for funding reform through a consultation which ran from 18 December 2024 - 12 February 2025. This consultation and engagement will inform the development of our detailed proposals, which will follow the multi-year Spending Review concluding later this year.

Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the exceptional financial support regime for local authorities.

The government is under no illusion about the fragile state of the sector and the pressures that some councils are facing to deliver for residents. We also recognise the potential for continued instability as we work to fix the foundations of local government. That is why we confirmed in the autumn that we will continue to have a framework in place to support councils in the most difficult financial positions. However, this government has been clear that we will take a different approach to supporting councils in financial difficulty, to ensure it is effective, collaborative and delivers value for money – while still protecting the interests of taxpayers. For example, we have been clear that we do not believe in punishing councils and have removed the punitive approach of making borrowing more expensive where a council seeking additional financial support has no other choice. On council tax flexibility for areas seeking exceptional financial support, we have put taxpayers at the forefront by avoiding excessively high increases and only agreeing increases where councils have comparatively low existing levels of tax and plans to protect the lowest income residents.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to give local authorities in London a joint decision-making role in integrated settlements for the Greater London Authority.

At Autumn Budget 2024 the Government committed to exploring how the Integrated Settlement policy could be applied for the Greater London Authority from the 2026-27 financial year onwards, taking into account the capital’s unique devolution arrangements. This work is currently taking place and the Government plans to announce further details following the conclusion of Phase 2 of the Spending Review 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with the Mayor of London on the role of councils in London in integrated settlements for the Greater London Authority.

At Autumn Budget 2024 the Government committed to exploring how the Integrated Settlement policy could be applied for the Greater London Authority from the 2026-27 financial year onwards, taking into account the capital’s unique devolution arrangements. This work is currently taking place and the Government plans to announce further details following the conclusion of Phase 2 of the Spending Review 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of local authority finances in London.

The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available up to £13.35 billion for London, including the GLA. This is a £726 million increase on 2024-25, representing a 5.8% cash terms increase. The Department works closely with local government and other government departments to understand specific demand and cost pressures facing local government on an ongoing basis. This involves looking at a range of cost and demand data, as well as regular engagement with local authorities.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has had discussions with (a) London Councils and (b) individual councils in London on a joint decision-making role in integrated settlements for the Greater London Authority.

At Autumn Budget 2024 the Government committed to exploring how the Integrated Settlement policy could be applied for the Greater London Authority from the 2026-27 financial year onwards, taking into account the capital’s unique devolution arrangements. This work is currently taking place and the Government plans to announce further details following the conclusion of Phase 2 of the Spending Review 2025.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 22329 on Noise: Pollution Control, what guidance her Department has issued on noise complaints about established use, including long-standing (a) chiming clocks and (b) church bells.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 22329 on 17 January 2025.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2025 to Question 24220 on Local Government: Elections, whether she plans to bring forward other secondary legislation relating to local government restructuring before the local elections in May 2025.

As set out in my Statement on 5 February 2025 (HCWS418), I will make secondary legislation to postpone elections to nine local authorities from May 2025 to 2026. No further secondary legislation is planned before May 2025.Where elections have been postponed, all by-elections to county and district councils will take place as normal. Where a vacancy would have been filled at an election which is postponed, it will, instead, be filled at a by-election.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answers of 19 December 2024 to Question 20231 and HL3240, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of involvement of the United Front Work Department in the planning process for the called-in Chinese Embassy planning application.

An appointed Inspector will hold a public inquiry which will hear a range of evidence for and against the proposals, after which a decision will be made by MHCLG ministers. As this case will come before ministers in MHCLG to determine, it would not be appropriate to comment further. Decisions on planning applications are based on material planning considerations.

Communities and Local Government, in what circumstances foreign nationals not eligible for social housing are eligible for Government funded (a) temporary and (b) permanent accommodation.

Eligibility for social housing and statutory homelessness assistance are both determined by immigration status. If a person’s visa means that they cannot access state benefits or local authority housing assistance, they will not be eligible for statutory homelessness assistance, and therefore unable to obtain temporary or permanent accommodation.As the eligibility rules for social housing and homelessness assistance are the same, an applicant who is not eligible for social housing will almost always also not be eligible for homelessness assistance. A small number of EU nationals with pre-settled status (PSS) may be able to access statutory homelessness assistance in a very specific set of circumstances should a ‘not eligible’ decision lead to a breach of their right to dignity under Article 1 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights which has direct effect as a result of the Court of Appeal ruling in SSWP v AT.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 4.1.6 of his Department’s policy paper entitled Local authority funding reform: objectives and principles, published on 18 December 2024, whether the average council tax will be used as the assumed council tax metric.

No. Average council tax will not be the assumed council tax metric in the proposed funding reforms. Rather, the consultation proposes the government will take into account the tax base in each authority (i.e. the number of dwellings liable for council tax and in which band those dwellings are in) as part of the process of allocating grant, and not the council tax level set by a local authority. Following this consultation, we will develop, publish and consult on a detailed plan for local authority funding reform, including the assumed council tax level, ahead of the provisional Settlement for 2026-27.

Communities and Local Government, how many council tax payers pay over 12 months.

Council tax is usually paid in 10 instalments across the year. Households have a right to request to pay their council tax in 12 monthly instalments. The government has not collected data on how many households pay their council tax across 12 instalments to date.

Communities and Local Government, for what reason the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme 2021-24 is being allocated by bidding.

Bidding rounds for the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme ended in June 2022. Decisions on where to allocate funding were made by the previous government.

Communities and Local Government, if she will list the name of each organisation that responded to the National Planning Policy framework consultation excluding those who asked for their submission to be confidential.

I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 20653 on 24 December 2024.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question 18376 on MHCLG: Birmingham, what other Government hubs operate in Birmingham; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of merging the departmental office with other Government buildings in Birmingham.

Apart from our current location at 23 Stephenson Street, the department does not hold information on other Government hubs operating in or planned by the Government Property Agency for Birmingham. We made the decision to close our Birmingham office to consolidate and further develop our presence in the West Midlands region at our existing second headquarters in Wolverhampton.