Written questions by Simmonds.

Communities and Local Government, if he will publish an equality impact assessment on the postponement of local elections in 2026.

An equality impact assessment has been completed in line with normal practice.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 8777, on Local Government: Elections, whether local authorities which submitted bids to hold a May 2026 election pilot scheme subsequently submitted a request to the Department to cancel their May 2026 elections.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. A number of local authorities expressed interest in participating, and we are currently engaging with those local authorities. A small number of authorities that submitted applications subsequently made requests to postpone their May 2026 elections.

Whether her Department names organisations that are (a) regarded as extremists and (b) subject to a policy of non-engagement; and how is the Muslim Council of Britain classified.

Although The Home Office does not comment on specific groups or individual cases, I would like to reassure the Hon. Gentleman 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.We carry out due diligence when choosing to engage with any organisation or individual and, if asked, we will advise and share information to help others inform their decisions.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Rt Hon Member for Ashton-under-Lyne has an official car provided.

The Rt Hon Member for Ashton-under-Lyne is not provided with an official government car.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department undertook verification of local authorities’ representations which noted insufficient capacity because of the scheduled May 2026 elections.

Representations were received from councils with elections scheduled in May, including from councillors and political groups, and from other councils, interested organisations, Member of Parliament, and members of the public.The Secretary of State ran a locally led process and it was for councils to make representations and assess their capacity to conduct a safe and smooth transition to new authorities at the same time as holding elections.In reaching his decisions, the Secretary of State carefully considered all the representations made alongside departmental advice on those representations.

Communities and Local Government, whether he received representations on delaying local elections from Labour (a) MPs, (b) councillors and (c) council groups that were separate from formal representations from the local authority.

Representations were received from councils with elections scheduled in May, including from councillors and political groups, and from other councils, interested organisations, Member of Parliament, and members of the public.The Secretary of State ran a locally led process and it was for councils to make representations and assess their capacity to conduct a safe and smooth transition to new authorities at the same time as holding elections.In reaching his decisions, the Secretary of State carefully considered all the representations made alongside departmental advice on those representations.

With reference to the Written Ministerial Statement on Local roads and highways, published on 12 January 2026, HCWS1232, when her Department told local authorities which data sets were to be used to complete this assessment.

The Prime Minister announced on 24 March 2025 that local highway authorities would be rated on their progress in maintaining local roads and highways. This was announced alongside the introduction of new reporting requirements for local highway authorities for the 2025/26 financial year, including a requirement to publish transparency reports to improve transparency for local residents so they can see how funding is being spent. On the same day, the Director General for the Road Transport Group in the Department for Transport wrote to Chief Executives of all local highway authorities setting out the details and data that needed to be included in those transparency reports. The ratings used the data provided in local highway authority transparency reports, as well as official statistics. Further information on the data sources used is published online, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/methodology-used-to-calculate-ratings-for-local-road-maintenance.

With reference to Written Statement of 12 January 2026 on Local roads and highways, HCWS1232, whether it is her policy that local authorities that have spent all of their Highway Maintenance Grant allocations can be categorised as Red.

Local highway authorities that stated they had plans to spend 100% of their DfT capital grant for highways maintenance on this purpose in 2025/26 received an amber, not red, spend scorecard. The vast majority of local highway authorities stated they had plans to spend an additional 30% or more in capital to maintain their highways, and these 113 local highway authorities received a green spend scorecard. The ratings consider road condition, capital investment levels, and wider best practice to produce an overall rating, with each of these three elements making up a third of the overall rating. As such, it is possible for authorities to receive an overall red rating despite individual areas of good or mixed performance and where based on an overall assessment of all areas considered by the ratings the threshold for an amber rating was not met. All red-rated authorities will receive access to a dedicated support offer to help them improve their rating and to ensure road conditions improve nationwide. This information, and the full methodology for the local road maintenance ratings has been published online, at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-road-maintenance-ratings/local-road-maintenance-ratings-2025-to-2026.

With reference to the Written Ministerial Statement on Local roads and highways, published on 12 January 2026, HCWS1232, whether the exercise carried out by her Department assessed physical road conditions.

This information, and the full methodology and data sources used to produce the ratings, has been published online, at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-road-maintenance-ratings/local-road-maintenance-ratings-2025-to-2026.

With reference to the Written Ministerial Statement on Local roads and highways, published on 12 January 2026, HCWS1232, what discussions she had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government before the publication of the statement.

Department for Transport ministers and officials regularly engage with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on a range of issues including in relation to local roads maintenance. At the Autumn Budget, the government confirmed a record investment of £7.3 billion for local authorities over the next four years to repair and renew their roads and fix potholes. Earlier in January, the Department published a new traffic light rating system. Under this system, every local highway authority in England received a red, amber or green rating based on the condition of their roads, the level of investment into maintaining roads, and whether they do so using best practice. The ratings are designed to enable the public to gauge how well each council is maintaining its local roads. They also provide an incentive to local highway authorities to continue to adopt best practice and they enable the department to identify where councils need to improve and to support them to ensure road conditions improve nationwide.

With reference to the Written Ministerial Statement on Local roads and highways, published on 12 January 2026, HCWS1232, whether she plans to respond to the letter sent to her Department by the Leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; and whether she plans to publish further information on how the ratings were determined.

A reply to the letter from the Leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea will be sent in due course. The full methodology and data sources used to produce the ratings has been published online, at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-road-maintenance-ratings/local-road-maintenance-ratings-2025-to-2026.

How many and what proportion of pubs with Valuation Office Agency Special Category (i) Code 226 and (ii) Code 227, will see their business rates bills (a) increase, (b) fall or (c) remain the same, in 2026-27 relative to 2025-26.

I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to UIN 101363.

Pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2025, to Question 95340, on Asylum: Hillingdon, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of publishing grant payments made to local authorities; and if she will make it her policy to publish the Hillingdon figures.

The Home Office does not publicly publish grant payment levels by local authority, and we have no plans to do so. We do however publish the grant funding instructions, which can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-children-uasc-grant-instructions(opens in a new tab)https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-dispersal-grant-funding-instruction/funding-instruction-for-local-authorities-asylum-grant-2025-2026

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2025 to Question 95397 on Business Rates, if he will publish the change in rateable values by special category code by local authority.

The Valuation Office Agency currently have no plans to publish this information.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the size of the Valuation Office Agency’s backlog in relation to (a) business rates and (b) council tax appeals.

The VOA works closely with government partners to ensure it is adequately resourced and to develop delivery plans which align with planned consultation and legislative timelines.

What information the Valuation Office Agency. holds on the number of (a) religious retreats, (b) caravan parks for recreational use and (c) recreational campsites there are in each local authority.

The Valuation Office Agency publishes an annual stock of properties in the Rating List on GOV.UK. The most recent release details the stock and value of properties on the 2023 rating lists as at 31 March 2025. Information relating to your request can be found here.

How much funding her Department provided to strategic migration partnership in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.

The Home Office does not currently publish funding levels to Strategic Migration Partnerships, previous years funding can be found here Government Grants Data and Statistics

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2025 to Question 95894 on Housing: council tax, whether the Valuation Office Agency holds council tax dwelling data by band based on those geographies.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) publishes Council Tax statistics on GOV.UK. The Council Tax stock of properties publication provides the number of properties by Council Tax band, administrative area and Westminster Parliamentary Constituency in England and Wales.

Pursuant to the answer of 9 December 2025, to Question 95885, on Council tax, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of the council tax surcharge on other tax receipts.

As set out in response to Question 95885 on 9th December 2025, the forecast impact on other tax receipts is set out in the published costings document here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/692872fd2a37784b16ecf676/Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf

What information her Department holds on what intelligence was shared by West Midlands Police with (a) the UK Football Policing Unit, (b) the National Police Chiefs Council and (c) her Department.

The Home Affairs Select Committee held evidence sessions on 1 December and 6 January to examine West Midlands Police’s intelligence assessments underpinning the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters.As I committed to the House of Commons, I have provided details of my correspondence with the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police to the Home Affairs Select Committee. Correspondence and evidence submitted to the Committee are routinely published on its official website, ensuring full transparency.In addition, the Home Office has published HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary’s inspection report, which considers the information and intelligence in respect of the match assessment and categorisation produced by West Midlands Police. The report can be found at the following link: Inspection of police forces’ contributions to safety advisory groups: West Midlands Police - GOV.UK