Written questions by Cleverly.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Northern Growth Strategy, January 2026, CP1485, paragraph 4 and footnotes 3 and 4, what is the evidential basis for the underlying statistics of the 2.2% productivity growth per year in the largest northern mayoral strategic authorities.

Footnotes 3 and 4 of the Northern Growth Strategy: Case for change outline how the calculation of compound average productivity growth rate in the largest northern Mayoral Strategic Authorities is based on ONS Official Statistics, using subnational estimates for Gross Value Added and hours worked.

Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to amend the Housing supply: indicators of new supply statistics to include a rolling statistic on the yearly shortfall in relation to his 1.5 million housing delivery target.

The government has no current plans to incorporate new indicators into Housing Supply: Indicators of new supply statistical releases.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2026 to Question 105220 on MHCLG: Publicity, which suppliers his Department has used for publishing content in foreign languages in the last 12 months.

The department does not hold the information in the format requested.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 21 November 2025, to Question 88668, on Flags: Palestine, and further to the UK Statement at the High-Level Conference for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution of 22 September 2025, if he will publish guidance on deemed consent for the Palestine flag.

My Department has no plans to publish guidance on deemed consent for the Palestine flag.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2025 to Question 85176 on England: Anniversaries, and the Answer of 21 January 2026 to Question 99500 on National Identity, whether he will have discussions with the Mayor of London on erecting a permanent statue of King Athelstan on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square to mark the 1,100th anniversary of the foundation of England.

The Government publishes details of ministers’ meetings with external organisations on a quarterly basis.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for government’s most important contracts, Data for July to September 2025, published on 25 December 2025, for what reason ensuring that each Paper produced by a Crown body includes the most up-to-date Crown copyright statement issued by the Controller is a key performance indicator in the MHCLG Corporate Print Management Service contact with ALLIED PUBLICITY SERVICES (MANCHESTER) LIMITED.

This is included as one of several performance indicators, to ensure our supplier uses accurate, up-to-date Crown copyright statements across all government publications it produces for the department and MHCLG’s Arm’s Length Bodies, helping maintain legal compliance and public trust.

Communities and Local Government, if he will set out how the uplift in rateable values in 2026 affects the calculation of funding of individual local authorities in the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026-27; and whether council areas with an above-average increase in rateable values will receive additional net funding relative to the previous year from business rate revenue.

I refer the Rt. hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 107993 on 28 January 2026.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 87778 on Affordable Housing: Construction, what proportion of funding from the new Programme will be used to purchase homes that have (a) already been started and (b) built through different schemes.

The new Social and Affordable Homes Programme will permit a limited number of acquisitions.For further information, please see the policy statement published by the Department on 7 November which can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, whether the review into foreign interference will consider the practice of foreign governments hiring UK-based lobbyists.

It is, and always will be, an absolute priority for this Government to protect our democratic and electoral processes. The purpose of the Rycroft review is to provide an in-depth assessment of the current financial rules and safeguards and make recommendations. The terms of reference for the review can be found here: Independent review: countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics: Terms of Reference - GOV.UK. Given the review’s independence, we cannot pre-empt specifics of the ground it will cover, nor the recommendations it will make. It is right that the review is independent of Government and independent of any political party. However, we will be looking to mitigate the risk of foreign financial interference in UK politics from any actors and individuals who might wish to undermine our democracy.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2026 to Question 97134 on MHCLG: Departmental Responsibilities, whether the Minister for Housing and Planning discussed government business with Edaroth during his attendance at Housing Group events at the Labour Party Conference in September 2025.

I had no meetings with Edaroth at Labour Party Annual Conference 2025 and shared no platforms with representatives of the company.I participated in a number of advertised events at the conference, including a panel organised by Labour Housing Group, in which I set out the government’s overall approach to housing and planning. I did not discuss other Departmental business at any of these events.

Communities and Local Government, what is the estimated revenue from business rates in England in (a) 2024-25, (b) 2025-26 and (c) 2026-27.

Estimated net business rates yield in England for can be found in Table 1 of the ‘National non-domestic rates collected by councils in England’ statistical releases.Data for 2024-25 based on out-turn (actual) data can be found on gov.uk here.Forecast data for 2025-26 can be found on gov.uk here.Data for 2026-27 will be published in mid-February 2026.

Communities and Local Government, in what financial year will the new default arrangements for council tax bills being billed in 12 instalments, rather than 10, come into effect.

The government published a consultation on modernising and improving council tax administration which included a proposal on whether to move to default 12 monthly council tax billing whilst retaining the option to pay over 10 months. The government is currently considering all responses on this proposal and will publish its response to the consultation in due course.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Affordable Homes Programme annual report 2024 to 2025, published on 7 January 2026, whether the £2 billion of funding announced in March 2025 is separate to the £39 billion of funding in the 2026 to 2036 programme.

As per the Written Ministerial Statement made on 25 March 2025 (HCWS549), the injection of £2 billion of new capital investment to support social and affordable housing delivery was designed to act as a bridge to the long-term grant funding that was to be announced at the Spending Review in June of that year. It is part of the £39 billion budget for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 21 November 2025 to Question 84633 on Electoral Commission, when he plans to issue the new Strategy and Policy Statement for the Electoral Commission to reflect this Government’s priorities for elections and the Commission’s increased roles and responsibilities.

The government is committed to strengthening democracy and upholding the integrity of our elections. Robust and proportionate enforcement of political finance rules is an essential part of this. That is why, as announced on 17 July in the government’s Strategy for Elections, we committed to strengthening the Electoral Commission’s powers and extending its remit to ensure that it can effectively enforce the political finance framework.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Affordable housing supply in England: 2024 to 2025, published on 20 November 2025, whether the Greater London Authority’s affordable homes data includes affordable homes counted as started which were then un-designated.

The Affordable Housing Supply statistical release published on 20 November 2025 reflected the most recent data published by the Greater London Authority.There were no revisions of the Greater London Authority’s historical data for the November 2025 release. A summary of other revisions for that release can be found in section 7 of its technical notes, which can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, whether households charged second home council tax premiums under processes later found to be procedurally defective are entitled to refunds.

Each billing authorities is responsible for the administration of council tax in its area including making any relevant determinations or calculations in accordance with the law. Whether any refunds may be necessary would depend on the specific circumstances of each case. It would not be appropriate for the Government to comment on individual cases or offer legal advice.

Communities and Local Government, whether guidance has been provided by his Department to planning decision makers on rejecting applications due to (a) undue pressure and (b) unreasonable behaviour by applicants.

My Department has issued no such specific guidance. By law, planning applications should be determined in accordance with the development plan for the area, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding was allocated to the Greater London Authority in each year of the 2026-36 affordable housing programme.

The Greater London Authority has secured up to £11.7 billion to deliver the London portion of the government’s Social and Affordable Homes Programme, which will run from 2026 to 2036.The programme will support the delivery of thousands of new social and affordable homes across London, with the overall housing target for the programme to be confirmed after the initial bidding round.Funding is available to deliver projects that can start on site by March 2036 and complete by March 2039.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Co-operative Party has made representations on the Elections Act 2022 provisions on the banning of dual registration of political parties as third parties.

Our package of electoral reforms set out in our Strategy for Modern and Secure Elections has been informed by a wide variety of stakeholder recommendations and representations over time, including from political parties.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 12 November 2025 to Question 86657 on Elections and Political Parties, whether the final version of the Elections Strategy was shared with the Labour Party before publication.

The government’s Strategy for Elections was not shared with any political party prior to publication.