Written questions by Cleverly.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2025 to Question 32991 on Levelling Up Fund: Culture, which cultural projects that were allocated funding under the Levelling Up Fund have had funding (a) cancelled, (b) postponed and (c) are subject to an ongoing review.

I refer the Rt. Hon member to the answer given to Question UIN 78670 on 21 October 2025. Worcester received £2.3m funding for only some of the activity within its original programme. This amendment was determined on the basis of representations received to the consultation. Prioritisation of funding considered a series of factors including: significant progress of work to date, imminent delivery, and/or the wider strategic impact of withdrawing funding on local regeneration efforts, as well as potential to boost economic growth. Coventry, Worcester and Newport have been approved, and V&A Dundee, Venue Cymru, Conwy and Shore Road Skills Centre, Belfast are being processed.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 29 of his Department's publication entitled Pride in Place Strategy, published on 25 September 2025, whether the £5 billion of Pride in place funding includes the £1.5 billion of funding from the Long Term Plan for Towns outlined in the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40200, on Plan for Neighbourhoods.

On 25 September, the government launched its overarching Pride in Place Strategy, committing up to £5 billion in funding and support to 339 communities. The flagship Pride in Place Programme will provide up to £20 million in flexible funding and support to 244 places over the next decade. This will serve as the cornerstone of this government’s support for communities, incorporating the existing 25 trailblazer areas announced at Spending Review and the 75 Phase 1 Plan for Neighbourhoods programme areas that were announced in March. The Long-Term Plan for Towns programme was launched in September 2023 by the previous administration. This programme was an unfunded commitment for which the previous administration had no plan as to how that promise would be delivered. All 75 towns across the UK that were originally selected to receive Long-Term Plan for Towns funding will receive the funding under the Plan for Neighbourhoods package, which is now part of the Pride in Place Programme.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding has been allocated to councils for local government restructuring over the Spending Review.

The 2025 Spending Review provides over £5 billion of new grant funding over the next three years for local services that communities rely on. This includes £3.4 billion of new grant funding which will be delivered through the Local Government Finance Settlement within financial years 2026-27 to 2028-29. We will publish the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this year, which will inform local authorities of their provisional multi-year allocations. In addition, under the local government reorganisation programme, £7.6 million was made available in June, July and August in the form of proposal development contributions, split across the 21 areas that have been invited to submit proposals for unitary local government. This is the first time that such funding has been made available for the development of reorganisation proposals.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 75619 on Trade Union Officials: Facilities Agreements, if he will publish his Department's policy on diversity network time.

MHCLG is working to adopt the Civil Service Staff Network Policy which launched in September 2025. We don’t have plans to publish our internal policy.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of clawback practices by local authorities on the application of the Community Infrastructure Levy exemption on (a) self-build, (b) annexes and (c) extensions on householders making small administrative errors.

The government recognises that procedural requirements relating to exemptions for housebuilder applications under the 2010 CIL regulations have had financial consequences for some homeowners. We remain committed to finding a solution to this issue.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 50 of his Department's policy paper entitled Pride in Place Strategy, published on 25 September 2025, how much funding has been allocated to Belong; and whether that funding is new funding.

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 75178 on 12 September 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the amount that was received from (a) parish precepts, (b) mayoral precepts excluding police and (c) police precepts (i) in cash terms as receipts and (ii) on the average Band D bill in the latest period for which data is available.

We do not collect data on the amount of receipts collected broken down by precepting authorities or in relation to the precept that they have set. Data on the average Band D council tax and council tax requirement set by precepting authorities for 2025-26 can be found in Table 10 on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Community Recovery Fund: Guidance, published on 18 September 2024, whether councils report to his Department on how the Police Special Grant was spent.

Councils do not report to this Department on how the Police Special Grant is spent. The Police Special Grant is for police and crime commissioners to apply for and is administered by the Home Office.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 August 2025 to Question 68786 on Right to Buy scheme, if he will publish the (a) total value of Right to Buy receipts generated and (b) value of Right to Buy receipts retained by (i) local authorities and (ii) the Government in each of the last five years.

Receipts from Right to Buy (or equivalent) sales of local authority stock for the financial year 2012-13 onwards, including for each of the last five years, are published on gov.uk here. The government does not publish the amount of Right to Buy receipts retained by local authorities in each financial year

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77689 on Local Government: Investment, if he will take steps to stop divestment decisions in local government pension schemes relating to (a) Trident renewal and (b) investment in the defence industry.

Investment strategies for Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds are set by local administering authorities, and include how social, environmental and corporate governance and responsible investment considerations are taken into account. Administering authorities must have regard to their fiduciary duty to scheme members and employers when setting their investment strategy and must follow relevant legislation and guidance.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77628 on South West: Investment, whether there are grant conditions on the use of the £281,250.

The Great South West 2025/26 grant was issued to the accountable body under a section 31 grant pursuant to the Local Government Act 2003. Alongside this, milestones were agreed between MHCLG and Great South West covering key activity around economic intelligence and insight, planning for long-term sustainability and funding options, acting as a regional business voice, and strategic collaboration for growth and inward investment.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2025 to Question 69456 on British Muslim Trust, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of Akeela Ahmed serving as a member of the Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Definition on her role as CEO of the British Muslim Trust.

Akeela Ahmed brings a wealth of expertise and a strong commitment to improving outcomes for Muslim communities. These qualities are vital to her roles in both the British Muslim Trust and the independent Working Group. The British Muslim Trust’s work is focused on tracking anti-Muslim hate in the UK and is separate from work undertaken by the independent Working Group.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraphs 24 and 37 of the Pride in Place Strategy, published on 25 September 2025, how much funding he plans to provide for the (a) 76 places and (b) 169 additional places in each of the next 10 years.

On 25 September the Government announced the Pride in Place Programme, supporting 244 of Great Britain’s most in need neighbourhoods with up to £20m each over the next decade. This will serve as the cornerstone of this Government’s support for communities, incorporating the existing 25 trailblazer areas announced at Spending Review and the 75 Phase 1 Plan for Neighbourhoods programme areas that were announced in March. The full funding profile for the initial Phase 1 places is detailed in the prospectus, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/plan-for-neighbourhoods-prospectus-and-tools/plan-for-neighbourhoods-prospectus. Further details about the funding profile for Phase 2 Pride in Place Programme neighbourhoods will be published shortly.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the policy paper entitled Licensing policy sprint: joint industry and HM government taskforce report, published on 14 August 2025, whether he plans to implement the recommendations in the section entitled Planning – permitted development.

The government published its response to the Licensing Taskforce Report on 14 August. We continue to keep permitted development rights under review.

Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to review Document O building regulations for windows, in the context of encouraging house building.

Part O of the Building Regulations ensures new housing is built to mitigate the risk of overheating. This came into effect in June 2022.Since October 2023, the Building Safety Regulator has a statutory duty under the Building Safety Act 2022 to keep the safety and standard of buildings under review. This includes continuous review of the Building Regulations and the Approved Documents, which provide statutory guidance on how to meet the functional requirements on the Regulations.In the Future Homes and Buildings Standards consultation, which ran from December 2023 – March 2024, the Government sought views on whether the current overheating standards are appropriate or require amendment. We are reviewing proposals and feedback from the consultation and will publish the Government response in the coming months.We are also engaging with industry via the Future Homes Hub to gain greater insight into how Part O is being implemented in practice.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press release entitled Communities to seize control over high streets and restore pride, published on 24 September 2025, what changes his Department plans to make to (a) use classes, (b) planning policy and (c) planning practice guidance to implement the power to block unwanted shops; what types of shop will it apply to; and what his Department's definition is of unwanted.

Through Pride in Place we will rejuvenate high streets and tackle unwanted shops by giving local communities greater control to influence their high streets. We have announced a suite of tools including a Community Right to Buy for communities to take ownership of local buildings they value and streamlining the compulsory purchase process to help local authorities regenerate high streets.Where units are vacant for a long time, councils can hold a High Street Rental Auction to ensure they are occupied and can choose whether to exclude certain uses to curate more diverse high streets. We will refresh the best practice guidance for councils’ powers under section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which will better enable councils to deal with street frontages in disrepair.And by the end of the year, we will consult on a new set of planning reforms that make the system clearer, more rules-based, and easier to navigate - this includes ways to strengthen the long-term vitality and viability of town centres.

Communities and Local Government, how many (a) social and (b) private homes were started in London in the first half of 2025.

My Department publishes a quarterly release entitled ‘Housing supply: Indicators of New Supply, England’, which includes estimates of new build starts and completions in London. Statistics to the quarter ending June 2025 can be found in Table 217 on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, how many long-term empty dwellings received funding through the New Homes Bonus in each year since the creation of that scheme.

The New Homes Bonus has been paid in respect of over 2.9 million net additional homes since its introduction in 2011. This includes over 745,000 affordable homes and 65,000 long-term empty properties returned to use.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of not facilitating the creation of new directly elected council mayors on mayors for single foundation strategic authorities.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill makes provision to prevent the creation of any new directly elected local authority mayors, whilst allowing for the continuation of 13 existing ‘legacy’ directly elected council mayors. The English Devolution White Paper made clear that single foundation strategic authorities will be non-mayoral. The Government will consider non-mayoral devolution arrangements for a single local authorities by exception. The Government’s preference remains for strategic authorities which bring together more than one local authority over a larger, strategic geography.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the initial Government response to the independent report entitled New Towns Taskforce, published on 28 September 2025, what the (a) budget and (b) timetable is for the (i) strategic environment assessment and (ii) habitats regulation assessment.

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the government’s initial response to the independent New Towns Taskforce report published on 28 September which can be found on gov.uk here.