Written questions by Cleverly.

Communities and Local Government, what information the Land Registry holds on the average house price in each (a) local authority and (b) constituency in England.

HM Land Registry publishes open data on prices paid for properties sold in England and Wales. For customers who want aggregated price data for statistical analysis, the Standard Report Tool available here provides average prices and volume of sales. This allows anyone to configure a report for various geographical areas in England and Wales, from the country level down to postcode sectors, and then download the data in a form suitable for use in a spreadsheet or other data analysis tool.

With reference to the command paper, Protecting What Matters, CP 1540, 9 March 2026, page 32, which diverse communities the Race Equality Unit will engage with.

The government wants the widest range of lived experiences perspectives to inform its work on public service reform. The government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving public services for everyone. That is why the Race Equality Unit’s engagement will be representative of the challenges and opportunities of different groups when accessing public services.

Whether the Electoral Commission will ensure that all polling stations in the May 2026 local elections display visible posters on the secrecy of the ballot and the associated offences under the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023.

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the Answer of 25 March 2026 to Question 121725.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of council tax increases since July 2024 on the cost of living.

I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 110405 on 11 February 2026.

Representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, whether the Electoral Commission has undertaken an Impact Assessment analysis of its own proposal that a company’s profit should be used as the measure of its UK earnings, rather than revenue; and whether the Electoral Commission has assessed whether specific political parties would be adversely affected by such a change to political finance law.

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the Answer of 25 March 2026 to Question 121726.

Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the election pilots prospectus that has been sent to councils.

The government has no plans to publish the prospectus regarding flexible voting pilots, which was previously shared with local authorities. The government has published full details of the flexible voting pilots in the form of the orders, and factsheet.

With reference to the command paper, Protecting What Matters, CP 1540, 9 March 2026, page 38, what mechanism will connect local and national networks.

Our Disruptions team, which horizon scans for extremist influence and events, will be expanded with additional resource to disrupt extremist networks at a national and local level. We will be refreshing our reporting mechanisms that will allow local partners to refer their concerns directly to us.The Government’s focus is to use existing mechanisms to analyse, prevent and disrupt the spread of high-harm extremist ideologies that can lead to community division and to radicalisation into terrorism, particularly those that radicalise others but deliberately operate below CT thresholds.There are a wide range of offences and powers that can be used to counter the threat from extremism and we are working to maximise their use. These include powers to regulate charities; broadcasting and education; immigration powers; and offences such as encouragement of terrorism and public order offences.The Home Office works with a range of national and local partners to deliver this work, ensuring timely sharing of information so where there is evidence of purposeful actions that are potentially radicalising others into terrorism or violence, proportionate disruptive action can be considered.

Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the declared interests of each member of the Government's Working Group on Islamophobia.

As per their Terms of Reference, the members of the Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Definition Working Group were required to disclose any conflicts of interests before they were appointed, and these were considered by the Department as part of the appointments process. Members were required to abide by the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies and follow the Seven Principles of Public Life. The principles include that holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.

Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to introduce statutory guidance to Returning Officers so there is an explicit obligation to enforce the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 in polling stations and intervene to stop the practice of so-called family voting.

I refer the Rt. Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 119522 on 18 March 2026.

With reference to the command paper, Protecting What Matters, CP 1540, 9 March 2026, page 40, in what manner will the new guidance on External Speakers differ to that published by the (a) Charity Commission and (b) Office for Students.

The department will publish new guidance in the spring to support higher education (HE) providers in understanding their responsibilities under the Prevent Duty. This will include advice on assessing whether external speech may be unlawful or linked to terrorism, and on carrying out due diligence for invited speakers.The Prevent Duty does not apply to all charities, and not all HE providers have charity status. The planned guidance will therefore offer more detailed, sector-specific advice on managing risks associated with external speakers in HE settings than guidance intended for the wider charity sector.The planned guidance will work alongside guidance issued by the Office for Students which supports providers in meeting duties under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2026, to Question 116488, on Absent Voting: British Nationals Abroad, what consideration has the Electoral Commission made of this issue.

The Electoral Commission operates independently of Government and addressed the experience of Overseas Electors in its report on the 2024 General Election.

Communities and Local Government, what was the cost to the public purse of the Islamophobia definition working group, including staff costs.

The Anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia Definition Working Group members were not remunerated. Secretariat support was provided by officials in the department.

Communities and Local Government, what criteria the Electoral Commission uses to accredit election observers.

The Electoral Commission operates independently of government. I would recommend that the Rt Hon. Member contacts them directly to discuss their approach to accrediting election observers.

Communities and Local Government, in what circumstances do staff members in the Local Government Pension Scheme receive their full pension if they are subject to a (a) voluntary or (b) compulsory redundancy after the age of 55.

The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Regulations lay out the treatment of the pensions of LGPS members when subject to voluntary and compulsory redundancy over the age of 55. On redundancy, an active LGPS member with at least two years membership over the age of 55 will be eligible for receipt of an unreduced pension.

With reference to the command paper, Protecting What Matters, CP 1540, 9 March 2026, page 38, if she will publish the organisations that the Government deems extremist and which are subject to a policy of non-engagement.

The Home Office does not comment on specific groups. As announced in the Protecting What Matters publication on the 9th March, we are currently updating and embedding the 2024 engagement principles which will assist public bodies to not confer legitimacy, funding or influence on extremist groups. Responsibility for decisions and due diligence around who departments engage with sits with those departments and the appropriate policy areas.It is for individual government departments to decide to use these principles, or their own due diligence processes around engagement. If asked, we will advise and share information to help inform their decisions. We will also be producing an annual ‘State of Extremism’ report which will also support public sector staff to tackle extremism. The first iteration of this will be published by the end of 2026.

Communities and Local Government, whether a local billing authority will be centrally reimbursed by his department if they apply the 15% business rate pub relief to a pub’s Business Improvement District business rate levy, where the pub hereditament is liable for such a locally-led levy.

Business Improvement District (BID) levies are established under separate legislation from the business rates system and are payable in addition to non-domestic rates.Business rates reliefs granted under section 47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, such as the Pubs and Live Music Venues Relief, apply only to a ratepayer’s liability for non-domestic rates and do not apply to BID levies. These reliefs therefore reduce a ratepayer’s liability to non-domestic rates only. Individual BIDs may allow for a reduction in a levy in line with their own schemes but this is a matter for individual BIDs to determine.Where a billing authority grants discretionary business rates reliefs (including reliefs under section 47 of the 1988 Act), the authority is compensated for the resulting loss of non-domestic rates income via grant paid under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003. This compensation relates solely to reductions in non-domestic rates liability and does not extend to BID levies. Accordingly, there is no provision for central reimbursement in respect of BID levy amounts.

Communities and Local Government, what guidance has been given on whether overseas broadcasts to influence elections in the United Kingdom are permitted.

Since March 2025, the Foreign Interference Offence has been a priority offence under the Online Safety Act, requiring platforms to put in place proportionate systems and processes designed to prevent users from encountering content that amounts to the Foreign Interference Offence, minimise the length of time it is on their service and remove any illegal content on user-to-user services where they become aware of it.Ofcom has published its Codes of Practice which outline guidance on how platforms can comply with these duties. Platforms have already been required to assess the risk of illegal content (including foreign interference) on their services against this guidance.Ofcom has robust enforcement powers to enforce compliance with the illegal safety duties, with providers being required to implement the safety measures set out in the Codes or use other effective measures to protect users from illegal content and activity.

Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received from Lord Walney, the UK Government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption, on the new anti-muslim hostility definition.

As is standard practice in government policy making, officials undertook limited and focused informal engagement with selected stakeholders as the government considered the advice submitted by the Working Group.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2026, to Question 116479, on Elections: Proof of Identity, whether the cash withdrawal cards that will be accepted as identification will include reloadable, non-bank-account-linked payment cards.

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 121736 on 27 March 2026.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 12 September 2025, to Question 75184, on Fast Food: Planning, what his Department's policy if on whether sandwich shops are classed as fast food outlets.

As per my answer to Question UIN 75184 on 12 September 2025, it is for local planning authorities, when receiving a planning application, to consider whether, given the type of food and service to be provided at the location proposed, they consider the outlet to be either a hot food takeaway or a fast-food outlet.Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, the government consulted on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The consultation on the revised Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, sought feedback on the application of the term ‘fast-food outlets’ in planning decisions, and whether any further clarity could be provided on the types of establishments this policy should apply to.We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.