Every parliamentary written question tabled by James Cleverly this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 481–500 of 1,474 · this parliament
Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Explanatory Memorandum to the Local Authorities (Changes to Years of Ordinary Elections) (England) Order 2026, para 5.9, if he will publish the representations from the councils.
The Government has no plans to publish the representations received.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2026 to Question 109259 on Local Government: Elections, which local authorities submitted applications for an election pilot in May 2026 and subsequently made a request to postpone 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, with a deadline of 22 September 2025. In December 2025, council leaders in local government reorganisation areas were invited to make representations on the potential postponement of local elections and whether this would release essential capacity to deliver local government reorganisation, with a deadline of 15 January 2026. Three local authorities that had submitted applications to pilot flexible voting methods for the May 2026 elections subsequently requested that their May 2026 polls be postponed. These authorities were Tamworth Borough Council, Stevenage Borough Council, and Redditch Borough Council. These three authorities are not taking part in the pilot scheme in May 2026.
Representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, further to the research published by Democracy Volunteers, what discussions he has had with Manchester City Council on compliance with the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 in the Gorton and Denton Parliamentary by-election; and if the Commission will make it their policy to undertake an assessment of the Electoral Registration Officer's compliance with Performance Standard Outcome 1 on the delivery of well-run elections.
The Electoral Commission was in close contact with the Returning Officer (RO) to quickly and carefully review the concerns that have been raised and the information available in relation to the by-election.The Commission considers the performance of ROs in their delivery of elections through the performance standards framework. The Commission will make any assessment in relation to this by-election in due course.
Representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what guidance the Electoral Commission has issued to Electoral Registration Officers on enforcing the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023.
The right to vote in secret is set out in UK electoral law. The Electoral Commission’s position, outlined in guidance to electoral administrators, has always been that anyone attempting to inappropriately influence how another person votes, or to steal someone else’s vote, is committing an offence.The Electoral Commission’s guidance is clear that no other person is allowed to accompany a voter to a polling booth, unless a voter who is disabled or unable to read has requested assistance to vote. The Commission’s polling station handbook, which is available in every polling station, sets out that if polling station staff observe anyone else attempting to accompany a voter in the voting booth, they must approach them and tell them not to. If anyone does not comply with this instruction, the Presiding Officer has the power to order their removal from the polling station, either by the police or other authorised person. In all cases, a record should also be made in the polling station log.This guidance was updated to reflect the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 and as part of our regular programme of reviewing and improving guidance for polling station staff.
Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to allow bank cards issued without a credit check to be used as a form of voter identification.
I refer the Rt. Hon Member to the Representation of the People Bill 2026, which sets out which bank cards will be accepted at the polling station – this includes credit cards, charge cards, debit cards and cash withdrawal cards.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2026, to Question 111132, on Planning Permission: Disclosure of Information, if he will list the full title, data, local authority and reference number of the two planning applications that were subject to Section 321 directions.
Section 321 Directions were issued in respect of applications at: The Pavilions, Sandy Lane, Runcorn, WA7 4EX, Halton Borough Council (Reference: 17/00468/FUL) made on 26 February 2017 and withdrawn on 17 January 2022. Heath Business and Technical Park, Heath Road South, Runcorn, WA7 4QX, Halton Borough Council (Reference: 22/00569/OUT) made on 23 March 2024, called in for Ministerial determination on 19 September 2024, and decision issued on 9 March 2026. Both Directions were issued at the request of the Health and Safety Executive.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2026, to Question 111143, on Public Houses: Business Rates, whether this requires that the Crossrail levy on pubs in London must be reduced by 15 per cent in 2026-27 compared to the 2026 initial liability following the revaluation and adjusted threshold for the Business Rate Supplement.
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 111143 on 12 February 2026.It is for the 33 London billing authorities and the Greater London Authority to ensure that the required determinations and resulting adjustments are made to ratepayer bills in respect of BRS liabilities.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of planning enforcement in relation to traveller sites.
My Department has made no specific assessment of the effectiveness of planning enforcement in relation to traveller sites.
Communities and Local Government, whether guidance has been provided to (a) local authorities and (b) councillors on predetermination in planning in relation to (i) Local Plans and (ii) planning applications.
Section 25 of the Localism Act 2011 deals with the matter of predetermination of decisions by councillors.The Local Government Association has provided guidance for councillors as to how this applies to decisions on planning applications and local plan policy. This guidance can be found on gov.uk here.
Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing overseas electors to download postal ballot papers and send back their completed ballot.
The Government has no plans to allow electors to download and print their own ballot papers. All ballot papers must be uniformly printed and contain security markings in order to ensure the secrecy of the ballot and to prevent against fraud. It would not be possible to replicate this consistently if ballot papers were printed on home printers.
Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing guidance to Electoral Registration Officers on (a) secrecy of the ballot and (b) other aspects of enforcement of the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023.
Returning Officers are responsible for the conduct of elections and the Electoral Commission provides them with extensive guidance on the administration of elections. It includes guidance on polling station voting and the secrecy requirements of the poll. The Electoral Commission is also responsible for setting standards and monitoring the performance of Returning Officers. The Commission’s performance standards specifically include ensuring polling stations are set up and staff are trained to support voters to vote independently and in secret
Communities and Local Government, what sources of data he expects the automated electoral registration system to use.
The government is committed to introducing more automated approaches to electoral registration over the coming years. Our ambition is to transform our electoral registration system, harnessing existing data from across government to move towards an automated system so voters can easily register to vote and keep their registration details updated. As set out in our policy paper ‘Restoring Trust in our democracy: Our strategy for modern and secured elections’, we are working with a number of government departments to identify data-enabled opportunities to support the overall objective of improving registration. Any changes must be tested to ensure they have a positive outcome in an already complex system, which will take time to assess.
Communities and Local Government, what recent representations his Department has received from political parties on access to postal vote expiry data.
I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 97526 on 15 December 2025
Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) legal action and (b) other expenditure arising from the decision to postpone local elections in England in May 2026.
As per the Secretary of State’s correspondence to the Rt. Hon. Member of 23 February, the Government has agreed to pay the claimant’s reasonable legal costs, with the final amount to be determined. Any further Government legal or administrative costs will be met in the usual way. All local elections scheduled for May 2026 will be going ahead as planned. Spend on administering local elections is a matter for local authorities.
Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to allow prepaid currency cards to be used as a form of voter identification.
I refer the Rt. Hon Member to the Representation of the People Bill 2026, which sets out which bank cards will be accepted at the polling station – this includes credit cards, charge cards, debit cards and cash withdrawal cards.
Communities and Local Government, what the process for proposed know your donor checks will be for (a) hon. Members and (b) political parties; and what role House authorities will have in the process.
Know Your Donor rules will be implemented alongside clear, practical support for all recipients of donations. That is why the regime is underpinned by statutory guidance issued by the Electoral Commission, which will set out how recipients of donations should assess the relevant risk factors, the kinds of circumstances that may signal a heightened level of risk and the steps they can take to reduce that risk.To keep the system responsive to evolving threats and campaigning practices, the legislation also enables this guidance to be updated as needed.We will continue to work closely with the Commission and relevant stakeholders as the guidance is developed.
Communities and Local Government, if he will make reconsider the cancellation of the combined authority mayoral elections originally scheduled for May 2026.
Government intends to hold inaugural mayoral elections for the four Devolution Priority Programme places that are also undertaking local government reorganisation in May 2028, so that areas can complete the reorganisation process before Mayors take office. The inaugural elections will take place following the establishment of the Strategic Authorities by Secondary Legislation, which is subject to the areas consent. Devolution is strongest when it is built on firm foundations, and this extra time will allow these four areas to establish robust institutions ahead of their Mayors taking office in 2028. Cheshire and Warrington and Cumbria have previously requested a delay of their inaugural elections to May 2027, to align with the majority of planned local elections. Both Strategic Authorities have now been established.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2026 to Question 111142 on Housing: Asylum, how many local authorities submitted an expression of interest to the new model for asylum accommodation.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has not invited, nor received, expressions of interest from local authorities in relation to a new model for asylum accommodation.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2026, to Question 111137, on Council tax: Tax Yields, whether there are equivalent estimates for aggregate business rate receipts in each of those years.
The Department collects estimated business rates receipts data annually from local authorities, the most recent data available is for 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27 and is available here. Estimates of business rates receipts data for 2027-28 and 2028-29 have not been collected at this time. For the purpose of the Settlement, the government estimates the amount of an individual local authority’s Settlement allocation provided through the local share of business rates income. This is known as a Baseline Funding Level (BFL) which is the amount of funding that the Government determines that a local authority needs from business rates to deliver local services. The BFLs form part of Core Spending Power, core revenue funding available for local authority services through the local government finance settlement. In 2027-28 and 2028-29, BFLs will increase in line with an annual inflation measurement to reflect the annual uprating of business rates multipliers. An assumption of this was made in the multi-year Settlement to reflect this and published here.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2025, to Question 58058, on Local Government Pension Scheme, and of 12 February 2026, to Question 111138, on Local Government: Redundancy Pay, whether any changes are being made to the Local Government Pension Scheme to reduce the cost of pension strain following unitary local government restructuring; and whether this department has made a wider estimate of the likely cost of unitary restructuring on council exit payments in 2026-27 onwards.
Council staff are expected to transfer to new unitary councils. The cost of any exit payments made by a council offered as part of a voluntary exit scheme or resulting from any compulsory redundancies implemented by a new unitary council, including payments under the Local Government Pension Scheme, will depend on local workforce decisions and the composition of the workforce. The Government cannot predetermine or form a view on the outcome of local decisions on the operational and staffing structure of new unitary councils, including the outcome of any consultation with affected staff and their representatives. Councils should work with relevant administering authorities on any implications for the Local Government Pension Scheme and it is for all councils concerned to determine their own policies on exit payments.