Written questions by Cleverly.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2026, to Question 110398, on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Publicity, in what formats does his department hold data on expenditure on publishing content in foreign languages.

MHCLG holds information about suppliers that have undertaken translation activities for the Department. The information will not differentiate between whether the translatory service was undertaken to support published content or for any other reason, nor would it consistently differentiate between translation work undertaken into the Welsh language or other languages.

Communities and Local Government, if he will publish each council response to the Ministerial letter on local government reorganisation of 18 December 2025.

I refer the Rt hon. and hon. Members to the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement of 23 February 2026 (HCWS1349). It is a longstanding principle that Government does not comment on or publish legal advice. The Government has no plans to publish individual correspondence from councils. Councils are being supported to deliver elections. The administration and cost of running local elections remain matters for local authorities, with wider costs handled in the usual way. We are also making available up to £63 million in new capacity funding for reorganisation areas.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the correspondence, Local government reorganisation: further letter to council leaders with elections in May 2026, of 19 January 2026, for what reason those letters were sent to those specific councils; and if he will place copies of replies to those letters in the Library.

I refer the Rt hon. and hon. Members to the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement of 23 February 2026 (HCWS1349). It is a longstanding principle that Government does not comment on or publish legal advice. The Government has no plans to publish individual correspondence from councils. Councils are being supported to deliver elections. The administration and cost of running local elections remain matters for local authorities, with wider costs handled in the usual way. We are also making available up to £63 million in new capacity funding for reorganisation areas.

With reference to the Treasury Select Committee, Work of HM Revenue and Customs - Oral evidence, HC 416, 13 January 2026, Question 480, if she will publish equivalent figures for the average change in Rateable values for pubs between 2023 and 2026 Rating Lists for pubs under VOA special category code 227.

The Valuation Office Agency published data relating to your request can be found here.

Communities and Local Government, for what reason the Housing Minister determined that local elections should proceed in May 2026; and what factors he considered.

I refer the Rt hon. and hon. Members to the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement of 23 February 2026 (HCWS1349). It is a longstanding principle that Government does not comment on or publish legal advice. The Government has no plans to publish individual correspondence from councils. Councils are being supported to deliver elections. The administration and cost of running local elections remain matters for local authorities, with wider costs handled in the usual way. We are also making available up to £63 million in new capacity funding for reorganisation areas.

Communities and Local Government, if he will publish correspondence from each council requesting election delays in relevant areas.

I refer the Rt hon. and hon. Members to the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement of 23 February 2026 (HCWS1349). It is a longstanding principle that Government does not comment on or publish legal advice. The Government has no plans to publish individual correspondence from councils. Councils are being supported to deliver elections. The administration and cost of running local elections remain matters for local authorities, with wider costs handled in the usual way. We are also making available up to £63 million in new capacity funding for reorganisation areas.

Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the evidence he planned to file at the High Court on the postponement of local elections in England in May 2026.

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 23 February 2026 (HCWS1349). It is a longstanding principle that government does not comment on or publish legal advice. The case the Rt Hon. Member refers to has now been concluded and the Court did not make any judgement against the government.

What Valuation Office Agency guidance exists on the council tax offences of (a) refusing access to a valuation officer who has given notice as required of the exercise of the power of entry, (b) failing to give information about a house to a valuation who has served notice and (c) giving wrong or misleading information to a valuation officer who has served notice as required.

Guidance is set out in Section 1, Part 7 of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) Council Tax manual: Council Tax Manual - Section 1: introduction and essential background - Guidance - GOV.UK

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of changing the eligibility for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure support on the monetary value of that support to individual firms.

The Government is introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £1 billion per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties. Since these new multipliers were announced at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government has been clear that the intention was for their scope to broadly reflect the scope of the current RHL relief. In addition, the Government is providing a £4.3 billion support package to protect ratepayers from large overnight bill increases. This includes extending the supporting small business scheme to those losing RHL relief, which will cap bill increases at the higher of the relevant Transitional Relief cap or £800. As a result, the majority of those seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less, or £800 for the smallest, next year.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an estimate of the monetary value of Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief to qualifying individual businesses in (a) 2024-25, (b) 2025-26 and (c) 2026-27.

The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief scheme provided eligible, occupied, retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with a 75% relief, up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business in 2024-25 and with a 40% relief, up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business in 2025-26. There is no equivalent relief in 2026-27. The value of the relief to individual businesses is not available. However, aggregated data on how much relief has been given in 2024-25 can be found in Table 2 at the following linkhttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-2024-to-2025 and how much is expected to be given in 2025-26 in Table 2 at this linkhttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-forecast-2025-to-2026.

Communities and Local Government, whether the National Protective Security Authority provided advice on the planning process on the Chinese Embassy.

Full reasons for the decision in question are set out in the Secretary of State’s decision letter which can be found on gov.uk here. The letter and associated Inspector’s Report must be read in their entirety. Planning conditions are addressed at paragraphs 107-110 and are listed at Annex B of the decision letter. Application drawings are addressed at paragraphs 89-99. As part of his careful consideration of the applications, the Secretary of State referred back to parties on a number of matters, including the redacted drawings, on 6 August 2025.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department holds information on business rate receipts from (a) Business Rate Improvement Districts levies and (b) the GLA Business Rate Supplement across (i) England and (ii) individual local authorities.

Information on receipts from the GLA Business Rate Supplement is collected and published on Revenue Outturn RS Line 793. The latest local authority and England level data from 2024 to 2025 can be found here.The Department does not hold data on Business Improvement District (BID) levy receipts.The cost of administering BID ballots are recorded on Revenue Outturn RO6 Line 428 also published here.

Communities and Local Government, what planning guidance has been given to local authorities on land which is contaminated due to former foot and mouth burial pits.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that planning policies and decisions should ensure that a development site is suitable for its proposed use, taking account of risks arising from land contamination. This includes risks arising from natural hazards or former activities, and any proposals for mitigation including land remediation. After remediation, as a minimum, development should not be capable of being determined as contaminated land under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 which provides a risk-based approach to the identification and remediation of land where contamination poses an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment. Planning Practice Guidance, available on gov.uk here, sets out further information on how planning can deal with land affected by contamination.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the correspondence entitled Public Letter on Called-in decision: Royal Mint Court, of 20 January 2026, whether the evidence provided to the Intelligence and Security Committee was given to (a) the planning inspector and (b) him.

Full reasons for the decision in question are set out in the Secretary of State’s decision letter which can be found on gov.uk here. The letter and associated Inspector’s Report must be read in their entirety. Planning conditions are addressed at paragraphs 107-110 and are listed at Annex B of the decision letter. Application drawings are addressed at paragraphs 89-99. As part of his careful consideration of the applications, the Secretary of State referred back to parties on a number of matters, including the redacted drawings, on 6 August 2025.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 20 January 2026 to Question 104895 on Elizabeth Line: Business Rates, whether (a) the Valuation Office Agency and (b) his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of increased valuations on the liability of pubs for the Crossrail Business Rate Supplement.

I refer the Rt. hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 111143 on 12 February 2026. This is a matter for the Greater London Authority, rather than central government.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Home Office oral statement on 20 January 2026, on the Chinese Embassy, whether the unredacted plans for the Embassy were subject to scrutiny by the planning inspector.

Full reasons for the decision in question are set out in the Secretary of State’s decision letter which can be found on gov.uk here. The letter and associated Inspector’s Report must be read in their entirety. Planning conditions are addressed at paragraphs 107-110 and are listed at Annex B of the decision letter. Application drawings are addressed at paragraphs 89-99. As part of his careful consideration of the applications, the Secretary of State referred back to parties on a number of matters, including the redacted drawings, on 6 August 2025.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2026, to Question 104668, on council tax, if he will publish a table listing the notional Band D level for each local authority in England in 2025-26, based on the methodology outlined in that answers of 66201 and 104668.

The notional council tax level for each authority in England is published on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 23 January 2026, to Question 106112, on Local Government: Elections, and with reference to his letter to local authorities of 22 January 2026, on what evidential basis district councils have the capacity to organise (a) county and (b) town and parish elections but not district elections.

I refer the Rt.hon. Member to the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement of 23 February (HCWS1349). All local elections will go ahead in May 2026.

Whether her Department has a policy on targeting levels of house price inflation.

The government does not set a target for house price inflation. The UK has a 2% inflation target, measured by the 12 month increase in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). CPI is a broad measure of consumer prices based on a representative basket of goods and services. The independent Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England is responsible for setting monetary policy to meet this target in line with international best practice.

What each (a) value significant and (b) dwellinghouse code used by the Valuation Office Agency for council tax valuations is in (1) England and (2) Wales; and whether any other codes are used.

For Council Tax valuations, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) uses ‘Value Significant Codes’ to indicate specific features that are likely to affect the value of a property. Dwelling house codes allow the VOA to classify dwellings by their architectural style, characteristics and physical property type. They are made up of two parts: ‘Group’ and ‘Type’. The property data the VOA records is set out here: Property attribute data (PAD) - GOV.UK