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, 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, 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, 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 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, 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, 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, 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 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.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2025 to Question 50850 on Local Government: Israel and with reference to the Cabinet Office document entitled Code of conduct for board members of public bodies, published in November 2019, what guidance his Department has issued on whether people who hold regulated public appointments may (a) campaign and (b) support (i) boycott, (ii) divestment and (iii) sanction campaigns outside of where formal legal (A) sanctions, (B) embargoes and (C) restrictions have been put in place by the Government.

Advice on political activity is contained within the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. The Code of Conduct requires public appointees - in their public role - to generally be, and be seen to be, politically impartial and to abstain from all controversial political activity. It also advises that appointees, on matters directly related to the work of the body, should not make political statements or engage in any other political activity. However, subject to these guidelines, the Code does not preclude engagement in general political activity by appointees. They must first have informed the body and/or sponsor department and should remain conscious of their responsibilities and exercise proper discretion at all times.

Whether the provisions in chapter 2 of part 2 of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill will (a) apply to councillors and (b) be in addition to section 28 of the Localism Act 2011.

The Code of Ethics requirement will apply to those working for public authorities, and therefore will not apply to elected officials, including councillors. Elected officials have a different relationship with institutions and are accountable to the public, not employers.There are different arrangements for governing behaviour of elected officials. The Government recently consulted on a range of proposals to strengthen the current local government standards regime.The response to the consultation will be published shortly.

Pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2025 to Question 37801 on Conditions of Employment, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of allowing local authority employers that adopt a four day week to contact employees by (a) email, (b) text and (c) phone on their fallow working day in the proposed draft Statutory Code of Practice under the right to switch off on those employers.

The government believes in the importance of a good work life balance, which is why we are improving access to flexible working through the Employment Rights Bill.If employees have different working patterns, it is important to agree an approach that works to meet business needs and support employees.As we develop the right to switch off we will consult with local authorities, employers and trade unions to ensure it strikes the right balance, to support both businesses and the workforce.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of pubs adding service charges for the sale of alcohol without table service on consumers.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCCA) Act 2024 requires traders, including pubs, to display prices inclusive of all taxes and unavoidable charges before payment is made. Prices must be accurate and not misleading. Failure to do this may be taken as an unfair trading practice and constitute an offence.  Pubs can offer consumers a tipping facility to use should they wish to support the local pub and staff.The department has no plans to assess the impact of any voluntary arrangements.

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.

Media and Sport, what the terms of reference are for the Know Your Neighbourhood Fund; and over which years that funding will be allocated.

The Know Your Neighbourhood (KYN) Fund was launched in January 2023 as an up to £30 million package of funding designed to widen participation in volunteering and tackle loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England. This funding supported people living in disadvantaged areas to connect with others in their community and engage in volunteering, with the aim of improving wellbeing and pride in local areas. In April 2025, the KYN Fund was extended until March 2026, with an additional up to £4.5 million of government funding. This funding will uplift existing grant awards to organisations in the 27 eligible delivery areas that had previously received KYN funding between 2022 and 2025, to enable them to continue delivery up until March 2026. It will build upon the original KYN objectives with funded projects also aimed at reducing loneliness stigma and building community cohesion. The objectives of the Know Your Neighbourhood Fund are, by March 2026:To increase the proportion of people in targeted high-deprivation local authorities who volunteer at least once a month.To reduce the proportion of chronically lonely people in targeted high-deprivation local authorities who lack desired level of social connections.To build the evidence to identify scalable and sustainable place-based interventions that work in increasing regular volunteering and reducing chronic loneliness.To enable targeted high-deprivation local authorities, and the local voluntary and community sector in these places, to implement sustainable systems and processes that encourage volunteering and tackling loneliness.

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, 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, whether his Department subscribes to planning starts data produced by Glenigan.

My Department purchases data from Glenigan covering planning applications for residential developments. While the data contains some information on site starts, we do not judge this to be a robust and comprehensive picture of building starts and therefore do not use the data for this purpose.

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.