Written questions by McMurdock.

Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, which councils have queried the value for taxpayers of spending on elections to bodies that will not exist for much longer.

Local government reorganisation is complex and we have listened to councils telling us about the constraints they are operating within, and the work that reorganisation introduces on top of existing challenges. On 18 December I invited councils undergoing local government reorganisation with local elections in May 2026 to set out their views on the postponement of their local election and if they consider this could release essential capacity to deliver local government reorganisation. Councils are in the best position to judge the impact of potential postponements on their area and in the spirit of devolution and trusting local leaders, this government will listen to them. They have been asked to make any request for a postponement explicit, as this will of course be relevant in deciding whether postponement is necessary for a particular council. If a Council does not make an explicit request or provide clear views and evidence in respect of their judgment on capacity, then the Secretary of State will take that into account and consider relevant evidence – but it will clearly make the decision making process more difficult and the Secretary of State will be less likely to decide to delay, given the locally-led approach taken. The Secretary of State is only minded to make an Order to postpone elections for one year for those councils who raise capacity concerns. It is ultimately up to councils how or whether they respond. We have been transparent about this process and will consider all the representations we receive. The Secretary of State will consider the position of each council individually, weighing up the evidence received. The deadline for responses is 15 January and after this the Secretary of State will decide whether to make an Order to change the year of council elections and the House will be updated.

Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, what communications he has received from Basildon Council regarding the cancellation of the May 2026 (a) local elections and (b) mayoral election.

On 18 December 2025 I invited Basildon Borough Council, Essex County Council and Thurrock Council and other councils undergoing local government reorganisation to set out their views on the postponement of their local election and if they consider this could release essential capacity to deliver local government reorganisation. We have been transparent about this process and will consider all the representations we receive, including any from members of the public. The deadline for responses is 15 January and after this the Secretary of State will decide whether to make an Order to change the year of council elections and the House will be updated. Minister Fahnbulleh also announced on 5 December 2025 that we are minded to hold the inaugural mayoral elections in Greater Essex in May 2028 so that the reorganisation process is complete before a Mayor is elected for Greater Essex. This is because I believe devolution works best when it is built on strong foundations so, moving forward, we want to aim for strong unitary structures being in place before areas access mayoral devolution. To ensure the benefits of devolution are not delayed, we will still establish the Greater Essex Mayoral Strategic Authority and lay the necessary statutory instrument to do so as soon as possible in 2026, subject to council consent. My colleague Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, the Minister for Devolution, Faith and Communities, spoke to leaders in Greater Essex following the announcement of funding and next steps for the devolution agreements that are being developed through the Devolution Priority Programme. The Department has continued to engage closely with them since the announcement, jointly discussing the benefits devolution will bring to these areas.

Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the financial sustainability of local authorities with significant Private Finance Initiative liabilities.

Local authorities are responsible for their own capital strategies and financial management, including borrowing and investment decisions. They must, however, comply with statutory duties and guidance to ensure that all decisions are prudent, affordable and sustainable and consistent with their Best Value duty. The PFI Programme team attend regular intelligence sharing forums with other teams in the Department who are responsible for overseeing local authority financial stability. The Department provides PFI grant funding to its local authority PFI contracts funding the capital elements of the projects, this ranges 50-70% of the annual Unitary Charge. Local authorities are contractually obliged to pay the annual Unitary Charge under the terms of their PFI Contract. The PFI Grant paid by the Department was awarded by HM Treasury at the Financial Close of the Project Procurement and is paid for the whole of the PFI Contract term to support the Unitary Charge payment.

How many British citizens born (a) in the UK and (b) abroad have had their British citizenship revoked in each of the last 5 years.

The British Nationality Act 1981 provides the Secretary of State with the power to deprive an individual of their British citizenship where:The Secretary of State is satisfied that it would be conducive to the public good;The person acquired citizenship as a result of fraud, false representations or concealment of a material factThe Government considers that deprivation on ‘conducive grounds’ is an appropriate response to activities such as those involving:National security, including espionage and acts of terrorism directed at this country or an allied power;Unacceptable behaviour of the kind mentioned in the then Home Secretary’s statement of 24 August 2005 (‘glorification’ of terrorism etc);War crimes; andSerious organised crime.The Home Office publishes data relating to those deprived of British Citizenship on ‘conducive to the public good’ grounds. These are published in the Government Transparency Report: Disruptive and Investigatory Powers. Reports have been published up to 2024.The figures from the previous five years, of individuals who have been deprived of their British citizenship for this reason, are below:YearNumber of individuals202182022320232202412025Not yet publishedIn the interest of safeguarding national security, we do not break down these figures into sub-categories.This report also references s66 of the Immigration Act 2014, which allows the Secretary of State to deprive a person of their British citizenship on the ground it is conducive to the public good even if it would leave them stateless. To date, this power has not been used.

Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, what discussions his Department have had with the commissioners at Thurrock Council on the preferred option for which councils Thurrock should merge with.

Thurrock Commissioners were involved in the development of reorganisation proposals and my officials met with them in the course of those and other responsibilities. The Department met with councils following the submission of proposals on 26 September, and officers from Basildon attended the meeting on the five unitary authority proposal meeting in November. Baroness Taylor of Stevenage visited Basildon on 12 December, where local government reorganisation was raised. On the wider question of Thurrock’s debt and the general handling of council debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77936 on 13 October 2025.

Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, what discussions his Department have had with Basildon Council regarding the financial viability of the 5 council model where Basildon and Thurrock would merge.

Thurrock Commissioners were involved in the development of reorganisation proposals and my officials met with them in the course of those and other responsibilities. The Department met with councils following the submission of proposals on 26 September, and officers from Basildon attended the meeting on the five unitary authority proposal meeting in November. Baroness Taylor of Stevenage visited Basildon on 12 December, where local government reorganisation was raised. On the wider question of Thurrock’s debt and the general handling of council debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77936 on 13 October 2025.

Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, what recent discussions his Department has had regarding financial support for whichever restructured council area inherits the debts of Thurrock, Basildon, and Essex Councils.

Thurrock Commissioners were involved in the development of reorganisation proposals and my officials met with them in the course of those and other responsibilities. The Department met with councils following the submission of proposals on 26 September, and officers from Basildon attended the meeting on the five unitary authority proposal meeting in November. Baroness Taylor of Stevenage visited Basildon on 12 December, where local government reorganisation was raised. On the wider question of Thurrock’s debt and the general handling of council debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77936 on 13 October 2025.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Councils offered flexibility to complete reorganisation, published on 18 December 2025, what discussions he has had with local government bodies in Essex on the expected change in the number of councillors following local government reorganisation.

No decisions have yet been taken on reorganisation in Essex, Southend on Sea and Thurrock and as such the Secretary of State has not had discussions on any expected change in the number of councillors. On 5 February 2025, the Government invited two-tier authorities and their neighbouring small unitary councils to develop proposals for unitary local government. In those proposals, areas were asked to include details of the expected number of councillors for any new unitary council. The four proposals submitted by councils in Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock each included councillor numbers. Consultation on these proposals closed on 11 January 2026. The Secretary of State will now consider the proposals, alongside consultation responses and other available evidence, before deciding which, if any, to implement.

Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the annual cost to local authorities of servicing Private Finance Initiative contracts.

The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) collect the Unitary Payment information for all PFI Contracts held by Local Authorities annually as part of the HM Treasury PFI Data collection exercise. This is shared with relevant Sponsoring Government Departments on a project-by-project basis, the data is not aggregated by Authority but shown per contract.

Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, what proportion of people employed by councils in Greater Essex does his Department expect will be required for the new council structure.

We anticipate the vast majority of local council workers will transfer to roles in the relevant new unitary council and all workers will be protected by the relevant employment laws.

What estimate he has made of the proportion of pregnant women who are not offered the whooping cough vaccine by 20 weeks’ gestation; and what steps are being taken to improve timely access.

All pregnant women in England should be offered the pertussis vaccination in every pregnancy, around the time of the mid-pregnancy scan, usually 20 weeks, and ideally before 32 weeks.Recent data shows maternal pertussis vaccination coverage from July to September 2025 was 71.9%, which was 7.5% higher than the equivalent period in 2025. The data is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pertussis-immunisation-in-pregnancy-vaccine-coverage-estimates-in-england-october-2013-to-march-2014/prenatal-pertussis-vaccination-coverage-in-england-from-july-to-september-2025NHS England has implemented a range of measures to ensure timely access to the pertussis vaccination programme, including NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency having developed a joint maternal vaccines toolkit and campaign to promote timely uptake of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), whooping cough, and flu vaccines during pregnancy, highlighting the protection provided to newborns.NHS England has commissioned community pharmacies in the North West, Midlands, London, and the East of England to deliver pertussis and RSV vaccines, increasing convenience and capacity, particularly in areas of high deprivation and low uptake.A maternal vaccination postcard has been translated into seven additional languages and distributed to 200 practices with lower uptake. Tailored communications are shared through community and faith-based channels, including radio, podcasts, and local publications.NHS England regularly shares vaccination information with pregnancy and parenting organisations such as Tommy’s and the NCT, as well as community and faith groups, for use on their websites, newsletters, and social media.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that all pregnant women are offered the whooping cough vaccine at the optimal time in pregnancy.

All pregnant women are offered the whooping cough vaccination in every pregnancy, around the time of the mid-pregnancy scan, usually 20 weeks, and ideally before 32 weeks, via midwifery in the community or their general practice.The Department is working with NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency to encourage high uptake of all immunisations, including in underserved communities and in groups with historically lower vaccination rates.Significant efforts have been made to raise awareness of the importance of vaccination to protect babies against whooping cough, also known as pertussis. These include targeted campaigns using social media, digital screen graphics, and community outreach. The National Health Service actively promotes vaccination for pregnant women to protect their newborns, and efforts are underway to enhance the recording and monitoring of vaccinations, ensuring accurate data collection to assess the programme’s effectiveness.Recent data shows maternal pertussis vaccination coverage from July to September 2025 was 71.9%, which was 7.5% higher than the equivalent period in 2025. However, there is more to do to stabilise and improve uptake, and that is why we have set out actions to improve uptake in our 10-Year Health Plan for England. Putting our plans into action, we have recently launched a campaign to promote awareness and confidence in vaccination, including for pregnant women, which will run throughout the year.To improve accessibility, community pharmacies in areas of high deprivation and low uptake are now also commissioned to offer some vaccinations, making it more convenient for individuals to get vaccinated.

What steps his Department is taking to address regional disparities in whooping cough vaccination uptake among pregnant women.

The latest published data for September 2025 shows that prenatal pertussis vaccination coverage has improved in all seven NHS England regions when compared to September 2024.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) report shows monthly prenatal pertussis vaccination coverage followed an increasing trend since April 2024. The report is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pertussis-immunisation-in-pregnancy-vaccine-coverage-estimates-in-england-october-2013-to-march-2014/prenatal-pertussis-vaccination-coverage-in-england-from-january-to-march-2025-and-annual-coverage-for-2024-to-2025To support continued improvements, NHS England has developed and implemented a vaccination in pregnancy improvement plan. Actions delivered to date include:- system level oversight and leadership of programme commissioning and delivery, to strengthen the offer process and tackle factors contributing to low vaccine uptake;- ensuring commissioned providers are aware of their responsibilities within the vaccination in pregnancy programmes and are working to strengthen the vaccination offer and ensure consistency in delivery approach;- commissioning community pharmacy providers in areas of low uptake and high deprivation to deliver National Health Service pertussis vaccinations to pregnant women opportunistically or on request;- revised governance arrangements for vaccination in pregnancy programmes, with regional and national colleagues meeting regularly to share learning and good practice from local systems; and- improved vaccination recording and accurate data collection to monitor programme effectiveness, allowing regional teams and their partner integrated care boards to access timely NHS operational data. This informs targeted action to increase uptake and reduce inequalities.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, what analysis his Department has conducted on the suitability of establishing parish councils in areas undergoing local government reorganisation.

The government recognises that local authorities undergoing Local Government Reorganisation may wish to establish new town and parish councils through the separate Community Governance Review process. In doing so, they should show how these will contribute to reorganisation’s overall goal of creating simpler structures that deliver high quality and sustainable public services to citizens. The government views the existing Community Governance Review process as suitable in ensuring that parishing arrangements reflect the needs and wishes of local communities.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, whether he plans to abolish the system of elections by thirds.

The Government has no plans to abolish election by thirds.

Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, whether his Department have any plans to set a per-capita upper limit for debt inheritance for reorganised councils in Essex.

On the management of debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77936 on 13 October 2025. It is the responsibility of councils to manage their budgets, and it is standard for councils to borrow and to hold debt, which they will do in the normal course of business. Local government reorganisation does not change this.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, whether his Department plans to change rules for the establishment and disestablishment of parish councils.

The government recognises that local authorities undergoing Local Government Reorganisation may wish to establish new town and parish councils through the separate Community Governance Review process. In doing so, they should show how these will contribute to reorganisation’s overall goal of creating simpler structures that deliver high quality and sustainable public services to citizens. The government views the existing Community Governance Review process as suitable in ensuring that parishing arrangements reflect the needs and wishes of local communities.

Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1132, what measures will be in place to ensure that council areas undergoing reorganisation do not overspend due to their debts being inherited by a new council area.

On the management of debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77936 on 13 October 2025. It is the responsibility of councils to manage their budgets, and it is standard for councils to borrow and to hold debt, which they will do in the normal course of business. Local government reorganisation does not change this.

In what proportion of trials juries reached a not guilty verdict in each year since 2020.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the volume and sentencing outcomes of cases heard at the magistrates’ court for triable either way offences and indictable offences (i.e., trials without a jury), in the Magistrates’ Court data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.The volume and sentencing outcomes of cases heard at the Crown Court is available in the Crown Court data tool by offence type. This includes the number of cases which are convicted and acquitted.

In what proportion of trials without a jury was a not guilty verdict given in each year since 2020.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the volume and sentencing outcomes of cases heard at the magistrates’ court for triable either way offences and indictable offences (i.e., trials without a jury), in the Magistrates’ Court data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.The volume and sentencing outcomes of cases heard at the Crown Court is available in the Crown Court data tool by offence type. This includes the number of cases which are convicted and acquitted.