Written questions by Hollinrake.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2025 to Question 64077 on Film: Business Rates, if she will make it her policy to increase the level of film studio business rate relief to compensate for new business rates surcharge from 2026-27.

At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced an intention to introduce a higher business rates multiplier on the most valuable properties – those with Rateable Values (RVs) of £500,000 and above – from April 2026 to fund permanently lower multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure properties with RVs below £500,000. Eligible film studios receive 40 per cent relief on gross business rates bills until March 2034. Business rates bills are calculated by applying the relevant multiplier first and so film studios will receive 40 per cent relief on their total liability. As set out in supporting guidance, the Government may review the level of relief in the event of significant changes in RVs at future revaluations.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2025 to Question 64049 on Alcoholic Drinks, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) production of organic wines and sparkling wines in British vineyards and (b) use of renewable technologies on achieving environmental objectives, in the context of green bond objectives.

The Green Financing Programme’s objective is to raise funds via green gilts and retail Green Savings Bonds for policies with a positive climate or environmental impact. All eligible policies financed by the Programme are drawn from policies agreed by HM Treasury and departments in the Spending Review. In the context of the Green Financing Programme, HM Treasury does not conduct impact assessments of existing or potential policies. Spending departments are responsible for the decision to conduct ex-ante or ex-post impact assessments of their policies. HM Treasury does publish a biennial Impact Report of policies funded via the Green Financing Programme, using data from other departments. The most recent such report was published in September 2023 and can be found via the following website link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/651446cdb1bad4000d4fd916/HMT-UK_Green_Financing_Allocation_Impact_Report_2023_Accessible.pdf

Whether his Department has set a target for reducing the number of deaths attributable to particulate air pollution.

There is not currently a Government target to reduce the number of deaths attributable to particulate air pollution. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs set two targets for particulate matter, an emissions reduction target and a Population Exposure Reduction Target, which will continue to reduce peoples’ average exposure across the country. The Department of Health and Social Care will continue to work across Government to reduce people’s exposure to pollutants harmful to health.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has had recent discussions with the Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London Adjudication Joint Committee on automatic number plate recognition powers for off-street car parks.

Whilst the Secretary of State has held no meetings with the Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London Adjudication Joint Committee, the government is committed to raising standards for off-street private parking operators.On 11 July, the government published a consultation document setting out its proposals for raising standards across the private parking industry ahead of preparing a code of practice and an accompanying compliance framework for private parking operators. The consultation document can be found on gov.uk here. The consultation closes on 5 September.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2025 to Question 64455 on Water Charges, whether households are able to opt-out of pilots on (a) rising block tariffs and progressive water metering and (b) seasonal water metering.

The Government is committed to delivering for customers. Following the Independent Water Commission report, the Government will establish a new statutory water ombudsman - a single, free service to help customers resolve complaints such as incorrect bills. Additionally, the amount of compensation customers are legally entitled to when key standards are not met has been more than doubled. Further updates to the Guaranteed Standards Scheme are due to come into force in October. Several water companies are currently trialling a range of charging approaches, such as seasonal tariffs and rising block tariffs. Through these trials the sector will learn how to best support customers with their water bills. Companies are responsible for their own charges and for designing and running their trials to test new charging structures. Companies can design their trials in a range of ways within the good practice principles for charging trials outlined by Ofwat. In designing their trials, companies are required to consult with the Consumer Council for Water to ensure that safeguards are in place to protect vulnerable consumers or exclude them from trials where appropriate.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2025 to Question 64625 on Electoral Register: Young People, whether political parties were consulted.

Pursuant to the answer given to Question UIN 64625 on 8 July 2025, the government was elected on a manifesto commitment to give 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote in all elections. We are committed to act during this Parliament to do so – in turn strengthening our democracy, empowering young people to participate and building an informed and engaged electorate.We will take time to engage with stakeholders in the electoral sector, devolved and local government, education, civil society - and importantly, with young people themselves - to ensure the change is implemented successfully.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2025 to Question 64190 on Unitary Councils: Cambridgeshire, whether the same timetable will apply to other proposed new unitary councils with (a) November and (b) September response deadlines.

The government is committed to ending two-tier local government in England and moving to a single tier of local government in all parts of the country as soon as practicable. This will create simpler structures for the public, strengthen disjointed services and help councils pursue efficiencies. We anticipate that for areas submitting final proposals at the end of September, a consultation could be launched in November, closing in the new year, and for areas submitting final proposals at the end of November a consultation could be launched in the new year closing after the local elections in May 2026.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 24 June 2025 on Simplified Local Leadership Structures, HCWS736, through what legislative means the committee system will be abolished.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, introduced to the House of Commons on 10 July 2025, makes provision to change the available governance arrangements for councils in England, by amending the Local Government Act 2000 to remove the committee system and require those currently operating the committee system to move to the leader and cabinet model.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has produced guidance on the political restrictions of the deputy mayors of the (a) Greater London Authority and (b) combined authority mayors.

The department has not published guidance on the political restrictions of the deputy mayors of the Greater London Authority, or the deputy mayors appointed by combined authority mayors.Officers working in local government are subject to the Local Government Officers (Political Restrictions) Regulations 1990, which sets out the political restrictions they are subject to. For the deputy mayors of combined authorities it would not be necessary to publish guidance because the postholders are not officers. The deputy mayors appointed under 67(1)(b) of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 are subject to political restriction, and the Greater London Authority published guidance on politically restricted posts.

Communities and Local Government, whether the new definition of Islamophobia will be adopted by the police for (a) the recording of non-hate crime incidents and (b) deciding whether to prosecute an individual for telecommunications or public order offences.

The Government established an independent Working Group to advise the Government on a definition of Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim hatred. Should the Government accept the recommendations of the Working Group, the definition used will be non-statutory. It will enable Government and other relevant bodies to have a greater understanding of unacceptable treatment and prejudice against Muslim communities. Once the Government has had time to review this independent advice, it will consider its next steps.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's transparency data entitled MHCLG: ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings, January to March 2025, published on 26 June 2025, what the (a) cost and (b) name was of each of the hotels she used during her visit to Africa.

The Deputy Prime Minister did not use hotel accommodation during this visit.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to merge Homes England into her Department.

There are no plans to merge Homes England into MHCLG.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2025 to Question 62598 on Right to Buy Scheme, what estimate she has made of the number of Right to Buy sales per year following those further reforms to the Right to Buy.

Preliminary modelling of the effects of lowering percentage discounts and extending the qualifying tenancy period for the Right to Buy indicates that sales could fall to c.1,000 homes per year in the short run. This estimate is based on early analysis and should be treated as indicative, pending further refinement. We will provide a fuller assessment ahead of introducing the necessary legislation.

Communities and Local Government, what guidance her Department has provided to local planning authorities on whether a reserved matters planning application can be rejected on the principle of development established in approved outline planning application.

The government have published no such guidance. Guidance relating to outline planning permission and approval of reserved matters is set out in Planning Practice Guidance on making an application which can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Future Homes Standard will permit (a) air conditioning and (b) air to air reversible heat pumps in (i) new build and (ii) refurbished dwellings.

Under the Future Homes Standard (FHS), which will apply to new builds only, new homes will be required to be built with low carbon heating. We do not mandate specific technologies in the Building Regulations and so we expect a range of different types of heat pumps or other low carbon technologies to be used.While the FHS will not be focused on overheating, Part O of the Building Regulations requires that new residential buildings are built to mitigate the risk of overheating. Mechanical cooling can be used, however, given the government’s net zero commitment, our preferred means of mitigating overheating is through passive means. Developers must demonstrate that all possible passive means of cooling a dwelling have been implemented before adopting mechanical cooling. As part of the Future Homes and Buildings Standard consultation, which closed in March 2024, we sought evidence on whether current overheating standards are appropriate or require amendment. The government will set out the evidence it received and its response to this in Autumn 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to reduce the amount of planning paperwork for new build (a) homes and (b) flats.

On 28 May 2025, the government published the Planning Reform Working Paper: Reforming Site Thresholds (which can be found on gov.uk here) which sought views on taking a gradated approach to the planning system, removing and streamlining disproportionate requirements on small and medium sites.

Communities and Local Government, what guidance she has provided to local authorities on (a) spending Community Infrastructure Levy receipts, (b) deriving related interest from unspent funds and (c) how such interest should be allocated in two-tier areas between districts and counties.

My Department has published guidance on CIL which includes how receipts should be spent. The guidance, which is available gov.uk here, makes clear that charging authorities should work closely with county councils in setting priorities for how CIL receipts will be spent.I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Question UIN 56282 on 10 June 2025 and Question UIN 54059 on 6 June 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what her policy is on the use of Special Development Orders for private sector development which does not engage matters of national security.

Special Development Orders are a long-established part of the planning system. Each case is considered on its individual merits. The government has no plans to change this approach.

Communities and Local Government, how many applications have been made to the Building Safety Regulator since 4 July 2024; and how many of those (a) were approved, (b) were rejected and (c) are awaiting Gateway (i) 2 and (ii) 3 approval.

The table below shows number of building control approval applications received by the BSR and how many of those where approved, rejected, and are awaiting approval, for both Gateway 2 and 3, since 4 July 2024. Decision MadeGateway 2Gateway 3Grand TotalApproval25429283Invalid422 422Rejection2471248Withdrawn107 107Awaiting Approval91780997Grand total19471102057 The BSR will be regularly publishing data demonstrating the volumes of applications received, outcomes and decision times for determination. The first tranche of this data for Gateway 2 applications was published 9 July 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of QR code fraud in municipal car parks; and what guidance she has provided to (a) local authorities and (b) the public to help mitigate this.

QR Code Fraud is a crime. The Department for Business and Trade provide funding for general consumer education and information campaigns to Citizens Space. On behalf of the Consumer Protection Partnership, Citizens Advice run an annual scams awareness campaign. The October 2024 campaign was focused on financial scams and included Parking QR code scams. The campaign was actively promoted in print and social media at both national and local level.