Every parliamentary written question tabled by Kevin Hollinrake this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 701–720 of 2,926 · this parliament
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2025 to Question 58732 on Members: Correspondence, for what reason a response to the correspondence has been delayed.
The former Deputy Prime Minister is no longer in post.
Communities and Local Government, how much (a) capital and (b) revenue funding her Department has allocated for the Social and Affordable Housing Programme in the 2026-27 financial year.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 60128 on 4 July 2025.
Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 6 of the statutory guidance entitled Flexible use of capital receipts: direction, updated on 26 March 2025, which local authorities have informed her Department of using those flexibilities since July 2024; what the purpose of the expenditure capitalised was; and how much was capitalised.
As set out in the gov.uk general direction and guidance, local authorities intending to use the flexible use of capital receipt (FUCR) discretionary freedom are required to provide the government details planned use of the flexibility. This is to support transparency in local decision making; local authorities remain responsible in ensuring that they meet the requirements of the direction and appropriately follow the guidance. The government does not publish a list of authorities that have submitted plans or details that authorities have provided on the intended use of the flexibility – in some cases authorities may have chosen not to make this information public for reasons such as commercial sensitivity. However, the direction requires that the flexibility may only be used for costs incurred to generate ongoing revenue savings or reduce costs. For financial year 2024/25, 55 local authorities provided plans to government in accordance with the FUCR direction and guidance between 1 July 2024 and 31 March 2025; for 2025/26, a further 60 authorities have so far provided plans. The total value of capitalised costs under the direction for 2024/25 will be available in the annual Revenue Outturn data provided to government – this data is expected to be published in September 2025.
Whether the powers for councils to issue fines for vaping and smoking relating to buses will be subject to (a) non-statutory and (b) statutory guidance on the issue of the bye-law powers.
The government will work with Local Transport Authorities and other stakeholders to determine how byelaws should be made and enforced, and what specific guidance is required.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 62262 on Special Educational Needs: Finance, whether her Department has provided guidance to local authorities on statutory override accounting for special educational needs and disabilities services deficits; and what estimate her Department has made of the aggregate level of such deficits in each local education authority in England.
As per the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 62262 on Special Educational Needs: Finance, this government recognises the pressures local authorities are facing because of their Dedicated School Grant (DSG) deficits and that the extension to the DSG Statutory Override is part of a phased transition to a reformed Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system. The DSG Statutory Override is an accounting treatment, first introduced in 2020, that allows local authorities to exclude DSG deficits from their main revenue budgets. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government engages regularly with local authorities and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy on the impact of these deficits and the extent to which they are expected to grow. The government will provide more detail by the end of the year on the plan for supporting authorities with both historic and accruing deficits. We will set out more detail at the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement.
Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to amend nationally described space standards for flats.
The government has no plans to change the Nationally Described Space Standard at this time.
Communities and Local Government, what discussions her Department has had with the London Borough of Brent on Brent’s proposal to twin with the city of the city of Nablus in the West Bank.
I refer my hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 67392 on 21 July 2025.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the second homes council tax premium on trends in the level of quick-sale property companies; and whether those property companies are regulated.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 34286 on 7 March. The government does not make housing market assessments based on the premium. Consumer protection laws apply to transactions made with quick sale sites.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of requiring consideration of embodied carbon in new buildings on the viability of new build development.
We have recently published research to improve understanding of embodied carbon in new buildings and the data currently available. The aim of publishing is for this research is to help inform discussions about potential impacts, including on the viability of new developments. We continue to assess the evidence and engage with industry as we consider the best way forward for measuring and reducing embodied carbon emissions. The government remains committed to supporting progress in this area in a way that is both practical and sustainable.
Communities and Local Government, what the budget is of the Community Cohesion and Resilience Programme in the 2025-26 financial year; what its terms of reference are; and whether local authorities will be required to bid for funding.
The Community Cohesion and Resilience Programme made awards to Local Authorities in the 2024-25 financial year. There are no plans to run the Programme again in the 2025-26 financial year.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2025 to Question 56832 on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Public Expenditure, if she will make it her policy to reinstate the (a) SME data and (b) voluntary and community sector spending data.
MHCLG publishes its monthly spend data in line with Cabinet Office guidance including all mandatory fields specified in that guidance.
Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of the contract with the Belong Network; if she will publish the (a) contract and (b) terms of reference; and whether the contract was subject to a public tender process.
MHCLG does not have any contracts with the Belong Network.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 proposals on levels of (a) council tax and (b) funding of local authorities in (i) London and (ii) other areas.
Local authorities are responsible for setting council tax levels. The Spending Review set out government’s intention to maintain the 3% core council tax referendum principle and a 2% principle for the adult social care precept to protect taxpayers from excessive increases. These principles are in line with the previous government’s policy and OBR forecasts. Final referendum principles will be confirmed at the local government finance settlement each year, subject to approval by the House of Commons, in the usual way. Our proposals are subject to consultation and decisions have yet to be taken that will determine final allocations and the design of transitional arrangements. Subject to consultation, the proposals set out mean that the most relatively deprived places will on balance see larger increases in income than the least deprived places. We will publish further information in the consultation response by early October, followed by the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this year.
Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the nature mitigation mechanisms in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on the use of bat tunnels in new developments.
The government is confident that the Nature Restoration Fund proposed in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill provides a mechanism to avoid the kind of expensive intervention epitomised by the Sheephouse Wood Bat Protection Structure and instead drive meaningful outcomes for nature at the right scale.
Communities and Local Government, what restrictions exist on installing air conditioning under the (a) planning regime and (b) building regulations regime in new build dwellings.
The Building Regulations are set in performance terms, to provide developers with the flexibility to select the most appropriate solutions for their developments. Part O of the regulations ensures that new residential buildings are built to mitigate the risk of overheating. Mechanical cooling can be used to meet regulations, 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 on Part O during this consultation and its response to this in Autumn 2025, when the Future Homes and Buildings Standard consultation response will be published.
Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to publish reports by the Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred and Islamophobia.
As noted in the Terms of Reference, the advice provided to government by the independent Working Group will be private. Once the Government has had time to review the advice, it will consider its next steps.
Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to publish regular reports on the outcomes of the fast track process of the Building Safety Regulator.
The new Fast Track process established within the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) will launch on 4 August and will initially focus on new-build applications before being broadened to include other application categories once the effectiveness of the process has been proven.The Fast Track process will expedite the building control process by bringing in expertise in-house, whilst still assuring the delivery of safe, high-quality buildings. BSR has increased the level of feedback and two-way discussion with applicants and is also approving applications with requirements in appropriate circumstances thereby enabling work to commence whilst still ensuring building regulations compliance will be demonstrated.BSR is now publishing regular data which sets out application volumes and processing times. These datasets can be found here: Building Safety Regulator building control approval application data October 2023 to March 2025 - GOV.UK.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2025 to Question 64088 on Civil Servants: London Allowance, what her Department's policy is on paying London weighting to staff living in Hertfordshire.
MHCLG has separate National pay ranges and London pay ranges. Whether an individual is paid via the National or London pay range is based on the office they are formally assigned to. The MHCLG London pay range is only applicable to colleagues formally assigned to 2 Marsham St and MHCLG’s Hemel Hempstead office.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2025 to Question 64086 on Local Government: Cost Effectiveness, if he will publish the Local Government Association’s Corporate Peer Challenge.
The Corporate Peer Challenge report concerning the London Borough of Croydon has been published by the Local Government Association and the Council on their respective websites.
Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2025 to Question 31879 on Councillors: Data Protection, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill to include the reforms to the Localism Act 2011 on councillor’s home addresses.
Our continued aim is to remove the requirement for councillors’ home addresses to be published. We intend to legislate when parliamentary time allows.