Written questions by Hollinrake.

Communities and Local Government, what expenditure the Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred has undertaken in relation to external (a) research, (b) engagement and (c) contractors.

Per the Terms of Reference for the Working Group, the Working Group is supported by a secretariat based within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and group members are able to claim expenses for travel and/or costs incurred whilst carrying out their role. No other costs have been incurred.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2025 to Question 60843 on Civil Service: Equality, whether the diversity trainers have provided guidance or training in relation to the Supreme Court judgment in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.

The diversity trainers set out in the answer of 26 June 2025 to Question UIN 60843 on Civil Service equality did not provide guidance or training in relation to the Supreme Court judgment in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the written statement of 18 June 2025 on National Housing Bank and new capital grant funding, HCWS712, over what period the £5 billion of new capital grant funding applies; and how much equivalent funding was provided in the last Parliament.

The government will launch the National Housing Delivery Fund in 2026/27. Its c.£5bn of capital grant funding will be available across the four financial years from 2026/27 to 2029/30. In the last Spending Review period (2022/23 to 2024/25), the previous government delivered grant funding for infrastructure and land across the Home Building Fund , Brownfield Housing Fund, Brownfield Infrastructure and Land Fund, Housing Infrastructure Fund, Land Assembly Programme, Single Land Programme, City Deals, Brownfield Land Release Fund, Bristol Temple Quarter and Ancoats, Estate Regeneration and Ebbsfleet. In total these programmes spent £2.935bn across that Spending Review period.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2025 to Question 60935 on Affordable Housing: Finance, what is the monetary value of (a) resource and (b) capital funding for the 2026-2036 Affordable Homes Programme in each year of the 10 year programme.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 62129 on 14 July 2024.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2025 to Question 60132 on Affordable Housing: Finance, and with reference to her Department's publication Delivering a decade of renewal for social affordable housing published on 2 July 2025, what her policy is on the 2026-2036 Social and Affordable Homes Programme being used to help purchase Section 106 affordable units from housing developers; and what the policy was in the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme.

The government’s new Social and Affordable Homes Programme for 2026/27 to 2035/36, like the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, will support the delivery of social and affordable homes additional to those that developers have committed to delivering through Section 106 agreement. We have no plans to change these arrangements.

Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for the (a) completion of the remaining stages and (b) implementation of the provisions of the Renters Rights Bill.

The Renters’ Rights Bill is currently progressing through the House of Lords. Report stage concluded on 15 July. Third Reading is scheduled for 21 July and the dates for the remaining stages of the Bill will be announced in due course. Upon the commencement date, the new tenancy system provided for by the Bill will apply to all private tenancies - existing tenancies will become periodic, and any new tenancies will be governed by the new rules. We will provide sufficient notice and will work closely with tenants groups and the landlord and lettings sector ahead of implementation.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2025 to Question 51399 on Embassies: China, whether (a) MI5, (b) GCHQ or (c) MI6 have made any direct representations to (i) the planning inspector and (ii) her Department on the proposed Chinese Embassy.

Representations on planning applications are dealt with in accordance with paragraphs 18, 19 and 20 of the published propriety guidance on planning casework decisions which can be found on gov.uk here All Inquiry documents including representations to the Inquiry are publicly available on Tower Hamlets website here.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the publication MHCLG: spending over £25,000, March 2025, published on 28 April 2025, if she will publish the full specification of the research commissioned from TPXimpact Limited on Research Services.

The spend relates to the build of new technical capability (MS Azure cloud platform) for data science, engineering & analytics work.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the publication MHCLG: spending over £25,000, March 2025, published on 28 April 2025, if she will publish the full specification of the research commissioned from the Young Foundation on Research Services.

The requirement for the research commissioned from the Young Foundation will be published alongside the final research report in due course.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2025 to Question HL8019 on Admiralty House: Council tax, what the cash terms monetary value of the council tax bill issued on each of the three residences was in 2025-26.

All information relating to the value of council tax bills for Westminster are published on Westminster City Council’s Website at https://www.westminster.gov.uk/council-tax/council-tax-bands-and-charges.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2025 to Question 59784 on MHCLG: Research, if she will publish the specification of the research commissioned from the Department for Education on 19 March 2025 costing £57,600, published in the March 2025 transparency data.

MHCLG commissioned Policy Lab to conduct a series of workshops with the Digital Planning Programme, on supporting the growth of the Property Technology market and exploring the barriers to greater adoption. The write up of these workshops is informing current policy development but contains information that is commercially sensitive. We will take a decision on publication after that process once the commercially sensitive information has been reviewed.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 6.2.5 of her Department's publication entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, whether the £2,000 Band D figure includes (a) police precepts, (b) parish precepts, (c) social care precepts, (d) Greater London Authority precept, (e) combined authority mayor precepts and (f) fire precepts.

As set out in paragraph 6.2.5 of the Fair Funding Review 2.0, the government is proposing to set the notional Council Tax level at the average Band D level of Council Tax in England for authorities in scope of these reforms (circa £2000 in 2026-27). This includes the social care precept and the fire precept (including the fire element of mayoral precepts), but does not include police or parish precepts. For each multi-tier area, the government is proposing to apply a uniform split to the measure of Council Tax in the resources adjustment based on the average split for all multi tier areas in England.

Representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June 2025 to Question 54918 on Written Questions, how many and what proportion of written parliamentary questions were carded in the first year of the last Parliament.

The information requested, covering the period from 17 December 2019 to 16 December 2020, is as follows: Carded CountSubmitted CountCarded Proportion652852,89012.34%

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2025 to Question 58975 on Civil Service: Offices, what the exceptions are that allow for office attendance to be less than 50 percent.

There are a number of reasons individuals may need to discuss and agree an exception with their manager. Exceptions can be long-term if the reason is enduring, for example a disability related matter, or short-term, for example an unexpected issue or need but all must be subject to review and none represent contractual employment changes under this policy.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 6.2.5 of her Department's publication entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, how the £2,000 Band D figure is split in two-tier areas where districts and counties set different council tax precepts.

As set out in paragraph 6.2.5 of the Fair Funding Review 2.0, the government is proposing to set the notional Council Tax level at the average Band D level of Council Tax in England for authorities in scope of these reforms (circa £2000 in 2026-27). This includes the social care precept and the fire precept (including the fire element of mayoral precepts), but does not include police or parish precepts. For each multi-tier area, the government is proposing to apply a uniform split to the measure of Council Tax in the resources adjustment based on the average split for all multi tier areas in England.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 62602 on Police: Employer’s Contribution, what the monetary value is of the additional National Insurance compensatory amount of funding given to a (a) police force and (b) fire and rescue authority for one additional member of full-time staff.

The police funding settlement provided territorial policing in England and Wales with additional funding of £230.3 million in 2025/26 to support forces with the cost of the changes to employer National Insurance Contributions set out in the Autumn Budget. Allocations were based on forces’ share of the total national workforce headcount as at 31 March 2024, which was 245,765.Separately, in recognition of the decision to increase employer National Insurance Contributions, MHCLG provided £515 million to local authorities in England. This includes standalone Fire and Rescue Authorities, as well as Fire and Rescue Authorities that are part of a county council. Allocations are based on local authorities’ net current expenditure.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 20 June 2025 on Fair Funding Review 2.0 and Modernising and Improving the Administration of Council Tax, HCWS724, how much was allocated to the New Homes Bonus including legacy payments by tier of local government in England in 2024-25.

New Homes Bonus allocations are published online, and the amounts awarded in 2024-25 can be found gov.uk here. The then government ended new legacy payments in 2020-21, with final payments made in 2022-23. The totals allocated by tier in 2024-25 are as follows: Authority typeTotalShire District£101,455,702London Borough£50,146,660Metropolitan District£35,078,441Unitary Authority£78,760,516Shire Counties£25,363,926

With reference to the Valuation Office Agency: May 2025 transparency data, published on 30 June 2025, what the spending on consultancy by (a) Eunoia Consulting Ltd and (b) Posterity Milestone Consortium was for.

Details of these contracts are available on Contracts Finder at the following links:Supply of Professional Services in support of VOA's Digital Transformation & Policy Reform Programme - Contracts Finder· Professional Services: Client Side Delivery Partner to Support Initial Beta Stage, NDR Reforms Programme - Contracts Finder

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 60137 on Council tax and Police: Finance, what her Department's assumption is of the amount that will be raised in council tax from police precepts in England only in each year of the Spending Review period.

As set out in the Spending Review (SR) 2025 document, published 11 June 2025, the Phase 2 settlement provides an average 1.7% real terms increase per year in police spending power. Over the SR period, police spending power is projected to increase by an average 2.3% per year in real terms.Police spending power includes projected spending from additional income, including estimated funding from the police council tax precept. However, this remains subject to final decision on precept levels and individual police and crime commissioner decisions. The final police precept level and core government funding will be set out in the annual police funding settlement in the usual way.

What estimate the Valuation Office Agency has made of the (a) percentage and (b) cash terms monetary change in average private sector rents for dwellings in (i) London and (ii) England since July 2024.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) publishes this information monthly, based on information collected by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). The latest publication was released on 18 June 2025 at: Private rent and house prices, UK - Office for National Statistics and includes the 12 months leading up to May 2025. As of May 2025:Average rents increased to £1,394 or by 7.1% in EnglandAverage rents in London increased to £2,249 or by 7.7%