Written questions by Hollinrake.

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.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 9.3.3 of her Department's publication entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, what estimate she has made of the number of local authorities at the 0% funding floor.

The vast majority of upper-tier authorities will see their income increase in real terms over the next three years.For those councils who would see their funding fall as a result of these changes, our intention to protect the vast majority of these councils’ income through a flat cash funding floor.We will engage directly with a small number of councils whose new share of funding is furthest from where they are currently, to support them to manage larger losses. Many of these councils have prepared for long overdue reforms which the previous government consulted on, including by setting aside reserves.Our proposed transitional arrangements are subject to consultation and we will set out the detail of them in the autumn. We will then publish allocations at the provisional multi-year Settlement later this year.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 60129 on Local Government Finance, what the assumed level of council tax receipts in England is in each of those years set out in Table 5.17.

It is for individual councils to set their own level of council tax. The Spending Review assumed a 3% core referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept over the period, in line with OBR forecasts. The final set of referendum principles will be set out each year as part of the local government final settlement each year, subject the approval of the House of Commons, in the usual way.

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 paragraph 9.4.8 of her Department's publication entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, what estimate she has made of the level of council tax receipts in England in each year of the multi-year settlement.

It is for individual councils to set their own level of council tax. The Spending Review assumed a 3% core referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept over the period, in line with OBR forecasts. The final set of referendum principles will be set out each year as part of the local government final settlement each year, subject the approval of the House of Commons, in the usual way.

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.

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 those carded written parliamentary questions (a) were tabled after amendment, (b) were withdrawn by hon. Members and (c) remain carded.

The figures supplied in my earlier answer were obtained by establishing how many card e-mails were generated by the eQM question management system during the period in question. It is not possible to track individual questions in this way, so I am unable to say what proportion of carded questions were subsequently tabled or withdrawn.Of the 60,136 questions tabled during the period in question, some 2,814 remain carded. Some 3,003 have been withdrawn by hon. Members, including questions that were withdrawn without being carded. It is not possible to establish what proportion of carded questions were subsequently withdrawn.The Table Office cards questions which do not comply with the House’s rules of order. Most card queries are resolved quickly when the hon. Member who has tabled the question contacts the Table Office to discuss it. Where a question remains carded for a long period of time it is often because the hon. Member concerned has not responded to the card query.

Representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 22 May 2025 to Question 52867 on Written Questions, what proportion of written parliamentary questions submitted to the Table Office were carded in each session of the last Parliament.

The information requested is set out in the table below, together with the equivalent figures for the current Session to date. Session NumberCarded CountSubmitted CountCarded Proportion 58/18,56974,75311.46%58/23,76351,6157.29%58/311,13680,97813.75%58/46,47530,69621.09%59/114,17574,32419.07% *The 58th Parliament of the United Kingdom ran from 17 December 2019–30 May 2024, comprising four sessions.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2025 to Question 58975 on Civil Service: Offices, for what reason offices outside London have a lower office attendance expectation.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has commenced a project to secure new and additional space in some of our offices outside London which supports the demand for office space we anticipate from completing the Places for Growth programme and increasing the proportion of our workforce outside London. Until that new and additional space is secured, it has and will be necessary to ensure attendance comes within statutory building safety limits. In some cases this may mean that individual office capacities will offer lower attendance ratios than others.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2025 to Question 60486 on Chinese Embassy, whether her discussions with the Chinese during her visit included that of the proposed Chinese Embassy in London.

As stated in my Answer of 25 June, the Chancellor discussed a range of economic and financial issues during her visit to China for the 2025 UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue. The Chancellor published a written ministerial statement about her visit on the morning of Monday 13 January (found here) and delivered an oral statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday 14 January (found here).

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2025 to Question 59354 on Planning Permissions: Carbon Emissions, how she plans to update the climate change guidance to provide additional advice on taking carbon emissions into account.

The updated guidance will be published in due course.

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 June 2025 to Question 54290 on Chinese Embassy, whether the Bank of England has any role in relation to the cyber-security of financial institutions in and near the City of London.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is the UK's technical authority for cyber security, including helping to protect the UK's critical infrastructure and services from cyber-attacks. The Bank of England, through the Prudential Regulation Authority and working closely with the NCSC, requires PRA-regulated financial institutions to have rigorous cyber-security frameworks in place and requires regular assessment of financial institutions’ cyber security measures.

What guidance Companies House has provided on whether political parties may be incorporated as (a) unlimited and (b) limited companies.

Companies House has not issued general guidance on whether political parties may be incorporated as (a) unlimited and (b) limited companies.

What assessment has she made of the potential risk of cultural exchanges of embassies of hostile states being used as a base for espionage in the United Kingdom.

We continually assess potential threats to the UK and take the protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and the security of our information extremely seriously.Anyone seeking to conduct hostile acts against the UK, steal our information for commercial advantage, or interfere in our society covertly is liable to prosecution under the National Security Act 2023.More broadly, diplomatic activity in the UK is governed through the principles of the Vienna Conventions which allows for legitimate diplomatic activity. Where we find evidence of any activity that goes beyond what is accredited for, this could invalidate the accreditation, and the UK would take appropriate action.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 12.3 of the consultation outcome entitled Local authority funding reform objectives and principles consultation: summary of responses, published on 20 June 2025, what the fees named in the 65 consultation responses were.

Responses to the December funding reform consultation highlighted several fees and charges where local authorities felt they were unable to recover the cost of the service. These included alcohol licensing, planning and building control. Through the Fair Funding Review 2.0, the government is now consulting on proposals to review local authority fees and charges and consider where there is a case for reform. We welcome views on this, including the scope of proposed reforms.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 9.4.7 of the publication entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, what the assumed net growth is in the number of dwellings in each year of the multi-year settlement.

As part of the Fair Funding Review 2.0, the government is inviting views and evidence on projecting Council Tax base growth in the context of supporting the government’s objective to build 1.5 million new homes.There are several options for how we could project Council Tax base growth, two of which are outlined in paragraph 9.4.8 of the publication.The consultation is open until 15th August. We will publish our response in the autumn, followed by the provisional multi-year Settlement.

If she will make it her policy to increase £500,000 threshold for the new surcharge on business rates in line with the increase in aggregate rateable values from the 2026 business rates revaluation.

As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government intends to introduce a higher business rates multiplier for all properties with a rateable value (RV) of £500,000 or above in April 2026 to fund permanently lower multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure properties with RVs below £500,000.The final details of the higher multiplier will be announced at Autumn Budget 2025 in light of the outcomes of the 2026 revaluation, which is currently ongoing.

Communities and Local Government, what the projected (a) size on average Band D council tax and (b) total receipts of the social care precept is from each year from 2025-26 to 2028-29.

It is for individual councils to set their own level of council tax. In 2025-26, data published by MHCLG shows that councils expect to generate £653.6m from the use of the ASC Precept in 2025-26, which adds £34 to average band D bills. The data is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/680a37fc7a11df940be1aaa2/Table_10_2025-26.ods. For 2026-27 to 2028-29, the Spending Review assumed a 3% core referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept over the period, in line with 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. The government is inviting views and supporting evidence on projecting a notional Council Tax level, to ensure places less able to raise tax locally are not left behind. The consultation is open until 15th August.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 2.3.1 of her Department's publication entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of lower funding allocations to local authorities with stronger council taxbases on levels of council tax.

As part of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation, the government is inviting views on using some grant for a funding floor, to ensure that local authorities’ income is protected by a specified amount across the multi-year Settlement. We propose continuing the existing policy that any protection offered through a funding floor assumes local authorities use their full council tax flexibility. The Spending Review confirmed that the government intends to maintain the 3% core council tax referendum principle and a 2% principle for the adult social care precept, in line with the previous government’s policy and OBR forecasts. These principles protect working people and ensure residents have the final say on excessive increases. We have set out further detail on these proposals and are inviting views on their potential impact, in the Fair Funding Review 2.0, which is open until 15 August 2025. Final referendum principles will be confirmed at the Settlement in the usual way.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 9.4.6 of her Department's publication entitled The Fair Funding Review 2.0, published on 20 June 2025, what the assumed increase is in the notional Band D council tax in each year of the multi-year settlement.

It is for individual councils to set their own level of council tax. In 2025-26, data published by MHCLG shows that councils expect to generate £653.6m from the use of the ASC Precept in 2025-26, which adds £34 to average band D bills. The data is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/680a37fc7a11df940be1aaa2/Table_10_2025-26.ods. For 2026-27 to 2028-29, the Spending Review assumed a 3% core referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept over the period, in line with 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. The government is inviting views and supporting evidence on projecting a notional Council Tax level, to ensure places less able to raise tax locally are not left behind. The consultation is open until 15th August.