Written questions by Hollinrake.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the consultation entitled Reform of planning committees: technical consultation, published on 28 May 2025, whether the Full Council of a local authority will be able to call in a (a) Tier A and (b) Tier B planning application if requested by local councillors.

As set out in the technical consultation on reform of planning committees published on 28 May 2025, all applications in Tier A would be delegated to planning officers. However, Question 5 asks for views on whether there should be a mechanism to bring a Tier A application to committee in exceptional circumstances and, if so, what would those circumstances be and how would the mechanism operate. Applications in Tier B would be presumed to be delegated unless the chief planning officer (or equivalent officer in local planning authorities without a chief planning officer) and Chair of Committee agree it should go to Committee based on a gateway test. The consultation is open for views until 23 July 2025.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has a policy on the use of technical language in planning applications.

The government has no specific policy related to the use of technical language in planning applications.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the operation of the arrangements in relation to the implementation of Section 81 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 on the renaming of streets.

My Department continues to monitor the implementation of s.81 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2025 to Question 51872 on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Civil Servants, how many staff are in a redeployment position in each of her department's Arm's Length Bodies in the most recent period for which information is held.

The department does not hold this information.

Communities and Local Government, whether the provisions in her Department's guidance entitled Sensitive information in planning applications have been used for the planning application for the Chinese Embassy in relation to information provided by (a) the applicant and (b) third parties.

There is no direction under section 321 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in force in respect of this case.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 April 2025 to Question 46286 on Housing, whether she plans to (a) bring forward legislative proposals and (b) update guidance on Empty Dwelling Management on the issuing of those orders for empty homes of the deceased.

As set out in the Devolution White paper, we are committed to strengthening local authority powers to take over the management of vacant residential premises. Further updates will be provided in due course.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to amend planning (a) policy and (b) legislation to help facilitate the construction of new water reservoirs.

On 29 May, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced the Fens and Lincolnshire Reservoirs would be given ‘nationally significant’ status and set out the government’s intention to legislate so that similar projects would automatically be ‘Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects’ and considered under the Planning Act 2008.The National Policy Statement for Water Resources Infrastructure, which includes policy on reservoirs, was designated in September 2023.The Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs intends to undertake a targeted update to the NPS to streamline water resources infrastructure projects.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2025 to Question 51132 on Water Charges, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the rollout of (a) progressive water metering or rising block tariffs and (b) seasonal water metering in addition to the planned trials on its guidance entitled Charging guidance to Ofwat, published in January 2016.

The Government supports innovative approaches aiming to make bills more affordable for their customers. Defra are not conducting separate assessments. Ofwat regulates the trials by requiring companies to ensure all trials are consistent with good practice principles. Companies must also consult with the Consumer Council for Water to protect or exclude vulnerable customers, which ensures customers are protected while these important trials take place.

Whether any special advisers attended the Prime Minister's visit to Doncaster on 10 April 2025.

Special advisers routinely travel with the Prime Minister and did so on 10 April, including so as to provide support in the conduct of any official duties, which can arise at any time.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled The Plan for Drivers, published in October 2023, what progress she has made on updating 20mph zone guidance for England.

The Plan for Drivers was published by the previous Government.Decisions on making local speed limits on roads in England rest with traffic authorities who have responsibility for roads in local areas. The Department for Transport issues best practice guidance to assist authorities setting localspeed limits, designed to make sure that speed limits are appropriately andconsistently set while allowing for flexibility to deal with local circumstances.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's document entitled MHCLG: spending over £25,000, April 2025, published on 30 May 2025, for what reason her Department has ceased publishing data for (a) expense type, (b) expense area, (c) voluntary and community sector, (d) SME class, (e) postal code and (f) grant since the publication of MHCLG: spending over £25,000, January 2025 on 27 February 2025.

MHCLG reviewed and amended the publication of its spend data to make it more accessible to the lay reader. We are currently in the process of aligning the data that we publish with Cabinet Office mandatory expectations.

With reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Home Department of 2 June 2025, Official Report, column 13, for what reason Baroness Casey requested a short extension to the deadline for the audit on grooming gangs.

Baroness Louise Casey was commissioned to undertake a comprehensive audit into the nature, scale, and profiles of group-based child sexual exploitation. I updated the House on 2 June that Baroness Casey has requested a short extension to her work from the Home Secretary to allow her to speak directly to victims, fully access the scale of the issue, and submit meaningful evidence-based recommendations to further tackle this vile type of offending.The completed audit will provide the most up-to-date information to this government’s commitment to support local areas to lead their own independent inquiries and related work to understand this issue and the effectiveness of their responses to it. We expect to receive the report very shortly. We will then set out a comprehensive response, as well as next steps on the action we have already announced, including details of support available for local areas.My officials will happily place the 12 March letter from the Home Secretary to all local authority leaders in the Common’s Library which makes clear the Government’s commitment to working closely with local areas to confront these terrible crimes.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 45696 on Planning Permission, if she will publish the Planning and Infrastructure Bill environmental principles assessment.

Environmental Principles assessments are not routinely published. However, environmental considerations in respect of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill were given due regard in line with the requirements of the Environment Act 2021.

Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department has issued on recharging visits that include a mix of political and official engagements from political parties.

In line with the practice of successive administrations, this is considered on a case by case basis, in line with Chapter 10 of the Ministerial Code.

Pursuant to the Answer of 29 May 2025 to Question 52623 on Offences Against Children, if she will place in the Library (a) a copy of the letter sent to all local authorities on 12 March 2025, and (b) the information sent to local authorities on how they can claim funding from the new national fund to support independent local inquiries.

Baroness Louise Casey was commissioned to undertake a comprehensive audit into the nature, scale, and profiles of group-based child sexual exploitation. I updated the House on 2 June that Baroness Casey has requested a short extension to her work from the Home Secretary to allow her to speak directly to victims, fully access the scale of the issue, and submit meaningful evidence-based recommendations to further tackle this vile type of offending.The completed audit will provide the most up-to-date information to this government’s commitment to support local areas to lead their own independent inquiries and related work to understand this issue and the effectiveness of their responses to it. We expect to receive the report very shortly. We will then set out a comprehensive response, as well as next steps on the action we have already announced, including details of support available for local areas.My officials will happily place the 12 March letter from the Home Secretary to all local authority leaders in the Common’s Library which makes clear the Government’s commitment to working closely with local areas to confront these terrible crimes.

Communities and Local Government, what weight her Department gives to planning representations made directly to the Secretary of State after a called-in public inquiry has taken place and prior to the decision-notice by the Secretary of State.

All relevant information is taken into account before the Secretary of State determines a called-in planning application or recovered appeal.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department provides guidance on the installation of gender-neutral toilets in its estate outside the UK.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Design Guide asks for FCDO estates projects to provide sanitary provision in line with UK Building Regulations, including the Approved Document Part T: Toilets, with adaptations where required to suit more onerous local regulations or address cultural sensitivities.

Representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Electoral Commission's publication entitled FAQ sheet for qualifying foreign citizens in Wales (multiple languages), published on 15 June 2020, for what reason this information was translated into (a) Arabic, (b) Bengali, (c) Chinese and (d) Urdu.

In 2020-21 the franchise was extended to allow qualifying foreign nationals resident in Wales to vote in Senedd and local elections.The Electoral Commission’s role is to provide voters with the information they need to take part in elections. As part of this work ahead of the 2021 Senedd election, it translated resources into the five most commonly spoken foreign languages in Wales. This was intended to support newly enfranchised voters to participate in the election, and is in line with the Welsh Government’s approach to translation of resources for voters.

Media and Sport, what her planned timetable is for publishing the local media strategy.

Sustainability of journalism across the country is an area of particular concern for this Government, and the development of a Local Media Strategy is in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. We recently held a roundtable discussion with local news editors to discuss our planned approach and collaboration with industry on the Strategy. An industry working group has now been set up to consider the issues in more detail and we will announce more in the coming months.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed Chinese Embassy on cyber security for the BT telephone exchange.

In line with my previous response to UIN 29609 on 12 February 2025, the planning application has been called in by the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and she will make this quasi-judicial decision independent from the rest of Government, and from any form of external interference by any other party.The Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary submitted written representations to the Planning Inspector on 14 January. That letter is clear that the Home Office has considered the breadth of national security issues associated with the proposed Embassy. It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on specific matters relating to national security.