Written questions by Raja.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of above inflation council tax increases on the delivery of local public services in a) England and b) Leicester.

The Department has not made specific assessments on the impacts of council tax increases on the delivery of local public services. It is for individual councils to set their own level of council tax. The government intends to maintain a core 3% referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept and will consult on this at the provisional local government finance settlement. Local authorities who wish to set their council tax level above the referendum threshold must obtain the approval of local voters.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to tackle racial discrimination within local authorities.

Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management of their own workforces. The Government is clear that racial discrimination has no place in our society and remains committed to promoting equality, fairness, and respect for all communities.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the value for money of local authorities pursuing repeated appeals against employment tribunal decisions.

The Department does not collect this information. Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management and organisation of their own workforces, including on whether to appeal against employment tribunals. It is the responsibility of individual councils to ensure that value for money is considered.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of removing Sport England’s role as a statutory planning consultee under the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on the consideration of sporting and recreational needs in local planning decisions.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill contains no provisions relating to the role of Sports England in the planning system. The government is committed to reviewing the existing statutory consultee arrangements to ensure they align with the government’s ambitions for growth. As per the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510), we intend to consult on removing a limited number of statutory consultees, including Sports England. We also intend to review the range and type of planning applications on which statutory consultees are required to be consulted and consider whether some types of application could be removed, or addressed by alternative means of engagement and provision of expert advice. Further details will be set out in due course.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities to maintain (a) community centres, (b) libraries and (c) other community assets in (i) Leicester East constituency and (ii) England.

The Government recognises the vital role of community spaces in Leicester and in England as a whole and wants to see them thrive. The Assets of Community Value (ACV) scheme provides communities with a route to nominate any building or land which furthers the social wellbeing or interests of the community and bid to buy the ACV to protect it for community use. Alongside this the Community Asset Transfer scheme, which supports the transfer of ownership and/or management of publicly owned land and assets from a local authority to a community organisation. As part of the English Devolution Bill, we will legislate to introduce a strong new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets which will empower local people to bring community spaces back into community ownership.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to (a) support minority-owned construction firms and builders gain equitable access to housing sector (i) opportunities, (ii) funding and (iii) contracts and (b) promote diversity in the industry in (A) Leicester East constituency and (B) England.

Small and medium sized housebuilders, including those that are minority owned, are essential to meeting the government’s housing ambitions and supporting local economies. The government recently announced a £700m extension to the Home Building Fund which provides financial support to SMEs who would otherwise struggle to access funding. In addition, small and medium-sized housebuilders can access lower-cost lending through the ENABLE Build scheme which was allocated an additional £1 billion guarantees capacity at the Budget on 30 October 2024.My Department is working with DfE and the CITB to explore how we might support diversity, including ethnic diversity, in the construction workforce.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of (a) limiting rent increases, (b) enhancing requirements for landlord entry on the Private Rented Sector Database, (c) restricting advance rent demands, (d) tightening conditions for requesting guarantors and (e) other measures to better protect renters while ensuring a balanced approach to landlord responsibilities.

The Renters’ Rights Bill will transform the experience of private renting in England. It will modernise the regulation of the private rented sector, levelling decisively the playing field between landlord and tenant.It will empower renters by providing them with greater security, rights and protections so that they can stay in their homes for longer, build lives in their communities and avoid the risk of homelessness. It will ensure that we can drive up the quality of privately rented housing so that renters have access to good-quality and safe homes as a matter of course. It will also allow us to crack down on the minority of unscrupulous landlords who exploit, mistreat or discriminate against renters.The Bill will also provide tangible benefits for responsible landlords who provide high-quality homes and a good service to their tenants, ensuring they enjoy simpler regulation and clear and expanded possession grounds, so that they can regain their properties quickly when necessary.The Bill will empower private rented sector tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases. This will prevent unscrupulous landlords using rent increases as a backdoor means of eviction, while ensuring landlords can increase rents to reflect market rates.Measures in the Bill mean a landlord will only be able to require up to one month's rent between a tenancy agreement being signed and that tenancy beginning. This will end an unfair practice which can place considerable financial strain on tenants and excludes some from renting altogether.It will also require all private landlords letting residential property in England to register with the Private Rented Sector Database. We expect these landlords will include data about the ownership and standard of their properties as part of their entries, and we are exploring the feasibility of collecting a wider range of more tenancy-focused information. We will stipulate the specific requirements in regulations.The Bill does not limit the ability of landlords to request a guarantor. The use of guarantors can support people renting for the first time to access the private rented sector. We will continue to engage with a range of stakeholders about any barriers to entering the private rented sector.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that planning reforms balance new housing development with the protection of (a) green spaces and (b) local heritage in (i) Leiceste

The government published the revised National Planning Policy Framework on 12 December. The Framework reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring the historic environment, both at a local and national level, and local green space are appropriately protect...

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press notice entitled Thousands of new homes to be built as government unlocks brownfield sites, published on 15 October 2024, which local authorities will

The third and final round of the Brownfield Land Release Fund 2 allocated £68 million to 54 councils. We will publish the full list of those authorities who received awards on gov.uk in due course.