Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

My department is working across Government to deliver our manifesto commitment to double the size of the co-operative and mutuals sector, following the commitment to establish a Co-operatives Development Unit in Protecting What Matters and the Pride in Place Strategy. We will set out more details in due course.

The Government remains committed to holding organisations to account for the failings identified by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Officials across Government continue to consider what further commercial measures may be appropriate while safeguarding the integrity of the criminal investigation. MHCLG does not enter into direct contracts with Arconic for the supply of cladding panels.

We have provided, for each office location, as at the week commencing 24 August 2026:

• the average office attendance of employees assigned to each office during the week commencing 24 August 2026; and
• the proportion of employees assigned to that office who attended an MHCLG office during the same week.

The attendance figures are not restricted to attendance at an employee's contractual office location. Both the average attendance and proportion attending measures include visits to any MHCLG office.

We would also note that the proportion attending measure does not take account of employees who were absent for legitimate reasons during the period, such as annual leave.

Employees are expected to meet their office attendance requirements over the course of a quarter, rather than in any single week.

We have provided, for each office location, as at the week commencing 24 August 2026:

• the average office attendance of employees assigned to each office during the week commencing 24 August 2026; and
• the proportion of employees assigned to that office who attended an MHCLG office during the same week.

The attendance figures are not restricted to attendance at an employee's contractual office location. Both the average attendance and proportion attending measures include visits to any MHCLG office.

We would also note that the proportion attending measure does not take account of employees who were absent for legitimate reasons during the period, such as annual leave.

Employees are expected to meet their office attendance requirements over the course of a quarter, rather than in any single week.

We have provided, for each office location, as at the week commencing 24 August 2026:

• the average office attendance of employees assigned to each office during the week commencing 24 August 2026; and
• the proportion of employees assigned to that office who attended an MHCLG office during the same week.

The attendance figures are not restricted to attendance at an employee's contractual office location. Both the average attendance and proportion attending measures include visits to any MHCLG office.

We would also note that the proportion attending measure does not take account of employees who were absent for legitimate reasons during the period, such as annual leave.

Employees are expected to meet their office attendance requirements over the course of a quarter, rather than in any single week.

We have provided, for each office location, as at the week commencing 24 August 2026:

• the average office attendance of employees assigned to each office during the week commencing 24 August 2026; and
• the proportion of employees assigned to that office who attended an MHCLG office during the same week.

The attendance figures are not restricted to attendance at an employee's contractual office location. Both the average attendance and proportion attending measures include visits to any MHCLG office.

We would also note that the proportion attending measure does not take account of employees who were absent for legitimate reasons during the period, such as annual leave.

Employees are expected to meet their office attendance requirements over the course of a quarter, rather than in any single week.

We have provided, for each office location, as at the week commencing 24 August 2026:

• the average office attendance of employees assigned to each office during the week commencing 24 August 2026; and
• the proportion of employees assigned to that office who attended an MHCLG office during the same week.

The attendance figures are not restricted to attendance at an employee's contractual office location. Both the average attendance and proportion attending measures include visits to any MHCLG office.

We would also note that the proportion attending measure does not take account of employees who were absent for legitimate reasons during the period, such as annual leave.

Employees are expected to meet their office attendance requirements over the course of a quarter, rather than in any single week.

It has been the practice of successive governments not to comment, on grounds of both national security and staff safety, on the physical capacity or staffing numbers for individual buildings of the government estate.

The non-compliance list sets out which bodies have failed to meet the relevant backstop date and includes information on whether draft accounts were published in time, the appointed auditor, whether an audit opinion was delivered by the backstop date, and whether audited accounts were subsequently published.

The list highlights that all combined authorities are compliant with the statutory requirements to publish audited accounts except Tees Valley Combined Authority, which has outstanding accounts for 2023/24 and 2024/25.

The government continues to engage with all local bodies and audit firms to ensure that issues preventing the issuance of audit opinions are resolved and that outstanding opinions are published as soon as practicable.

The statutory deadline for publishing audited accounts for 2025/26 is 31 January 2027 and the government will continue to publish the outcome of the statutory deadlines. As part of its reform of the local audit system, the government is establishing the Local Audit Office later in autumn 2026, which will strengthen accountability, transparency and oversight across the sector.

The Government has moved away from 'devolution by deal' towards a statutory Devolution Framework, as set out in the English Devolution White Paper and the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026. Rather than determining individually which powers should be devolved to particular institutions, Strategic Authorities at each of the three levels in the framework will be automatically entitled to a standard set of powers, funding and collaboration agreements, with a clear route to taking on greater responsibilities.

The non-compliance list sets out which bodies have failed to meet the relevant backstop date and includes information on whether draft accounts were published in time, the appointed auditor, whether an audit opinion was delivered by the backstop date, and whether audited accounts were subsequently published.

The list highlights that all combined authorities are compliant with the statutory requirements to publish audited accounts except Tees Valley Combined Authority, which has outstanding accounts for 2023/24 and 2024/25.

The government continues to engage with all local bodies and audit firms to ensure that issues preventing the issuance of audit opinions are resolved and that outstanding opinions are published as soon as practicable.

The statutory deadline for publishing audited accounts for 2025/26 is 31 January 2027 and the government will continue to publish the outcome of the statutory deadlines. As part of its reform of the local audit system, the government is establishing the Local Audit Office later in autumn 2026, which will strengthen accountability, transparency and oversight across the sector.

The Government has moved away from 'devolution by deal' towards a statutory Devolution Framework, as set out in the English Devolution White Paper and the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026. Rather than determining individually which powers should be devolved to particular institutions, Strategic Authorities at each of the three levels in the framework will be automatically entitled to a standard set of powers, funding and collaboration agreements, with a clear route to taking on greater responsibilities.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England is independent of Government and accountable to Parliament. It reviews electoral and boundary arrangements for councils in England, including councillor numbers and the size and distribution of wards. The Commission can only conduct an electoral review once an authority exists in law. Where new councils are established, interim electoral arrangements will be included in the structural changes order. The Government will have regard to the Commission's published guidance on electoral reviews.

I refer the Noble Lord to the Secretary of State's oral statement of 7 September 2026. The Government has withdrawn the March 2026 decisions for Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, and paused activity in 14 areas while a full review of the local government reorganisation programme is conducted. We recognise the need for clarity and will set out next steps as soon as possible.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England is independent of Government and accountable to Parliament. It reviews electoral and boundary arrangements for councils in England, including councillor numbers and the size and distribution of wards. The Commission can only conduct an electoral review once an authority exists in law. Where new councils are established, interim electoral arrangements will be included in the structural changes order. The Government will have regard to the Commission's published guidance on electoral reviews.

I refer the Noble Lord to the Secretary of State's oral statement of 7 September 2026. The Government has withdrawn the March 2026 decisions for Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, and paused activity in 14 areas while a full review of the local government reorganisation programme is conducted. We recognise the need for clarity and will set out next steps as soon as possible.

I refer the Noble Lord to the answer given to question UIN HL2868 .

As announced on 25 March 2026, the ban applies to all cryptoassets of any value that meet the definition set out in the Government's amendment. This includes digital tokens and memecoins where they are a cryptographically secured digital representation of value or contractual rights that uses distributed ledger technology and can be transferred, stored or traded electronically.

Participation in the flexible voting pilots is voluntary and is a matter for Returning Officers, who are responsible for the conduct and security of elections in their area.

The Government is not in a position to comment on operational or security matters considered by the Returning Officer at Plymouth City Council.

We have invested over £1 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services this year, which can be used flexibly to address a range of local needs, including support for young people. The Spending Review protects this record level of investment to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping for the next three years.

For young people ready to live independently, we are delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, backed by the £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme. We are also reforming the private rented sector to give more security to tenants, bringing an end to rental bidding, outlawing discrimination against prospective tenants with children or those who receive social security benefits; and preventing landlords from demanding large amounts of rent in advance.

In response to Recommendation 4 of the Rycroft Review, the Government announced in July our intention to introduce permissibility and transparency requirements for donations to prospective candidates outside of formal regulated periods.

Our intention is for candidates to be required to (i) provide a declaration to confirm donations used to fund campaigning activity prior to formal candidacy are from permissible sources and (ii) report any donations received during this period which exceed £2,230.

The Government has also committed to enacting Mr Rycroft's recommendations to amend non-party campaigning rules. However, changes in this area require careful consideration and consultation to ensure that any new requirements do not place unnecessary burdens on legitimate campaigning activity. Mr Rycroft recognised the complexity of this area in his review. The Government is considering how best to deliver the objectives in a way that is effective, proportionate and enforceable, including consideration of the period that any requirements should cover.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government does not hold data on the number of complaints relating to private parking fines issued in Lincolnshire in the past five years.

The Government recognises the growing risk posed by foreign interference in British politics, including through online political advertising, and agrees with the intent to eliminate the risk of foreign-funded political advertising.

In our response to the Rycroft Review, we committed to identifying the most effective and proportionate solution to this risk. This work will include consideration of the non-party campaigning rules, alongside wider options, and we will set out proposals in due course.

The Representation of the People Bill already strengthens the digital imprint regime by requiring all third-party campaigners to include imprints on their organic digital campaigning material. We are also considering further reforms to provide greater clarity on who has paid for campaigning material.

The government intends to lay the Private Parking Code of Practice and its associated compliance framework in Parliament in autumn 2026.

The government intends to lay the Private Parking Code of Practice and its associated compliance framework in Parliament in autumn 2026.

The Department is engaging with sectors to consider the best approaches support effective implementation of the definition of anti-Muslim hostility.

The government works closely with local government to identify the capacity implications of devolved powers. This includes the Overnight Visitor Levy where Strategic Authorities will be the tax authority responsible for the administration of the levy. Government will work closely with Strategic Authorities interested in using the power and will assess any financial implications in due course.

At the Local Government Finance Settlement, we confirmed a total of £99.6m of funding over the Spending Review period to support existing eligible Strategic Authorities’ staffing and administrative costs, and central corporate functions. Government will also set out further detail on support for MSA capacity and capability later this year building on the Rewiring the State Cabinet statement.

In designing its support offer for local government reorganisation, the Department engaged with a range of local government stakeholders to understand how to best support the capacity of statutory officers. In response to that feedback, this year the Department put in place a broad support offer including dedicated sector advisers and a wider programme of support to build capacity and capability in councils led by the Local Government Association. This support will continue to be available to councils during the local government reorganisation review. Depending on the outcome of the review, the Department will consider how to best target future support to statutory officers.

Monitoring delivery of the strategy is important in ensuring the strategy has its intended impact. That is why we set national targets to track progress against this parliament. More details can be found in this published action plan: Cross-Government Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy: Action Plan.

Ministers are updated regularly on data and are working across government through inter-departmental governance to assure collaborative delivery of the strategy. We will also publish reports at least every two years that monitor progress on the implementation of measures set out in this strategy.

In addition, we intend to evaluate the implementation of the strategy at a local level, building on current work being undertaken this year as part of the systems-wide evaluation being delivered by the Centre for Homelessness Impact.

While we understand the calls for consolidation of electoral law, major reform would require careful consideration and an extensive amount of time. The Government’s immediate priority is the implementation of its manifesto commitments. A full-scale consolidation and simplification would require an in-depth review and modernisation alongside consolidation; to achieve this would be the job of more than one Parliament.

The Electoral Commission is operationally independent of Government and is responsible for regulating political finance and conducting investigations into potential breaches of the political finance framework.

In line with its Enforcement Policy, it may open an investigation where it has reasonable grounds to suspect an offence or other breach of the rules. Information on recently closed investigations is published by the Commission on its website. This information does not always include the value of the donation under investigation.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government does not hold data on how many local authorities have introduced, or are considering, parking charges based on vehicle dimensions, weight or emissions.

The Protecting What Matters social cohesion action plan does not set out a specific definition of sectarianism. The term is used to describe hostility, discrimination, intimidation or conflict between groups based on religious, ethnic or related communal identities that can undermine community cohesion and public order. The Government remains committed to promoting mutual respect and tackling all forms of hate, extremism and community division.

The £340 million announced on 20 July formed part of the £442 million subsequently announced for the Rough Sleeping Programme on 19 August. This investment will help ensure that people sleeping rough have a route off the streets this winter, while delivering longer-term settled homes and intensive support for people who have experienced long-term rough sleeping.

West Midlands Combined Authority has been allocated £5,527,534 for 2026-27. This includes funding calculated in respect of its constituent local authority areas, including Walsall. It will be for the Combined Authority to determine how the funding is managed across the West Midlands in partnership with its constituent local authorities. Allocations for later years remain provisional.

Local areas will have flexibility to shape accommodation and support around local circumstances and the needs of people sleeping rough.

Details of funding allocations are available in the published Rough Sleeping Programme allocation tables, which may be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rough-sleeping-programme.

The Government has consulted on the design of the High Value Council Tax Surcharge, including proposed exemptions and support arrangements and will publish its response in due course.

I am the minister responsible for late-night licensing in this department. However, the Home Office is the responsible department for licensing, more broadly.

MHCLG publishes monthly transparency expenditure data with details of all departmental spending over £25,000. Expenditure on Advertising, Marketing and Communications is captured in the data through the ‘Expense Type’ categories and narrative descriptions.

Civil Servants who are permanently recruited to new departments move to the relevant terms and conditions of their new department. Number 10 North formally operates as part of the Cabinet Office and therefore any relevant pay and allowances for permanent positions recruited to in Number 10 North for staff moving from Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) would be determined by Cabinet Office policies and practices rather than those applicable within MHCLG.

MHCLG does not pay a separate London weighting allowance. MHCLG does operate National and London pay bands, and has policies in place regarding the transfer to National pay bands from London pay bands upon a change in office location within the department. No relocation package is currently available in MHCLG at this point in time.

If there was a Machinery of Government change involving a formal transfer of staff and responsibilities under the Cabinet Office Statement of Practice (COSoP) the relevant terms and conditions would be considered in light of legislative practice.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will test automated registration in a range of different locations and settings, with different characteristics and challenges.

We will develop criteria with the Electoral Commission to inform outreach to local authorities to as much as possible encourage the participation of a balanced range of areas, for example areas with different geographical, demographic and structural characteristics.

We want to ensure the pilots work effectively and we are considering the issue of constituency boundaries as part of the pilot design process.

Eligibility for statutory homelessness assistance from housing authorities is determined by immigration status. In general, an applicant who is a person from abroad with a no recourse to public funds (NRPF) condition will not be eligible for assistance. Guidance on eligibility for homelessness services is set out in Chapter 7 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities - Download this guidance - Guidance - GOV.UK.

None.

Bequests are expressly recognised within the political finance regime. Where a bequest constitutes a donation under the relevant regime, it is treated as a political donation and subject to the relevant donation controls. Recipients must continue to comply with the existing statutory requirements for donations, including taking the steps required by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 to establish whether a donation is permissible before it can be accepted.

All recipients of political contributions above £11,180 (as a single donation or by aggregation from the same donor in the relevant reference period) including relevant donations, regulated transactions and bequests, will need to carry out a risk assessment as required by the Know Your Donor regime. The recipient remains responsible for satisfying itself that it has complied with the statutory requirements in electoral law before accepting that donation, having regard to Electoral Commission guidance where relevant.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 12147 on 1 July 2026.

We will continue to collect and publish Rough Sleeping Management Information to assess progress. This is published on gov.uk here.

You can find more details about the Rough Sleeping Programme in the Written Ministerial Statement published here.

The department does not hold central records of the number of public playgrounds open or closed.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that the UK's political finance framework remains robust and commands public confidence.

We are establishing a cross-government task and finish team to consider the issues threatening UK democracy, including political funding, illegitimate influence, and broader threats to political equality.

Further details will be available in due course.

In July 2025, the government published a consultation document including parking charges and debt recovery fee caps. The government aims to publish a response alongside the new Code, which it is aiming to lay before Parliament in autumn 2026.

Private parking operators are currently self-regulated through their membership of either the British Parking Association or International Parking Community. These trade associations require their members to follow the Sector Single Code of Practice, which places a cap on private parking charges.

The government is committed to raising standards and intends to lay a new Code of Practice for private parking operators, replacing the Sector Single Code of Practice, in Parliament in autumn 2026.