Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

The Government is committed to ensuring victims of domestic abuse and their children can access the support in safe accommodation they need to rebuild their lives. This is part of the Government’s strategy to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls, with improved support for victims.

Under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, local authorities must assess the need for and provide support to victims and their children in safe accommodation. It is for each local authority to determine the right mix of safe accommodation, including refuges, dispersed accommodation, and sanctuary schemes (in which a victim’s own home is made safe) to meet local needs. To support delivery, MHCLG provided authorities in England with £160 million in 2025/26, a £30 million uplift from the previous year. In the recent Local Government Finance Settlement, MHCLG committed to increase investment by a further £19 million to £499 million over the next three years.

The department collects data on the number of refuge bedspaces and the number of individuals supported in safe accommodation. This data is published annually, the most recent data is available here: Support in domestic abuse safe accommodation: 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK.

The Government is committed to ensuring victims of domestic abuse and their children can access the support in safe accommodation they need to rebuild their lives. This is part of the Government’s strategy to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls, with improved support for victims.

Under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, local authorities must assess the need for and provide support to victims and their children in safe accommodation. It is for each local authority to determine the right mix of safe accommodation, including refuges, dispersed accommodation, and sanctuary schemes (in which a victim’s own home is made safe) to meet local needs. To support delivery, MHCLG provided authorities in England with £160 million in 2025/26, a £30 million uplift from the previous year. In the recent Local Government Finance Settlement, MHCLG committed to increase investment by a further £19 million to £499 million over the next three years.

The department collects data on the number of refuge bedspaces and the number of individuals supported in safe accommodation. This data is published annually, the most recent data is available here: Support in domestic abuse safe accommodation: 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK.

The government has set out details of a reformed SEND system which meets needs earlier, before challenges escalate. All local authorities with a SEND deficit are eligible for a grant to resolve 90% of their historic deficits up to 2025‑26— projected to be worth over £5 billion nationally—protecting their ability to support children and young people with SEND in local schools while sustaining wider services and tackling deprivation. Addressing deficits accrued to 2025‑26 could reduce financing costs by an estimated £300 million by 2027‑28.

Each local authority’s grant allocation will be determined by reviewing all available sources on local authority expenditure to establish the eligible SEND deficit. This will include comparing Section 251 data, draft and published Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) notes, DSG s151 assurance, Revenue Outturn data and published accounts.

Grant eligibility is conditional on securing Department for Education approval of a Local SEND Reform Plan, which will also be used to assess ongoing performance and delivery to target support and challenge throughout the reform period.

Local authorities will continue to operate under existing prudential financial management frameworks.

The recent Local Government Finance Settlement is our most significant step yet to make English local government more sustainable. For the first time since 2013-14, the government is updating the relative needs formulas that form a key part of how local authorities' funding allocations are calculated, using more up-to-date data. This includes using the recently published 2025 Indices of Multiple Deprivation, an official Statistic produced by MHCLG.

Each relative needs formula has been constructed using consistent principles, applying statistical techniques to weight variables according to their influence on service demand. An overview of the weightings applied to the formulas within the assessment of relative need can be found within the Fair Funding Share Calculator on gov.uk here. For further detail on the weightings and technical modelling underpinning the relative needs assessment, please refer to the relevant technical annex published on gov.uk here.

The methodology proposed by the government was subject to a technical peer review by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which can be found here.

An assessment of the equalities impacts of our proposals was published as part of the government’s response to the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, which can be found on gov.uk here Overall, the government assessed that the changes delivered through the Settlement would have positive equalities impacts.

Local authorities are responsible for their own borrowing and investment decisions, within a statutory framework intended to ensure borrowing is prudent, affordable and sustainable.

The government recognises the importance of local investment, including for housing and growth. Under the previous government, however, weaknesses in the system allowed a minority of authorities to take on excessive debt for high-risk investment that have not represented value for money. In some cases, this has led to serious failures requiring government intervention and significant cost to taxpayers.

The government is therefore bringing into effect the capital risk powers added to the Local Government Act 2003 in 2023. The aim is to safeguard the system to support essential investment while giving government the tools to address instances of excessive borrowing and investment risk before failure occurs.

The government will work with the sector in developing use of the powers to ensure they are effective and to avoid unintended consequences. We will consult later this year.

MHCLG works closely with the Department for Education on policy development for children’s social care and is responsible for making funding available to local government for children’s social care service delivery through the Local Government Finance Settlement. As a government, we are driving the biggest transformation of children’s social care in a generation with the Families First Partnership programme – backed by a historic £2.4 billion through the multi-year Settlement’s Children, Families and Youth Grant. This historic investment demonstrates the government’s commitment to invest in prevention and will support councils working across the safeguarding partnership to deliver children’s social care reform, making a real, tangible difference to children and families.

Alongside this programme of reform, helping care leavers to make a successful transition from care to independence is a priority for this Government. Together with the Department for Education, MHCLG will develop a cross-government action plan to reduce the proportion of care leavers under 25 experiencing homelessness. And MHCLG has introduced regulations, which came into force on 10 July 2025, so that young care leavers under 25 will no longer need to meet a local connection or residency test in order to access social housing.

The Local Audit Office will take on a remit and powers currently fragmented across the existing system with its statutory objectives and functions detailed in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. We will confirm the estimated cost and funding mechanisms later in the year, ensuring that it provides greater value for money than the current failed system.

Following the introduction of statutory local audit backstop dates in autumn 2024, the backlog of unaudited accounts has been cleared. The vast majority of opinions for financial years up to and including 2024/25 have been published.

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

The total value of severance payments is set out in the department’s Annual Report and Accounts, which are available for the last three years.

The government intends to lay the Private Parking Code of Practice in autumn 2026.

Government has adopted a non-statutory definition of anti-Muslim hostility. We encourage organisations across sectors to adopt the definition and use it in ways they consider to be useful and lawful.

Local authorities have discretion within the existing allocations framework to design allocation schemes that reflect local housing needs and priorities, including how stock is managed within a new unitary area.

The government has not published guidance on the assessment of council tax liability. Liability for council tax is determined by billing authorities who will consider the facts of each case against the hierarchy of liability set out in section 6 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

The technical notes published as part of the final multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement published on 9 February 2026 include footnotes, which provide links to the underlying datasets such as the ONS’ population projections and the 2025 Indices of Multiple Deprivation.

A few underlying datasets, such as the National Pupil Database, contain sensitive or proprietary information and so have restricted access.

The final 2026-27 Local Government Finance Settlement will make available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026-27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26. By the end of the multi-year Settlement (2028-29), the government will have provided a 15.5% increase in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England, worth over £11.4 billion, compared to 2025-26.

As a result of these changes, nine in ten councils will receive funding that broadly matches their assessed need by the end of the multi-year Settlement, up from around a third before our reforms.

Local authorities should plan services which meet the needs of people in their area, which includes planning for periods of extreme cold. The government is providing more than £3.3 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping funding from 2026/27 to 2028/29 through the Local Government Finance Settlement, and councils can use this and their wider settlement to plan and deliver safe accommodation during periods of extreme weather.

I wrote to council leaders and chief executives on Wednesday 25 February setting out local authorities’ legal duties to homeless families with children under the Housing Act 1996 and Children Act 1989. This letter made it clear that a child should never be sleeping rough. A household with a child has priority need for the purposes of the Housing Act 1996. Eligible homeless households with children must be accommodated under section 188, and in some circumstances under section 190(2) or 193 of the Act.

A summary of the representations submitted is set out in the Explanatory Memorandum prepared at the time and can be found on gov.uk here. The government currently has no plans to publish individual representations received.

I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 110405 on 11 February 2026.

Where the government makes a structural changes order to implement a proposal for local government reorganisation in an area, the legislation can provide for the alignment of parish councils to the electoral cycle of their new principal council. This is a matter for councils in areas undergoing reorganisation to consider in their discussions on the legislation with the Department. Decisions on the funding of parish and town council elections are a matter for local government, and central government has no role in funding town and parish councils.

The National Plan to End Homelessness announces a long-term ambition that no one should leave a public institution into homelessness. This parliament we will take the first steps towards this through joint cross-government targets to reduce the number of people leaving institutions into homelessness.

The Home Office have committed to strengthen data sharing processes with councils for 100% of newly granted refugees at risk of homelessness within two days of an asylum discontinuation of support notification. This supports early intervention by enabling councils to commence homelessness assessments.

Local authorities are best placed to determine the nature and scope of parking policies across their area. Through the Traffic Management Act 2004, local authorities must ensure that their parking policies are proportionate, support town centre prosperity, and reconcile competing demands for space whilst ensuring traffic moves freely and quickly on their roads and the roads of nearby authorities.

Local authorities are best placed to determine the nature and scope of parking policies across their area. Through the Traffic Management Act 2004, local authorities must ensure that their parking policies are proportionate, support town centre prosperity, and reconcile competing demands for space whilst ensuring traffic moves freely and quickly on their roads and the roads of nearby authorities.

The government recognises the threat that deepfakes and misleading material pose to elections and the importance of ensuring that electoral law is fit for a modern electoral environment. The government continually assesses the effectiveness of electoral law. Where the law is found to be ineffective or outdated, we will take appropriate action.

The Responsible Person for any residential building (regardless of height) is the person or entity responsible for keeping residents safe from the risk of fire. Decisions on how to keep residents safe and what actions are required should be made based on advice from a Competent Person following a Fire Risk Assessment. MHCLG has no direct role in deciding whether interim measures such as a common fire alarm should be implemented. Sector-led Simultaneous Evacuation Guidance published by the National Fire Chiefs Council supports Responsible Persons to meet their existing duties and guides them towards a consistent, standardised approach to a change in evacuation strategy and implementation of interim measures where this is necessary.

By law, variable service charges must be reasonable, and leaseholders have the right to challenge unreasonable charges at the appropriate tribunal. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 includes measures to increase transparency over service charges and remove barriers for leaseholders to challenge costs, helping them better understand what they are being asked to pay for. The Building Safety Act’s leaseholder protections also place caps on how much can be charged for remediation of historical life-critical fire safety defects in most 11-metre-plus buildings.

The government has no plans to change the electoral system for UK Parliamentary elections.

The Government is taking decisive action to strengthen and protect UK democracy, including strengthening the Electoral Commission’s powers and extending its remit to ensure that it can effectively enforce the political finance framework.

We have listened to stakeholders and recognise how vital it is that the Commission is fearlessly independent, commands trust across the political spectrum and operates free from political influence.

That is why we are bringing forward amendments to repeal the Government’s powers to designate a Strategy and Policy Statement for the Electoral Commission. This will put beyond doubt the foundational principle of the Commission’s independence and further strengthen its ability to oversee elections into the future without fear or favour.

Family voting is illegal, and the Government takes any allegations extremely seriously. It is a criminal offence under the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 to pressure someone to vote in a certain way in the polling station, and potential offences are a matter for the police. We do not consider that repealing the Strategy and Policy Statement will have any impact on enforcement of this offence.

Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, the government consulted on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, included policies that recognised that the installation of energy efficiency and low carbon heating measures in listed buildings and conservation areas are an important public benefit to be taken into account when determining planning applications.

We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 85213 on 4 November 2025.

There are two different ways of counting apprenticeship recruitment:

• Definition A: colleagues who joined on an apprenticeship contract.
• Definition B: colleagues who joined MHCLG via a role which was advertised as including an apprenticeship and subsequently began an apprenticeship after joining.

Both definitions are included below. The source of this information is MHCLG recruitment data. The number of apprentices the MHCLG has recruited in the requested years are as follows:

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team are investigating practices in the auction market involving the submission of misleading or inauthentic bids.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 prohibits unfair commercial practices by traders in their dealings with consumers, including misleading actions or omissions, which can extend to auction property sales. The Act also requires businesses to act with professional diligence, in line with honest market practice and general principles of good faith.

On 6 October, my Department published two consultations outlining reform proposals to transform home buying and selling. Transparency during the property sales process is one of the core objectives of these reforms. That is why we proposed requiring sellers to provide comprehensive upfront information to buyers and mandating the provision of critical information in property listings. The consultations can be found on gov.uk here and here.

OBR forecasts have no bearing on the government’s ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament which remains in place.

My Department supports the OBR’s forecasting by sharing the latest data on planning applications submitted, granted, and new housing construction starts, among other sources of evidence.

OBR forecasts have no bearing on the government’s ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament which remains in place.

My Department supports the OBR’s forecasting by sharing the latest data on planning applications submitted, granted, and new housing construction starts, among other sources of evidence.

Antisemitism is abhorrent and has no place in our society. The government remains committed to tackling all forms of hatred and ensuring that everyone in the UK can live free from fear of discrimination or violence. Work is ongoing across government on tackling antisemitism in all its forms, and as set out in our recent Protecting What Matters publication. To deliver this, we will continue to work with the Antisemitism Working Group and ministers are in regular discussions on antisemitism and antisemitic attacks.

Where incidents involve criminal behaviour, this is an operational matter for the police.

This government does not comment on specific groups. It is up to each department to carry out due diligence when choosing to engage with, or fund, any organisation or individual and, if asked, we will advise and share information to help others inform their decisions. As announced in the Protecting What Matters publication last week, we are currently updating and embedding the 2024 engagement principles which will assist public bodies to not confer legitimacy, funding or influence on extremist groups.

We will also publish an annual ‘State of Extremism’ report will support public sector staff to tackle extremism. This will include information on what extremism looks like today in the UK – groups, narratives and ideologies, including Islamist and Extreme Right – as well as the action this government is taking to disrupt these extremist threats. The first iteration of this will be published by the end of 2026.

Senior officials from the Resilience and Recovery Directorate in MHCLG regularly attend meetings to discuss matters of national security, defence and resilience as well as the associated public communications required to deliver these lines of efforts. The conversation on National Defence was a recommendation in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which the Government accepted. The Ministry of Defence is the lead department for delivering the SDR, with support from the Cabinet Office, and particularly from the National Security Secretariat.

As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the national conversation will be a multi-year, cross-departmental effort designed to deliver on the whole-of-society approach to national security and defence allowing Government, the private sector and public to play their part in strengthening the UK’s resilience to any potential future shocks. This work addresses the risks and threats the UK faces, including those below and above the threshold of an armed attack.

MHCLG is actively supporting this work, including liaising with Local Resilience Forums.

Civil Service recruitment must follow the rules set out in legislation within the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaGA) 2010, which outlines the requirements to ensure that civil servants are recruited on merit, via fair and open competition.

Compliance with CRaGA is overseen by the independent Civil Service Commission, which publishes Recruitment Principles setting out the detailed rules departments must follow.

Housing First is an important intervention which evidence has shown can transform the lives of people with complex needs. We are funding Housing First and other forms of housing-led accommodation in 2025/26 through our £255.5 million Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant, which goes to local authorities.

From 2026/27-2028/29 we are providing over £2.2 billion through the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping portion of the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant. Local authorities have the flexibility to commission the services that meet the needs of people in their local communities. For people with complex needs Housing First can be a very effective model, alongside other housing-led models.

The government has published an evaluation of Housing First and a toolkit to support local authorities who want to commission the intervention on gov.uk here.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 105500 on 20 January 2026.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 105500 on 20 January 2026.

The Government is considering carefully the consultation findings and intends to lay the Code in autumn 2026.

This government is committed to halving violence against women and girls within a decade. We have committed £550 million for victims’ services, with an additional 2% uplift each year, and £499 million over the next three years to support in safe accommodation for victims of abuse.

People living without essential furniture, including victims of domestic abuse, can access support through their local authority, including via the Household Support Fund until 31 March, and from April, the Crisis and Resilience Fund, to provide discretionary help with essential items such as furniture.

The government consulted on proposals to reform the Decent Homes Standard for both the social and private rented sectors. As part of this, we sought views on how furniture provision could be addressed within best practice guidance. Our response to the consultation was published in January 2026, confirming our commitment to issue guidance relating to furniture provision. The consultation response can be found on gov.uk here.

My Department does not hold the information requested.

Although it collects and publishes quarterly planning application statistics, which can be found on gov.uk here, it does not collect separate figures on data centre developments that have been granted planning permission.

My Department does not hold the information requested.

Although it collects and publishes quarterly planning application statistics, which can be found on gov.uk here, it does not collect separate figures on data centre developments that have been granted planning permission.

My Department does not hold the information requested.

Although it collects and publishes quarterly planning application statistics, which can be found on gov.uk here, it does not collect separate figures on data centre developments that have been granted planning permission.