Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1132, what measures will be in place to ensure that council areas undergoing reorganisation do not overspend due to their debts being inherited by a new council area.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On the management of debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77936 on 13 October 2025. It is the responsibility of councils to manage their budgets, and it is standard for councils to borrow and to hold debt, which they will do in the normal course of business. Local government reorganisation does not change this.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, whether his Department plans to change rules for the establishment and disestablishment of parish councils.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises that local authorities undergoing Local Government Reorganisation may wish to establish new town and parish councils through the separate Community Governance Review process. In doing so, they should show how these will contribute to reorganisation’s overall goal of creating simpler structures that deliver high quality and sustainable public services to citizens.
The government views the existing Community Governance Review process as suitable in ensuring that parishing arrangements reflect the needs and wishes of local communities.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, whether his Department have any plans to set a per-capita upper limit for debt inheritance for reorganised councils in Essex.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On the management of debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77936 on 13 October 2025. It is the responsibility of councils to manage their budgets, and it is standard for councils to borrow and to hold debt, which they will do in the normal course of business. Local government reorganisation does not change this.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 21 July 2025, to Question 66951, on Environment Protection: Public Bodies, and with reference to paragraphs 211, 233 and 234 of the Cabinet Office's Guide to Parliamentary Work, if he will publish the disclosed information or provide a relevant hyperlink to the information.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 66951 on 21 July 2025.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department takes account of exceptional circumstances in previous years when calculating Council Tax base growth, including reviews of single person discounts and the introduction of a Council Tax premium on second homes.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2026-27 to 2028-29 on 17 December 2025, we set out the funding available to councils through the longstanding Core Spending Power measure, which was calculated in line with the approach used at previous Settlements. This means we assumed each authority’s council tax base increases in line with the five-year average annual growth in their council tax base. The inclusion of second homes premium income in Core Spending Power does not affect grant allocations, as it is excluded in the updated assessment of relative need and resources.
We are aware over two thirds of billing authorities introduced second homes premiums in 2025-26, and under our proposals this additional income would be accounted for in Core Spending Power, given it is an important part of the resources available to local authorities to deliver services. No council will lose grant and/or business rates through our assessment of authorities’ relative need and resources as a result of this approach and as part of the government’s policy to reward places for housebuilding.
The consultation on the provisional Settlement closed on 14 January. The government is now considering responses and will set out its position at the final Settlement in February.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Local Authority Housing Fund: Round 4 prospectus and guidance, of 19 November 2025, for what reason the funding can be used for the flipping of forthcoming shared ownership completions into social rented housing; and what the estimated grant per unit is.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities delivering the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF R4) can shape its delivery according to local circumstances.
Converting unsold shared ownership completions into social rented housing is included in a list of possible delivery routes and may be appropriate where there is insufficient demand for shared ownership homes and greater need for social rented housing.
There is not a fixed grant intervention rate for converting use from shared ownership homes. The amount of funding which can be applied depends on how the shared ownership scheme was originally funded.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to build more social and affordable homes in Leeds Central and Headingley constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July 2025 (HCWS771) and the answer given to Question UIN 101017 on 6 January 2026.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he will take steps to allow non-Mayoral authorities to access proposals for a Tourism Levy.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are consulting whether the visitor levy should be extended to Foundation Strategic Authorities, which can be accessed on gov.uk.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the report, Antisemitism: Recent Government Actions and Next Steps, published on 17 December 2025, what steps is the Government taking to tackle anti-semitism caused by (a) Islamist extremism and (b) radicalised anti-Israeli sentiment.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government takes extremism seriously and we are committed to ensuring we have the required tools and powers needed to address this issue. Antisemitism has absolutely no place in our society which is why countering it in all its forms remains an operational priority for our security and intelligence services.
Regardless of the worldview it draws from, if an ideology is causing harm by radicalising others into hatred, violence and extremism we will take action to prevent this and to safeguard susceptible individuals. We understand that Islamist and extreme right-wing ideologies remain the most prominent today hence why it remains at the very heart of our approach.
Everyone in this country has the right to feel safe. We work closely with policing and Jewish community stakeholders to ensure the safety and security of Jewish communities. The Community Security Trust has been allocated £28 million in 2025/26 through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant. This includes additional emergency funding of £10 million. The Government also works closely with HMG’s Independent Adviser on Antisemitism and with the established Antisemitism Working Group on how to effectively tackle antisemitism and engage Jewish communities around international, national and local events affecting British Jews.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of number of hate crimes reported to the a) Sikh Guard and b) Rakkha that were not passed on the police in the last three years.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government remains committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion and will not tolerate anti-Sikh hatred in any form. We continue to work with the police and community partners to monitor and combat this.
No assessment has been made of the number of hate crimes reported to the Sikh Guard and the Rakkha that were not passed on to the police, but we recommend that all reporting services direct reports of hate crime to the police where appropriate.