Asked by: Chris Hinchliff (Labour - North East Hertfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to add chalk streams to the National Planning Policy Framework as an irreplaceable habitat.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 94314 on 3 December 2025.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
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 24 October 2025 to Question 77559 on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Aviation, what was the topic of the training course.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The topic of the course was risk management.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government intends to provide exceptional funding support to Bedford Borough Council to cover costs incurred as a result of the Cleat Hill explosion on 19 October 2024.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The impact of the explosion and fire and the tragic loss of life would have been traumatic and I have great sympathy for all those affected.
The Department continues to engage directly with Bedford on its overall financial position, including communicating a response to the Council's request to activate the Bellwin scheme in relation to the Cleat Hill explosion.
The Local Government Finance Policy Statement published on 20 November confirmed that there will continue to be a framework in place to support councils in the most difficult financial positions. This reflects the ongoing challenges for councils dealing with the legacy of the previous system, while the Government is delivering much needed reforms to the funding framework. Following the Policy Statement the Department issued technical guidance to councils which set out that they should confirm any request for support by 12 December, and that any decisions under this framework are usually taken shortly after the final Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will provide a response to the application submitted by Bedford Borough Council for exceptional funding support to cover costs incurred as a result of the Cleat Hill explosion on 19 October 2024.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The impact of the explosion and fire and the tragic loss of life would have been traumatic and I have great sympathy for all those affected.
The Department continues to engage directly with Bedford on its overall financial position, including communicating a response to the Council's request to activate the Bellwin scheme in relation to the Cleat Hill explosion.
The Local Government Finance Policy Statement published on 20 November confirmed that there will continue to be a framework in place to support councils in the most difficult financial positions. This reflects the ongoing challenges for councils dealing with the legacy of the previous system, while the Government is delivering much needed reforms to the funding framework. Following the Policy Statement the Department issued technical guidance to councils which set out that they should confirm any request for support by 12 December, and that any decisions under this framework are usually taken shortly after the final Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support his Department is providing to local authorities managing cultural venue refurbishment projects in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This government is committed to supporting this country's world renowned creative and cultural industries. We understand that a fit-for-purpose cultural infrastructure, which increases access for all, is part of this sector's success.
In addition to the £270 million Arts Everywhere Fund announced in February 2025, the recent Spending Review committed further significant investment for Arts, Culture and Heritage infrastructure, the details of which will be announced in due course.
The 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement makes available over £69 billion for local government. The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
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 written statement on 19 November 2025, HCWS1071, on Local Government Reorganisation, what is the timetable for the statutory consultation on other two-tier areas not listed in the statement, other than Surrey.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Following the statutory invitations issued on 5 February 2025 to two-tier authorities and neighbouring small unitary authorities to develop proposals for unitary local government, the Government received final proposals from the remaining 14 invitation areas on 28 November 2025. I expect to launch statutory consultations on these proposals in the new year.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 ensure people with visual impairments can access necessary home adaptations.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) is there to enable all eligible disabled people, including those with visual impairments, to access vital home adaptations, subject to a needs assessment and means test. This Government has increased funding for the DFG by £86 million, bringing the total to £711 million per year in 2025-26.
Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many homes for social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership were promised to planning authorities in England as part of section 106 agreements, but not delivered following viability assessments in each financial year from 2016–17 to 2024–25; whether these figures can be broken down by local authority and compared to the numbers of affordable, social rent and shared ownership properties required by those local authorities’ policies; and how these figures compare to the total numbers of homes built by private developers that do not fit into those three categories.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The requested information is not held by the Department.
The government is committed to strengthening the system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made of the number of domestic boilers sold in England against the number of installations reported to local authority building control.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Neither the department nor the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) hold figures on boiler sales.
Figures held by the BSR show 1,089,862 total gas appliance work notifications between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025 under the Gas Safe Register scheme. Of this total, 1,039,920 was for central heating natural gas boiler installations. This is more than 95% of the total gas installation work. A much smaller number of other gas boiler installations, such as for water heaters or warm air heating appliances, were also registered.
The Gas Safe Register scheme is run by the Health and Safety Executive but the BSR has access to the scheme’s installation registration numbers.
The BSR regulates other installation schemes, also called competent person schemes, which include installation of non-gas types of boilers but neither the BSR nor the department hold figures specifically on non-gas boiler installations.
Local authorities must make available to the public details of building control notifications in their area including for boiler installations.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with councils in the devolution priority programme areas on securing investment ahead of the delayed mayoral elections.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The English Devolution White Paper sets out how Local Growth Plans will galvanise action and investment, including through setting out a pipeline of investment opportunities for strategic authorities. Adopting a Local Growth Plan will be a duty conferred on combined authorities as soon as the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill receives Royal Assent, so we encourage all councils in the Devolution Priority Programme to use the guidance we’ve provided to develop their growth plans. In the interim period between the establishment of the Mayoral Strategic Authorities in the new year and inaugural mayoral elections, we will provide the authorities with a portion of their investment funds to ensure they can start delivering on key local priorities and deliver the benefits of devolution on the ground ahead of the Mayors taking office.