Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment was made in the process of developing the Fair Funding Allocation formulae of the adequacy of the evidence supplied by stakeholders and local authorities of the cost impacts of remoteness and rurality.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government published the Local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29 and response to the Fair Funding Review 2.0 on Thursday 20 November, which set out the government's plans to introduce a fairer and evidence-led funding system. The government also published the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2026-2027 to 2028-2029 on Wednesday 17 December 2025. The government is committed to continuing to work closely with the sector. We have now consulted four times on our proposals for reform and we are grateful for the high-quality and constructive responses received from local authorities and sector groups.
The government is committed to tackling the issues that matter to rural communities. Our updates will account for local circumstances, including the variation in cost of delivering services, such as between rural and urban areas. More detail can be found in the consultation response document here.
As part of this, the government is including a remoteness adjustment within the adult social care formula, as the best evidence we have heard indicates that distance from a major market has an impact on the cost of delivering social care services. We are also including a journey times adjustment, which is within the area cost adjustment applied to all our funding formulas, which accounts for the impact on the cost of labour of the difference in travel times to provide services; and increasing the cap within the home to school transport formula from 20 miles to 50 miles, in recognition that the original distance cap would unfairly penalise authorities who have no choice but to place children further from home.
The government is considering the responses received following the consultation of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2026 to 2027 and will set out a position when the final Settlement is published in early February.
Asked by: Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish an overview of the key threats they have identified to the UK's electoral processes.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
It is, and always will be, an absolute priority for this Government to protect our democratic and electoral processes. Several government publications provide an overview of key threats to the UK’s electoral processes as part of the Government’s Counter Political Interference and Espionage Action Plan to disrupt and deter foreign influence and spying from foreign states.
The Government’s strategy for modern, secure and inclusive elections, published in July, sets out our plan to strengthen oversight of and safeguards against known and emerging threats, including foreign interference through covert political funding. We will deliver a robust and proportionate response to known risks, protecting the integrity of our system and reinforcing public trust in democracy. The strategy can be found (attached) here: Restoring trust in our democracy: Our strategy for modern and secure elections - GOV.UK
Additionally, on December 16th 2025, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government announced an independent review into countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics. The terms of reference for the review can be found (attached) here: Independent review: countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics: Terms of Reference - GOV.UK
The findings of the independent review will build on both the Government’s Elections Strategy and Counter Political Interference and Espionage Action Plan and inform the elections and democracy bill that we will bring forward this year.
Furthermore, the national technical authorities have published overviews of key threats. The guidance that the National Protective Security Agency published in October highlights the range of vectors and tactics that foreign actors are using to target individuals working in UK politics. This can be found (attached) here: Defending Democracy | National Security Act | NPSA and the NCSC published guidance for political organisations and individuals to counter the cyber threat to elections: Defending democracy - NCSC.GOV.UK
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 adequacy of existing planning regulations for considering the views of local residents.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Planning regulations require local planning authorities to publish all planning applications for a minimum of 21 days to allow communities to provide their comments. Where relevant planning considerations are raised by local residents within this period these must be taken into account by the local planning authority. The weight attached to a particular consideration is a matter of judgement for the local authority as the decision-maker in the first instance.
The government considers that the existing statutory publicity and consultation requirements for planning applications strikes an appropriate balance between ensuring sufficient consultation with communities and an efficient determination period for the applicant.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to publish the 2024 Housing Delivery Test results.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Following delays to the publication of the 2023 Housing Delivery Test (HDT) results under the previous government, this government is committed to re-establishing a regular publication cycle.
We therefore intend to combine the data collections for the 2024 and 2025 HDTs and to publish both sets of results as soon as possible this year.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
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 the costs for rural authorities of delivering services across large and dispersed communities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government published the Local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29 and response to the Fair Funding Review 2.0 on Thursday 20 November, which set out the government's plans to introduce a fairer and evidence-led funding system. The government also published the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2026-2027 to 2028-2029 on Wednesday 17 December 2025.
The government is committed to tackling the issues that matter to rural communities. Our updates will account for local circumstances, including the variation in cost of delivering services, such as between rural and urban areas. We are including a journey times adjustment, which is within the area cost adjustment applied to our funding formulas, which accounts for the impact on the cost of labour of the difference in travel times to provide services. We are also including a remoteness adjustment within the adult social care formula and increasing the cap within the home to school transport formula from 20 miles to 50 miles. In addition, we are using updated deprivation data in our assessment of need, to help ensure that deprivation in rural areas is captured more accurately.
The government is considering the responses received following the consultation of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2026 to 2027 and will set out a position when the final Settlement is published in early February.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
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 reopen the Fair Funding Review following consultation responses.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government published the Local government finance policy statement 2026-27 to 2028-29 and response to the Fair Funding Review 2.0 on Thursday 20 November, which set out the government's plans to introduce a fairer and evidence-led funding system. The government also published the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2026-2027 to 2028-2029 on Wednesday 17 December 2025.
The government is committed to tackling the issues that matter to rural communities. Our updates will account for local circumstances, including the variation in cost of delivering services, such as between rural and urban areas. We are including a journey times adjustment, which is within the area cost adjustment applied to our funding formulas, which accounts for the impact on the cost of labour of the difference in travel times to provide services. We are also including a remoteness adjustment within the adult social care formula and increasing the cap within the home to school transport formula from 20 miles to 50 miles. In addition, we are using updated deprivation data in our assessment of need, to help ensure that deprivation in rural areas is captured more accurately.
The government is considering the responses received following the consultation of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2026 to 2027 and will set out a position when the final Settlement is published in early February.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of removing Sport England as a statutory consultee from the planning system on the provision of community sports facilities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to Question UIN 103087 on 13 January 2026.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what impact assessment has been done for the removal of Sports England as a statutory consultee for the planning application involving playing fields.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to Question UIN 103087 on 13 January 2026.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what reviews of the accuracy of the calculations used in the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement to estimate Council Tax revenues were carried out.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As set out in the published explanatory note, the methodology for calculating council tax receipts followed for the provisional Settlement is the same as in previous years. The Department undertakes thorough quality assurance processes as part of the Settlement, including double running and sourcing data from published statistics. It is for individual councils to decide their level of council tax, based on their local circumstances.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support her Department is giving to existing leaseholders affected by high or escalating ground rents, particularly where such terms impact mortgage availability and the ability to sell their homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to answer given to Question UIN 102566 on 12 January 2026.