Asked by: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to bring forward reforms to the Building Safety Act 2022 to allow the First Tier Tribunal to confer accountable person responsibilities to a section 24 building manager; and whether they plan to introduce those reforms as part of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
When parliamentary time allows, we are looking to introduce a Remediation Bill to ensure all residents have a route to remediation, including in circumstances when a court has appointed a section 24 manager to take on the duties of the landlord.
We propose to amend the Building Safety Act to include section 24 managers within the definition of Accountable Persons to make clear that this manager can also be responsible for building safety duties.
This will ensure that remediation funds can be provided to a court appointed manager, and they are able to progress remediation.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to disqualify individuals from standing for public office in England who have unspent convictions for offences under the Terrorism Act 2000 or the Terrorism Act 2006, regardless of the length of the custodial sentence imposed.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government currently has no plans to change the disqualification criteria for those standing for election for these offences but keeps the counter‑terrorism framework under constant review to ensure it is fit for purpose.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to improve recognition of non-visible disabilities, including stoma use, in the design of public facilities.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 70255 which was answered on 4 September 2025.
Government policies relating to Building Regulations and how the accessibility and use of buildings is reflected in design are made in accordance with the Public Sector Equality Duty. Changes to the statutory guidance which accompanies the Building Regulations (Approved Document M Volume 2) made in January 2021 make provision for facilities, including Changing Places toilets, in new buildings (or those undergoing major redevelopment) other than dwellings, that fall above a certain size threshold. This aims to make accessibility a mainstream consideration in how public spaces are planned and built.
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 statement to the House of Commons on 2 March 2026 on the Representation of the People Bill, col 624, who will determine which areas are to be selected for automatic voter registration first.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Everyone who is eligible to register to vote should be able, supported and encouraged to do so. The sole aim of moving towards automated registration is to increase the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register.
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, to ensure anything we implement permanently works for everyone. We will be guided throughout by principles of fairness and open engagement. We are consulting a range of stakeholders to develop this programme, including the Electoral Commission, the Association of Electoral Administrators, local authorities and civil society organisations. We will also continue to offer engagement with political parties.
The Parliamentary and Local Government Boundary Commission for England are independent of Government. The timings of Parliamentary Boundary Reviews are set by legislation, and the Government
has no plans to bring forward legislation to amend these. The timings of local electoral reviews in England are decided by the Local Boundary Commission for England, who will continue to make these decisions independently of Government.
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, whether he plans to pause (a) Parliamentary constituency and (b) local election boundary reviews until every area covered by the respective authority has concluded its automatic registration process.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Everyone who is eligible to register to vote should be able, supported and encouraged to do so. The sole aim of moving towards automated registration is to increase the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register.
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, to ensure anything we implement permanently works for everyone. We will be guided throughout by principles of fairness and open engagement. We are consulting a range of stakeholders to develop this programme, including the Electoral Commission, the Association of Electoral Administrators, local authorities and civil society organisations. We will also continue to offer engagement with political parties.
The Parliamentary and Local Government Boundary Commission for England are independent of Government. The timings of Parliamentary Boundary Reviews are set by legislation, and the Government
has no plans to bring forward legislation to amend these. The timings of local electoral reviews in England are decided by the Local Boundary Commission for England, who will continue to make these decisions independently of Government.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for her policies of the decline in council run library hours and what steps he is taking with local authorities to help protect library opening hours.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This government is delivering fairer funding for local authorities, targeting money where it is needed most through the first multi-year Settlement in a decade. 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.
The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities, including public libraries provision.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is responsible for public library policy and the Libraries Improvement Fund. DCMS intends to publish a new English public library strategy later this year to emphasise and support their position at the heart of communities and their pivotal role in improving the lives of working people.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, how many meetings officials from their Department have attended on the national conversation on defence and security; which directorate in their Department is responsible for the departmental contribution to that national conversation; and what the job title is of the official responsible.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
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.
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, what information his Department on the number of people who have attempted to vote but were prevented from doing so due to not being registered in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government does not collect or hold data on the number of individuals who attempt to vote but are unable to do so because they are not registered to vote.
Elections are administered locally by independent Returning Officers and their staff, who are statutorily responsible for the operation of polling stations during elections.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending permitted development rights to listed buildings for the installation of green technologies.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Nationally set permitted development rights enable the installation of renewable energy equipment on or within the curtilage of buildings.
Certain rights do not apply within the curtilage of a listed building as proposals for development in such areas can be better considered through a planning application so any potential impacts can be considered on a case-by-case basis.
We continue to keep permitted development rights under review.
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, what information his Department holds on the (a) number and (b) proportion of people who have tried and failed to register to vote in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government does not collect nor hold data on the outcomes of electoral registration applications.
Electoral registration is administered locally by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) who are statutorily responsible for the maintenance of the Parliamentary and Local registers for the area for which they act. The duty of determining applications to register to vote therefore falls to them.