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, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential benefits of providing funding through councils' public health grants for public toilet provision.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In keeping with our commitment to funding simplification, the Government has no current plans to introduce a statutory duty or ringfenced funding relating to toilet provision.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing and managing toilet provision and are best placed to do so due to their ability to account for local needs. However, we recognise the importance of toilet provision and have taken steps to support local leaders. At the 2025 Spending Review, we committed over £5 billion in new grant funding over the next three years for essential local services such as toilets. In addition, we continue to provide 100% mandatory business rates relief for separately assessed public toilets. No specific assessment on the level of provision of public toilets has been made.
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, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the level of public toilets on the public.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In keeping with our commitment to funding simplification, the Government has no current plans to introduce a statutory duty or ringfenced funding relating to toilet provision.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing and managing toilet provision and are best placed to do so due to their ability to account for local needs. However, we recognise the importance of toilet provision and have taken steps to support local leaders. At the 2025 Spending Review, we committed over £5 billion in new grant funding over the next three years for essential local services such as toilets. In addition, we continue to provide 100% mandatory business rates relief for separately assessed public toilets. No specific assessment on the level of provision of public toilets has been made.
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 plans to create and implement a duty on every council to develop a public toilet strategy.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In keeping with our commitment to funding simplification, the Government has no current plans to introduce a statutory duty or ringfenced funding relating to toilet provision.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing and managing toilet provision and are best placed to do so due to their ability to account for local needs. However, we recognise the importance of toilet provision and have taken steps to support local leaders. At the 2025 Spending Review, we committed over £5 billion in new grant funding over the next three years for essential local services such as toilets. In addition, we continue to provide 100% mandatory business rates relief for separately assessed public toilets. No specific assessment on the level of provision of public toilets has been made.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid 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 make an assessment of the potential impact of his planning policies on nature.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Environment Act 2021 requires Ministers to have 'due regard' to the policy statement on environmental principles when making policy. This is to ensure that environmental considerations are at the heart of policymaking across government.
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that to protect and enhance biodiversity and geodiversity, local plans should identify, map and safeguard components of local wildlife rich habitats and wider ecological networks such as chalk streams. It is for local planning authorities to apply this policy when planning for new development.
The government is currently consulting on changes to the NPPF, including proposals to simplify and improve the approach to environmental protections and promote a stronger focus on green infrastructure and nature-based solutions. The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring at least 10% of social housing stock to be let as furnished.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
From 2 July to 12 September last year, we consulted on a reformed and modernised Decent Homes Standard for social and privately rented homes.
As part of that consultation, we sought views on how guidance might be used to encourage and support landlords to go further in improving quality including in relation to the provision of furniture.
Over recent months we have been analysing the responses submitted and will set out our response in the near future.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
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 Stroud.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Since coming into office the government has listened carefully to social and affordable housing providers, and we have responded positively to their calls for increased grant funding, for measures to improve their financial capacity, and for regulatory certainty and stability.
We now expect the sector to step up and prove they can deliver at scale and at pace so that we can put social and affordable housing delivery in Stroud and beyond back on track after years of neglect.
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, if she will make his policy to publish the number of electors for each street.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has no plans to make it its policy to publish the number of electors for each street.
Electoral registers are maintained by local authority Electoral Registration Officers (EROs).
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 press release Families to save hundreds of pounds in major homebuying overhaul, published on 5 October 2025, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of that policy on the number of houses available for sale.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 6 October, my Department published two consultations outlining reform proposals to transform home buying and selling. They can be found on gov.uk here and here.
Final policy decisions as well as a refined analysis of the impact of the proposals in question are subject to a review of the information received through the consultation process.
Asked by: Jonathan Brash (Labour - Hartlepool)
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 implications for its policies of trends in the level of the dispersal of homeless families from local authorities in the South East and the Midlands to the North East.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Published data shows only small numbers moving from the South East or Midlands to the North East, with most placements made within the same region.
The Code of Guidance makes clear families should be placed locally first. That’s why we are improving data, raising expectations, and working with councils to reduce poor practice.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of service times at HM Land Registry.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Improving speed of service remains a top priority for HM Land Registry (HMLR). Plans to achieve this are set out in the Agency’s Strategy 2025+ which was published on 5 November 2025 and can be found on gov.uk here.
As its sponsor department, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government holds HMLR to account for its performance and operational delivery and is in regular communication with HMLR about their processing times.
HMLR has been making improvements in this area through hiring and training more staff and by improving the efficiency of the services its customers use. The introduction of new pre-submission validation checks will speed up processes and reduce staff time spent on dealing with errors or mistakes. The age of outstanding post-completion applications is now under 12 months across all service lines, from a peak of 20 months in February 2023.
HMLR processing times are publicly available on gov.uk here.
Anyone who is concerned that a delay to their application may cause financial, legal, or personal problems or put a property sale at risk, can apply to have their application expedited free of charge. HMLR processes nearly 1,400 expedited applications every day, with more than 95% actioned within 10 working days.