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, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of trends in the number of local authorities hiring public affairs consultants for lobbying.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Section 26 of the Recommended Code of Practice for Local Authority Publicity (‘the Publicity Code’) states that Local authorities should not incur any expenditure in retaining the services of lobbyists for the purpose of the publication of any material designed to influence public officials, Members of Parliament, political parties or the Government to take a particular view on any issue.
Local authorities are required to have regard to the Publicity Code in coming to any decision on publicity, with is defined as any communication, in whatever form, address to the public or a section of the public.
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, pursuant to the answer of 21 November 2025, to Question 90712, on Elections: Proof of Identity, whether prepaid bank cards offered by financial institutions registered outside the United Kingdom, including companies such as Suits Me, will be eligible as proof of identity.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 116475 on 9 March 2026.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
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 introduce a cap on individual political donations to political parties.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 97817 on 11 December 2025.
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, what steps he is taking to ensure that fire and rescue authorities are effectively assessing the fire risk of high-rise buildings.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Each fire and rescue authority (FRA) in England is responsible for enforcing the provisions of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO), which covers fire safety in non-domestic premises, including those within high-rise buildings. The Fire and Rescue National Framework for England sets an expectation that each FRA has a management strategy and a locally determined risk-based inspection programme for enforcing compliance with the provisions of the FSO. It is for each local FRA to determine how best to allocate its resources based on an evaluation of local risks.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of fire and rescue services. HMICFRS provides a rounded assessment of every fire and rescue service, including an assessment of its protection function, which undertakes this enforcement role.
The Government has made available £10 million in protection uplift grant funding for 2025/26. This funding enables fire and rescue services to bolster the operational capability and capacity to fulfil their vital fire protection function to keep the public safe from fire including in high-rise buildings.
The Building Safety Act 2022 established the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) which regulates higher-risk buildings (7 storeys or 18m+ with at least two residential units) in England. In 2025/26, the Government provided up to £4.4 million to support Fire and Rescue Services to recruit and train technical fire safety staff to support this work.
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, what guidance has been given to local authorities by his department on whether (a) churches, (b) synagogues and (c) mosques may be used as polling stations.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The independent Electoral Commission is responsible for providing guidance to Returning Officers, including on the booking of appropriate polling places. The Electoral Commission is also responsible for setting standards and monitoring the performance of Returning Officers.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
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 considered (a) introducing statutory Council Tax relief for properties made uninhabitable by severe weather, natural disasters and climate-related events and (b) compensating local authorities for the cost of providing such relief during periods of severe weather and natural disaster.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Valuation Office Agency is the organisation responsible for determining whether a property is liable for council tax. Council tax is due on all domestic properties, whether they are occupied or not. However, a property may be removed from the council tax list, and no longer liable for council tax, where it has been fully demolished, is truly derelict or undergoing major renovations.
The council tax system contains a range of discounts and exemptions to reflect personal circumstances. The government’s Plain English Guide to Council Tax sets out the support available in the system. Furthermore, councils have the discretionary power to provide their own discounts where they consider this appropriate.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
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 an assessment of the potential merits of introducing mandatory, specialist domestic abuse training for all housing officers in England.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has not undertaken an assessment of mandating specialist domestic abuse training for all housing officers in England.
Local authorities, under their statutory duties in Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, are required to assess the need for and provide support for all victims of domestic abuse and their children while in safe accommodation. To support delivery of this duty, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government provided local authorities in England £160 million in 2025/26, a £30 million uplift from the previous year, and £499 million funding will be allocated to local authorities over the next three years.
Statutory guidance to local authorities is available (Delivery of support to victims of domestic abuse in domestic abuse safe accommodation services - GOV.UK) providing further details on how the duty should be delivered, including the expectation for local authorities to strengthen their understanding of domestic abuse locally, which may include through training.
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, whether pubs with hotel rooms, VOA SCAT Code 227, are eligible for the new pub rate relief.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities are responsible for the administration of business rates, including decisions on the awarding of various reliefs. Guidance for local authorities on the administration of the pubs and live music venues relief 2026 to 2027 was published on 18 February 2026 and can be found here. It is for local authorities to determine whether individual properties meet the definitions contained within the guidance to be eligible for the Pubs and Live Music Venues relief.
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, whether the full report by Philip Rycroft into foreign financial interference in UK politics will be laid before the House when it is completed.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In December, 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 review findings will be delivered to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Security Minister by the end of March 2026.
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government will ensure Mr Rycroft’s report is made available to Parliament at the earliest opportunity after it is received.
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, whether automatic electoral registration, following the proposed reduction in the voting age, will be used to add attainer voters under 16 to the electoral roll.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Should some form of automated registration be introduced using the powers set out in the Representation of the People Bill, this does not apply to attainers (those aged 14 or 15). The duty on Electoral Registration Officers would only apply where they become aware of a person who is of voting age (i.e. someone aged 16 or older). 14- and 15-year-olds will be able to submit their own applications to be attainers.