Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what is the average cost incurred by accountable persons for time spent by the building safety regulator to determine and issue a decision on a building assessment certificate application.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As of 1st December 2025, the average cost of a determination for a Building Assessment Certificate was £23,084. There has been a total of 1838 Building Assessment Certificate applications to the Building Safety Regulator since it was established. Of which, (b) 166 have been approved, (c) 448 have been refused, (d) and 1224 applications have yet to be determined.
The Building Safety Regulator is continuing to work to enhance the level of appropriate BAC information and guidance that is available for applicants.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many building assessment certificate applications have been (a) made to the building safety regulator, (b) approved, (c) refused, and (d) yet to be determined.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As of 1st December 2025, the average cost of a determination for a Building Assessment Certificate was £23,084. There has been a total of 1838 Building Assessment Certificate applications to the Building Safety Regulator since it was established. Of which, (b) 166 have been approved, (c) 448 have been refused, (d) and 1224 applications have yet to be determined.
The Building Safety Regulator is continuing to work to enhance the level of appropriate BAC information and guidance that is available for applicants.
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, when the initial funding arrangements for Essex's Combined County Authority will be put before Parliament.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 4 December the Government made a Written Ministerial Statement announcing the funding for all areas on the Devolution Priority Programme, including Greater Essex.
Asked by: Llinos Medi (Plaid Cymru - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason the value of the Local Growth Fund for Wales was reduced from £633million to £547million.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The UK Government is working with the Welsh Government to develop and implement a new Local Growth Fund, which is part of a wider targeted, long-term approach to regional growth across the UK. Under this approach, funding for Wales will remain at the same overall level in cash terms as under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2025-26. Taken alongside Wales’ four City and Regional Growth Deals, Investment Zones and Freeports, this represents a significant investment to boost growth and create jobs across Wales.
Asked by: Llinos Medi (Plaid Cymru - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what is the financial breakdown for the Local Growth Fund, including capital and revenue split, for (a) Wales (b) Scotland (c) Northern Ireland and (d) England.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The UK Government is working with partners across the nations to develop and implement a new Local Growth Fund, which is part of a wider targeted, long-term approach to regional growth across the UK. Under this approach, funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will remain at the same overall level in cash terms as under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2025-26.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, we will confirm funding and delivery arrangements for the Local Growth Fund in due course. In England, the financial breakdown, including capital and revenue split, was published on 26 November: Local Growth Fund: Place selection and allocation methodology note - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
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 trends in the number of building assessment certificate application refusals on the lending, mortgage and insurance markets.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
From 16 January 2024, the Building Safety Act introduced a requirement for Principal Accountable Persons to assess and manage the safety risks relating to the buildings for which they are responsible. Building safety risks are defined in the Act as being spread of fire and structural failure.
A Building Assessment Certificate (BAC) is issued by the Building Safety Regulator when it is assessed that these and other relevant legal duties are being met. A BAC application may be refused for a variety of reasons, for example where the safety case report or the residents’ engagement strategy are insufficient or incomplete. It is important to note therefore that a decision to refuse the application for a BAC does not necessarily mean that the building is unsafe.
Lenders and insurers have their own, well-established, mechanisms for assessing a building’s condition, on which they base their commercial decisions.
We engage regularly with the lending and insurance industries, who have not raised BAC application refusals as a concern, but we encourage industry and individuals to bring any concerns to the attention of the Department.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many large panel system buildings have been registered with the building safety regulator.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As of 30 November 2025, the Building Safety Regulator is aware of 738 registered structures containing large panel systems.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the letter from Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 5 November, whether the special provisions within the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 on the private disclosure of information are being used in the Chinese Embassy planning case; and what steps they are taking to facilitate sharing of (1) sensitive information about the building plans by the applicant, and (2) sensitive information about the applicant and its potential use of the building for espionage or repression, including information held by the intelligence services which those services do not wish to share with the government of China or otherwise place in the public domain.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
All inquiry documents for this case are publicly available on Tower Hamlets (attached) website here.
Post-inquiry representations are routinely listed at the end of the final decision letter, and are also available on request once the decision letter has issued. The Secretary of State is able to issue a direction under section 321 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which allows specific evidence to be withheld from public inspection at a public inquiry. No section 321 direction has been made in this case.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 10 November (HC87207), whether unitarisation and local government restructuring meet the criteria for a "strong justification" to (1) postpone, or (2) cancel, scheduled (a) county, (b) district, and (c) unitary, elections in May 2026.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As set out by the Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 10 November, single year election postponements in 2025 were intended to help deliver both devolution and reorganisation to the most ambitious timeline possible in the area, and in Surrey, in the context of specific financial challenges. Postponements have previously occurred in areas undergoing local government reorganisation only where councils requested or agreed to the postponement.
Where an election is postponed, the criteria for that postponement is set out in the Explanatory Memorandum to the required secondary legislation for the consideration of Parliament.
Our starting point is for all 2026 elections to go ahead unless there is strong justification otherwise. There are no plans to cancel any May 2026 elections except in Surrey where elections to the new councils of East Surrey and West Surrey will replace scheduled council elections, subject to Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to prevent cost-shunting from abolished district or county councils to town and parish councils as a consequence of unitary restructuring.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We know from previous reorganisations that unitarisation can unlock significant savings and efficiencies when strong, sustainable councils are set up. Most savings come from the back office, and this money can be reinvested into the frontline to improve public services for communities.
Town and parish councils are not in scope for local government reorganisation and will continue to operate as they do now. Central Government also has no role in funding town and parish councils.
Local authorities may wish to collaborate with their town and parish councils to determine how they can most effectively contribute to the delivery of services in future arrangements. In doing so, they may wish to consider the support town and parish councils will require to do so effectively.