Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
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 issued to local authorities to ensure they are aware of, and are actively reassessing, potential underpayment of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction for pensioners affected by new income tax liabilities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Billing authorities are responsible for assessing the income and circumstances of pensioners in receipt of a council tax reduction in accordance with the legislation and for ensuring that they are billed correctly. As with pension age council tax reduction, entitlement to Housing Benefit is calculated on the basis of the net income an individual receives from earnings, self-employment, occupational pensions and the actual value of DWP benefits which are received.
The Government reviews and uprates benefits each year and updates the eligibility criteria for pension-age Local Council Tax Support to reflect this.
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, with reference to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for government’s most important contracts, Data for July to September 2025, published on 25 December 2025, for what reason ensuring that each Paper produced by a Crown body includes the most up-to-date Crown copyright statement issued by the Controller is a key performance indicator in the MHCLG Corporate Print Management Service contact with ALLIED PUBLICITY SERVICES (MANCHESTER) LIMITED.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This is included as one of several performance indicators, to ensure our supplier uses accurate, up-to-date Crown copyright statements across all government publications it produces for the department and MHCLG’s Arm’s Length Bodies, helping maintain legal compliance and public trust.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, further to the business rate information letter, 1/2026: Pubs and live music venues relief 2026 to 2027, whether the reduction in business rate revenue from the new relief will affect the revenue to local government from locally retained business rates in the new revaluation cycle from 2026 to 2029.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 27 January, the department confirmed to local authorities that they will be fully compensated for the loss of income associated with granting the pubs and live music venues relief and the government will fund the associated new burdens, including the administrative and software costs of implementation.
This communication with local authorities is published here.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 extending the terms of office of councillors following the cancellation of local elections on democratic accountability.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Where local elections are scheduled to be postponed to release essential capacity for delivering local government reorganisation, democratic accountability remains with the elected member whose term will be extended for an additional year. These councillors were elected to their seats and continue to hold a democratic mandate.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when his Department plans to launch the consultation on proposals for Local Government Reorganisation in Leicestershire.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As announced in my Written Ministerial Statement of 5 February HCWS1309, the consultation for the remaining areas in the local government reorganisation programme, including Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, has now launched.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
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 20 January 2026 to Question 106139 on Local Government Finance: City of Westminster and Wandsworth, what the change in core spending power is excluding the council tax requirement.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 106139 on 20 January 2026. The provisional local government Settlement, published on 17 December 2025, sets out individual funding allocations for local authorities.
The government consulted on the provisional Settlement and the consultation closed on 14 January 2026.
We will publish our response to the consultation in February, alongside the publication of the final Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 undertake a review of (a) current levels of on-call firefighters and (b) the challenges faced by fire and rescue services to recruit on-call firefighters.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Fire and Rescue Authorities are responsible for resourcing their services.
To support the future of the on-call system, the Government funded the National Fire Chiefs Council to undertake detailed research into the sustainability of the retained duty system. This work- the National On-Call Research Study was published in November 2025 and has been shared with Fire and Rescue Authorities to inform future planning, improvement activity, and local workforce strategies.
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, if he will set out how the uplift in rateable values in 2026 affects the calculation of funding of individual local authorities in the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026-27; and whether council areas with an above-average increase in rateable values will receive additional net funding relative to the previous year from business rate revenue.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt. hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 107993 on 28 January 2026.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
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 22 January 2025 to Question 23786 on Chinese Embassy: Planning Permission, how many clarification meetings have taken place with other developers on other planning applications since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Clarification meetings do not routinely take place with developers on planning applications. However, pre-application engagement occurs on some applications made directly to the Secretary of State. These, and all, planning applications are subject to planning propriety guidance.
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, pursuant to the answer of 11 November 2025 to Question 87636 on Independent Review into Civil Unrest in Leicester, on what date the panel's report was received by his Department.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The panel submitted their findings to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 1 July 2025.