Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
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 plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle wildfires in 2026.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government recognises that the impact of climate change is likely to increase and intensify fire incidents in England and Wales – with potential to impact fire and rescue service’s (FRS) resources, capacity, and strategical response.
As the lead government department for wildfire, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) maintains regular and ongoing engagement with other government departments including the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and Cabinet Office on this national risk. This is alongside the department’s work with national bodies including the National Fire Chiefs Council and England and Wales Wildfire Forum to monitor and review sector led improvements and mitigations.
Since 2024 we have also funded a National Resilience Wildfire Advisor to assess what additional wildfire national capabilities might be needed to increase resilience to the wildfire risk and to ensure coordination of approaches across the sector.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
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 take legislative steps to prevent non-UK citizens from (a) voting and (b) standing in all UK elections.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has no current plans to change the voting or candidacy rights of foreign nationals.
British, Irish, and Commonwealth citizens are able to participate in UK Parliamentary elections subject to residency and other eligibility requirements. In the case of local elections in England and Northern Ireland, voting and candidacy rights also extend to EU citizens with retained rights and to citizens of countries with whom we have bilateral agreements. Responsibility for local elections in Scotland and Wales is devolved.
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 is the contact email and postal address for representations to the Rycroft review into foreign financial interference in UK politics.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The contact email for representations to the Rycroft review into foreign financial interference in UK politics is reviewteam@rycroftreview.independent.gov.uk.
More information can be found here.
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 steps he is taking to ensure that private developers of buildings used by the public meet the same accessibility standards as public bodies.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Regulations and the statutory guidance accompanying them (Approved Documents) apply to all new building work, or where existing buildings are undergoing a material redesign or refurbishment, and are intended to protect people’s safety, health and welfare. The Building Regulations (Part M) require reasonable provision for people to gain access to and use a building and its facilities.
For existing buildings, used by the public, the Equality Act 2010 places an anticipatory duty on service providers for reasonable adjustments to improve access to their premises so that nobody is placed at a substantial disadvantage.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government has conducted any assessment of risks posed by foreign-state or foreign-network mobilisation of postal-voting blocks among overseas nationals eligible to vote in UK local elections.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to upholding and strengthening UK democracy by protecting against foreign interference, improving political transparency, adding tougher checks for donations and closing loopholes by reinforcing electoral legislation against foreign interference.
Our election reforms will deliver a robust and proportionate response to known risks, protecting the integrity of our system and reinforcing public trust in democracy. This is set out in our Elections Strategy, published in July.
The Joint Election Security and Preparedness unit coordinates work to protect UK elections and referendums, from threats including foreign interference.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to introduce reforms to Energy Performance Certificates, in the context of the development and implementation of the Home Energy Model.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government consulted on reforms to EPCs to provide consumers with more useful information on the energy performance of buildings, and so that they better support our key objectives of achieving Clean Power by 2030 and accelerating to Net Zero.
We are analysing the feedback received to the consultation, and will publish a government response in due course.
The Home Energy Model (HEM) will replace the current Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) as the methodology underpinning domestic EPCs. The government expects to introduce HEM and reformed domestic EPCs in 2026.
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 estimate of the average cost per elector of elections for a) Police and Crime Commissioners and b) Mayors.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) publishes detailed reports on the cost of running Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections, including the average cost per elector. These reports are available on gov.uk here.
It is intended that a report on the cost of the 2021 PCC elections will be published in due course. The cost of the 2024 PCC election is subject to future publication once all the costs relating to that poll have been finalised and settled.
For combined authority mayoral and local authority mayoral elections, costs are met by the relevant local authorities. MHCLG does not hold any data on the cost of these elections.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps are being taken to ensure businesses are routinely up to date with fire safety guidance.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has established a programme to update guidance issued under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Nine new guides have been published with at least 13 still in development. This programme includes guidance specific to business and premises types, such as the guidance for small non-domestic premises, as well as the larger guides on offices & shops and factories & warehouses.
We engage relevant businesses on specific guides through stakeholder engagement on the draft guides and promote these once published. This includes working with the Department for Business and Trade on pages specifically helping businesses to understand their duties. As part of this we published a new page aimed at small business on 6 January, which can be found on gov.uk here.
Fire safety legislation is devolved. Government and devolved administration officials meet regularly, and the Northern Ireland Executive publish guidance similar to that published in England.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she is ensuring that Fire and Rescue services have a statutory duty to support flood events.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Protecting communities from flooding is a key priority for this Government. Fire and Rescue Authorities already have duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to prepare for emergencies, including major flooding. However, we recognise the interest in creating a statutory duty for flood response and officials are working with DEFRA, as lead government department for flooding, to consider the wider implications of this.
MHCLG supports Fire and Rescue Authorities in responding to flood incidents by providing national resilience High Volume Pump (HVP) capabilities. These are available to be used by Fire & Rescue Services across the country during major flood incidents. Additionally, DEFRA hold the Flood Rescue National Asset Register, a list of teams or assets that voluntarily join the register and maintain availability for national deployment in England.
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 assessment he has made of the adequacy of accessibility requirements for Changing Places toilets in private sector developments.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Through our £30.5 million Changing Places Toilet programme, we have supported the installation of 483 new disabled toilet facilities across 220 local authority areas in England. This targeted investment helped address gaps where provision was limited or non-existent.
Although this programme closed on 31 March 2025, changes to building regulations made in January 2021 require Changing Places facilities in new public buildings (or those undergoing major redevelopment) that fall above a certain size threshold. This aims to significantly increase the availability of these vital facilities over time and makes accessibility a mainstream consideration in how we plan and build our public spaces.