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 written statement of 2 March 2026, HCWS1375, on Flexible Voting Pilots, how much additional central government funding will be provided to each council to assist with the pilots in 2026.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 84647 on 29 October 2025, UIN 118656 on 16 March 2026, and UIN 116760 on 25 March 2026.
The government have worked closely with the Electoral Commission in the design of the pilots, and will continue to work with them on their evaluation.
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 Written Statement of 2 March 2026 on Flexible Voting Pilots, HCWS1375, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending such measures nationwide.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 84647 on 29 October 2025, UIN 118656 on 16 March 2026, and UIN 116760 on 25 March 2026.
The government have worked closely with the Electoral Commission in the design of the pilots, and will continue to work with them on their evaluation.
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 10 February 2026 to Question 109259 on Local Government: Elections, which local authorities submitted applications for an election pilot in May 2026 and subsequently made a request to postpone their May 2026 elections.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England, with a deadline of 22 September 2025.
In December 2025, council leaders in local government reorganisation areas were invited to make representations on the potential postponement of local elections and whether this would release essential capacity to deliver local government reorganisation, with a deadline of 15 January 2026.
Three local authorities that had submitted applications to pilot flexible voting methods for the May 2026 elections subsequently requested that their May 2026 polls be postponed. These authorities were Tamworth Borough Council, Stevenage Borough Council, and Redditch Borough Council. These three authorities are not taking part in the pilot scheme in May 2026.
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 local election pilots in May 2026 will take place in any of the localities which had their May 2026 local elections postponed and then reinstated.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England, with a deadline of 22 September 2025.
In December 2025, council leaders in local government reorganisation areas were invited to make representations on the potential postponement of local elections and whether this would release essential capacity to deliver local government reorganisation, with a deadline of 15 January 2026.
Three local authorities that had submitted applications to pilot flexible voting methods for the May 2026 elections subsequently requested that their May 2026 polls be postponed. These authorities were Tamworth Borough Council, Stevenage Borough Council, and Redditch Borough Council. These three authorities are not taking part in the pilot scheme in May 2026.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
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 holds information on the proportion of cases to the building safety regulator that (i) currently and (ii) historically require an extension before being assessed.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Building Safety Regulator officials have provided the below data:
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 command paper, Protecting What Matters, CP 1540, 9 March 2026, page 38, whether he plans to update the 2024 engagement principles.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As announced in the Protecting What Matters publication last week, we are currently updating and embedding the 2024 engagement principles which will assist public bodies to not confer legitimacy, funding or influence on extremist groups.
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 written statement of 2 March 2026, HCWS1375, on Flexible Voting Pilots, how many and which councils applied to be pilots; and what were the criteria used to select those which were chosen.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 84647 on 29 October 2025, UIN 118656 on 16 March 2026, and UIN 116760 on 25 March 2026.
The government have worked closely with the Electoral Commission in the design of the pilots, and will continue to work with them on their evaluation.
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, whether the Electoral Commission was consulted by his department prior to the publication of the prospectus on local election pilots in May 2026.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 84647 on 29 October 2025, UIN 118656 on 16 March 2026, and UIN 116760 on 25 March 2026.
The government have worked closely with the Electoral Commission in the design of the pilots, and will continue to work with them on their evaluation.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
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 had discussions with stakeholders on the adequacy of the BREEAM Excellent £2,000,000 threshold, in the context of inflation since it was set.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department has not held discussions with stakeholders on this matter.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the building safety regulator is (a) fully staffed and (b) working at full capacity.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) on 27 January 2026 officially moved to become an arm’s length body of MHCLG. BSR increased their regulatory capacity throughout 2025 and now have a headcount across all functions approaching 500, an increase of over 40% since June 2025. BSR will continue to recruit throughout 2026 and has plans in place to drive greater efficiencies whilst ensuring resources are matched to the demand for its regulatory services.