Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 had discussions with the Fire Brigades Union on maternity pay in the fire and rescue services.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Setting fire pay and conditions, including setting a minimum national maternity entitlement, is the responsibility of employers and representative bodies, working through the National Joint Council.
The Government plays no role in setting firefighter pay.
I meet regularly with the Fire Brigades Union to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 adequacy of maternity pay in fire and rescue services.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Setting fire pay and conditions, including setting a minimum national maternity entitlement, is the responsibility of employers and representative bodies, working through the National Joint Council.
The Government plays no role in setting firefighter pay.
I meet regularly with the Fire Brigades Union to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern.
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 will put forward proposals for increasing local government transparency under the next round of the UK National Action Plan for Open Government.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department keeps this issue under review. A wide range of mechanisms exist to ensure transparency and accountability of local authorities. The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires authorities to publish a range of information about their activities including spending, procurement and assets. Authorities are also required to produce annual accounts which are independently assured by an external auditor. The Ministry is working to improve transparency through reforms to the local audit system which will establish the Local Audit Office to oversee the system. The Local Outcomes Framework will provide outcomes based performance measurement against key national priorities delivered at the local level.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
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 the (i) systems and (ii) manpower capacity in local authorities to implement local government reorganisation; and if he will place a copy of those assessments in the Library.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Councils, as independent employers, are responsible for the management of their staff and undertaking workforce planning. As part of the local government reorganisation programme, local authorities were required to set out in their proposals how they would manage implementation, including their approach to systems, staffing and governance. The Government has considered this information as part of its assessment of proposals, including where decisions have already been taken, and continues to do so for proposals under consideration.
After decisions are taken on proposals, councils are required to put in place the necessary plans to implement the agreed proposal, including putting in place governance arrangements to oversee the delivery of implementation work.
We will continue to work actively with councils to support an effective transition, including providing support to ensure a smooth transfer of staff from councils that will be wound up to incoming new councils.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the FBU on funding for fire and rescue services.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I meet regularly with the Fire Brigades Union to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern.
The Government recognises that the current fire funding formula was designed over a decade ago. In line with responses to the principles of reform consultation in December 2024, the Government updated the fire and rescue relative needs formula by using the most up-to-date data available. We will work with the fire sector on a comprehensive review of the formula ahead of the next Spending Review and are currently engaging with the sector on this.
The 2026-2027 Funding Settlement marks the first multi-year funding Settlement for local government in 10 years, making available almost £1.9 billion in core spending power (CSP) for fire and rescue authorities. Fire and Rescue Services have had an additional £15 million funding secured since the provisional settlement, which will provide a minimum 3.8% increase in CSP for all standalone services, with some services seeing increases of over 7% in CSP.
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, how much local authorities across England have raised through the pavement licensing scheme in each year since its inception.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Central government sets fee caps for pavement licenses and licenses are directly administered by local authorities. Central government does not collect information on how much revenue local authorities have raised.
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 March 2026, to Question 107992, on Lichfields, whether their work was awarded by open competition, or via direct award.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The contract in question was awarded directly following failed competitions. This information was published within the contract award notice which can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
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 place in the Library a copy of the cost-benefit analysis for local government reorganisation in (i) Hampshire (ii) Essex (iii) Norfolk and (iv) Suffolk, including (a) an assessment of the financial resilience of the proposed new authorities, (b) the estimated transition costs and (c) the financial and non-financial benefits of service transformation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Councils were asked to set out in their proposals how their area would seek to manage transition costs, including how those costs would be met over time from existing budgets, such as through the flexible use of capital receipts to support transformation and invest‑to‑save projects. Proposals were also required to explain how the new authorities would be financially sustainable and resilient over the longer term, and the expected financial and non‑financial benefits of reorganisation.
The government's assessment of the proposals was taken in the round, having regard to all the criteria in the statutory invitation and all relevant information available. This included consideration of the evidence and assumptions provided by councils, representations received during the statutory consultation, and official advice, including assessment of proposed costs and savings and the financial sustainability and resilience of the new councils, informed by departmental analysis and sector benchmarks. A summary of the decision on local government reorganisation already has been provided for i) Hampshire ii) Essex iii) Norfolk and iv) Suffolk. The proposals considered in reaching those decisions are publicly available, and the government has no plans to publish further information relating to the decision‑making process.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
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 publish the estimated financial payback periods for each of the options for local government reorganisation in (i) Hampshire, (ii) Essex, (iii) Norfolk and (iv) Suffolk.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Councils were asked to set out in their proposals how their area would seek to manage transition costs, including how those costs would be met over time from existing budgets, such as through the flexible use of capital receipts to support transformation and invest‑to‑save projects. Proposals were also required to explain how the new authorities would be financially sustainable and resilient over the longer term, and the expected financial and non‑financial benefits of reorganisation.
The government's assessment of the proposals was taken in the round, having regard to all the criteria in the statutory invitation and all relevant information available. This included consideration of the evidence and assumptions provided by councils, representations received during the statutory consultation, and official advice, including assessment of proposed costs and savings and the financial sustainability and resilience of the new councils, informed by departmental analysis and sector benchmarks. A summary of the decision on local government reorganisation already has been provided for i) Hampshire ii) Essex iii) Norfolk and iv) Suffolk. The proposals considered in reaching those decisions are publicly available, and the government has no plans to publish further information relating to the decision‑making process.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 potential impact in changes in the number of firefighters since 2010 on a) response times and b) risk to firefighters.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Decisions on how fire and rescue services are run, including the number and locations of fire stations and firefighter numbers, are for the local fire and rescue authority (FRA) and its Chief Fire Officer. FRAs are responsible for ensuring the needs and demands of their local community are met. They are responsible for directing their resources where they are needed most and in accordance with their Community Risk Management Plans (CRMPs).
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) publishes statistics on fire and rescue service (FRS) workforce numbers, response times, and firefighter injuries. The full time equivalent (FTE) number of firefighters and the number of firefighter workplace injuries have both declined since 2010, whilst response times have increased. Correlations between statistics, either positive or negative, are not necessarily causal.