Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of people granted asylum who now reside in social housing since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not hold data on the number of people granted asylum who now reside in social housing since 5 July 2024.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, how many (a) gigafactories, (b) laboratories and (c) data centres have opted in to being designated as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
No gigafactories, data centres or laboratories have yet opted into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) consenting process.
Regulations which will enable large-scale data centres to ‘opt in’ to the NSIP consenting process are intended to be laid in Parliament for approval later this year and we anticipate a number of applicants will make use of the process once they are able to do so.
Gigafactories and laboratories can already request to ‘opt in’ to the NSIP consenting regime under existing prescriptions of types of business or commercial projects in the Infrastructure Planning (Business or Commercial Projects) Regulations 2013.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress she has made on reforming the Local Government Pension Scheme to consider local growth priorities in investment strategies.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Pension Schemes Bill includes a new power to require Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds to include their approach to local investment in their investment strategies. The Pensions Schemes Bill and the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill also include new reciprocal duties on LGPS funds and strategic authorities to cooperate to identify and develop appropriate local investment opportunities. Wider reforms including consolidation of all LGPS assets in the LGPS asset pools and improved governance will also support LGPS investment in local and regional growth priorities.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many days were lost to sickness absence by civil servants in their Department (a) in total and (b) on average per employee between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Sickness absence data for the Civil Service, including departmental breakdowns is published annually, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence.
The next update will be for the year ending 31st March 2025.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what her planned timetable is for publishing further information on the funding of the Cambridge Growth Company.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Cambridge Growth Company is focused primarily on the Greater Cambridge area. Greater Cambridge is comprised of the city of Cambridge and the surrounding South Cambridgeshire District Council.
Following the Spending Review, my Department is now working through departmental allocations. Once this process is complete, we will be in a position to make clear what the Spending Review means for funding for the Cambridge Growth Company.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, how much funding her Department plans to provide to the Cambridge Growth Company.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Cambridge Growth Company is focused primarily on the Greater Cambridge area. Greater Cambridge is comprised of the city of Cambridge and the surrounding South Cambridgeshire District Council.
Following the Spending Review, my Department is now working through departmental allocations. Once this process is complete, we will be in a position to make clear what the Spending Review means for funding for the Cambridge Growth Company.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, which areas within Cambridgeshire fall within the scope of the Cambridge Growth Company.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Cambridge Growth Company is focused primarily on the Greater Cambridge area. Greater Cambridge is comprised of the city of Cambridge and the surrounding South Cambridgeshire District Council.
Following the Spending Review, my Department is now working through departmental allocations. Once this process is complete, we will be in a position to make clear what the Spending Review means for funding for the Cambridge Growth Company.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the age profile of local government officers eligible for redundancy following the implementation of local government reform (a) in Cambridgeshire and (b) nationally.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Councils, as employers, are responsible for managing the staffing implications of Local Government Reorganisation.
In our invitations to councils, we asked areas to set out in their proposals how they will seek to manage transition costs, which we expect to include any staffing implications.
We anticipate that the vast majority of council workers will transfer to new organisations, and workers will be protected by the relevant employment laws, including the Local Government (Structural and Boundary Changes) (Staffing) Regulations 2008.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what discussions the Local Government Pension Scheme has had with the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is managed locally by its administering authorities. Discussions between Mayors and administering authorities are a matter for those parties.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, how many new planning officers will be recruited in (a) Cambridgeshire and (b) Huntingdonshire.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has committed to recruiting at least 300 additional planners as part of our Planning Capacity and Capability Programme.
Recruitment is being delivered through national schemes such as the Local Government Association’s Pathways to Planning graduate programme and Public Practice, which place experienced built environment professionals into councils across England.
It is up to individual local planning authorities to determine if they wish to take part in these schemes based on their own circumstances and need. We do not set specific targets for individual counties or districts, including Cambridgeshire or Huntingdonshire.
I also refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 67508 on 21 July 2025, which sets out our wider plans for supporting local planning authorities to attract, retain and develop the skills they need.