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, if she will make it her policy to work with the (a) Secretary of State for the Home Department and (b) Electoral Commission to ensure that police officers are stationed within the curtilage of polling stations in elections where incidents of (a) so-called family voting and (b) intimidation outside polling stations have been recorded in the past five years.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Existing electoral law provides protections against undue influence, intimidation and interference with the secrecy of the ballot, including measures strengthened by the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 to address so-called ‘family voting’. Returning Officers regularly work with the police to assess known risks at individual polling stations and make appropriate arrangements. Decisions on the deployment of police officers are operational matters for individual police forces.
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 8 September 2026, to Question 20124, on Political Parties: Finance, if she will make it her policy to engage with political parties on such matters before they are announced by the Government, through (a) the Parliamentary Parties Panel, (b) direct consultation, (c) Usual Channels or (d) Inter-Party Talks.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government values the views of stakeholders and will continue to engage with political parties as we develop and implement reforms to electoral law and political finance. We have maintained ongoing engagement with political parties through the Electoral Commission’s Parliamentary Parties Panel.
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, with reference to the debate and the commitment made by then then Government during the National Security Bill of 4 July 2024, Official Report, House of Lords, Column 1125, and to the answer of 29 January 2025, to Question 23153, on Local Government: Information Sharing, what steps are being taken to facilitate the sharing of confidential or sensitive information, that may originate from (a) the security services and (b) the National Crime Agency and (c) the Special Enquiries Team of the Metropolitan Police, with political parties, that may relate to parties’ risk assessments and due diligence on political donations, including risks of foreign financial interference.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government recognises the importance of political parties having access to timely and authoritative information on the threat landscape, including risks relating to foreign financial interference. The Electoral Commission has an important convening role to play in supporting this work. We will continue to work closely with the Electoral Commission, working collaboratively to develop a forum through which parties which will receive annual security briefings.
The Government will build on these arrangements by continuing development on mechanisms for routine engagement with political parties and improving the clarity of guidance and threat briefings. We will also continue to explore whether further enhancements are needed to ensure that information flows are coherent.
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, with reference to the answer of 15 May 2025, to Question HL7178, on Political Parties: Finance, if she will make it her policy to amend UK-wide electoral law to prohibit foreign citizens, who are eligible to vote in local and devolved elections in Scotland and Wales, who would not otherwise be eligible to donate under reserved electoral law, from donating to political parties and regulated donees across the United Kingdom.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Further to the answer to Question UIN HL7178 on 15 May 2025, the Government's position remains that individuals who are legally resident and registered to vote in devolved and local elections in Scotland and Wales are permissible donors under the existing political finance framework
The franchise for local and devolved elections in Scotland and Wales is a matter for the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru respectively.
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, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Historic council housebuilding comeback to help families into secure homes, published on 24 August 2026, what is the profile of the first wave funding in each financial year.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 60128 on 4 July 2025.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question
To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the answer of 12 June 2026, to Question 7841, on Electoral Register, whether the Electoral Commission has made an assessment of whether an individual domestic elector who has a permanent residence both in (a) the UK and (b) abroad, would be deemed to be a (i) UK resident or (ii) overseas contributor, for the purposes of the new residency requirement as part of the overseas contributors donations cap as framed in the Representation of the People Bill, HL Bill 47 (as brought from the Commons).
Answered by Jeremy Wright
The Commission has not made such an assessment. The Commission will update its guidance for political parties, candidates and other regulated individuals and organisations to reflect any changes to the law when it has been approved by Parliament.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question
To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Electoral Commission publication, “how different levels of donation caps could affect political parties: sensitivity analysis”, July 2026, what methodological assumptions did the Commission make on whether the cap on donations would apply to trade union affiliation fees.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
The Commission’s analysis of the impact of introducing donation caps assumed that all other aspects of electoral law would remain the same. The analysis treated donations from trade unions as subject to the different caps in the same way as donations from individuals and other organisations.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question
To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, whether the Electoral Commission was consulted on the uprating of election expenses contained within the Local Elections (Northern Ireland) (Uprating Election Expenses) Order 2026.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
Yes, the Commission was consulted.
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, what plans her department has to collate statistics on land designated as Grey Belt.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is for individual local planning authorities to undertake the necessary assessments to identify if land is grey belt, either through plan making or through considering specific applications that come forward.
The government does not hold data on how much land has been formally identified as grey belt land by local planning authorities.
The government monitors and publishes annual statistics showing the extent of land designated as Green Belt in England, including changes resulting from land being released from, or added to, the Green Belt. The 2024-25 statistics are available on gov.uk here and those for 2025-26 are due to be published late in October.
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, with reference to the press release, Review of local government reorganisation launched, of 7 September 2026, if she will place in the Library a copy of all of the documentation from local authorities relating to the judicial reviews on local government reorganisation.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is a longstanding principle that the Government does not publish or comment on legal advice.