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Written Question
Leasehold: Reform
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will extend the right to enfranchisement under the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill to leases which are in form agricultural but in essence residential.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

We are not currently proposing to do so but I would be happy to meet my Hon Friend to discuss his concern in more detail, should that be helpful.


Written Question
Council Tax
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to section 80 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, whether he intends to prescribe any classes of dwelling for which a billing authority may not make a determination to charge a council tax premium.

Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

The Government consulted last year on circumstances where properties should be excepted from the council tax premiums for second and empty homes and will publish its response to the consultation shortly.


Written Question
Ground Rent
Thursday 7th December 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department’s proposals for caps on ground rents will apply to all types of properties.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The Government launched a consultation on 9 November on options to limit the level of ground rent that leaseholders with a long lease can be required to pay in England and Wales.

The consultation also asks whether any exemptions from a proposed cap to ground rents are necessary. We want to hear views on the proposals and will use these responses to develop a final position. We do not want to pre-empt the outcome of this consultation.


Written Question
Local Government
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating the 2011 lists of statutory duties placed on local authorities by legislation for which (i) his Department and (ii) other Departments are responsible.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The Government currently has no plans to review the list of statutory duties placed on local authorities but would always welcome ideas and views from colleagues.





Written Question
Electric Vehicles: Charging Points
Thursday 7th September 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of changing planning regulations to introduce a presumption in favour of permitting on street electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

Nationally set permitted development rights enable local authorities to install electric vehicle charging points without the need for a planning application. We have recently amended the rights so that bodies working on behalf of the local authority can also undertake the works. In the context of planning applications, the National Planning Policy Framework outlines that planning policies should take into account the need to ensure adequate provision of spaces for charging plug-in and other ultra-low emission vehicles.


Written Question
Parish and Town Councils: Council Tax
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the extent to which town and parish councils are exercising restraint in setting council tax precepts; and whether it remains his Department’s policy to defer setting referendum principles for those councils.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The Government monitors increases in town and parish council tax precepts annually and expects to publish data for 2023-24 in May. The department continues to set a clear expectation that such bodies should exercise restraint in setting increases, most recently in our response to the consultation on the provisional local government finance settlement for 2023-24.

Referendum principles for 2023-24, including the decision not to set them for town and parish councils, were approved by the House of Commons on 8 February. The Government will review its policy on town and parish precepts for 2024-25 as part of the local government settlement process.


Written Question
Park Homes: Sales
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the report entitled, Mobile homes: The impact of a change in the maximum park home sale commission, published by his Department on 16 June 2022, whether he plans to respond to the recommendations in the report.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

I refer my Hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 158983 on 13 March 2023.


Written Question
Council Tax: Tax Rates and Bands
Tuesday 4th April 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the application of restraint by councils in setting precepts.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

Council tax levels are for local authorities to decide, taking into account local taxpayers, public sector services and electoral decisions. The Government determines referendum thresholds each year for most types of authority to protect council tax payers from excessive increases. In determining the thresholds the Government takes into account increases set in previous years. Data on the council tax levels set by local authorities for 2023-24 is available here. Data on town and parish precepts will be published in due course.


Written Question
Electoral Register: Disability
Monday 27th February 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help increase voter registration amongst people with disabilities before the next general election.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) continues to take steps to support the participation of disabled people in the electoral process.

This includes making registering to vote as easy and accessible as possible. Major reforms to our electoral registration system have resulted in record levels of electors registering to vote and participating in our democracy. The online Register to Vote service is also accredited as WCAG AA for online accessibility, which is in line with the Government Digital Service (GDS) service standard targets for GOV services.

It is the responsibility of individual Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) to ensure the registration of all eligible people, and of EROs and the Electoral Commission to raise awareness of how to register. Recognising those responsibilities, DLUHC works closely with organisations representing disabled people and the electoral sector. This includes convening the Accessibility of Elections Working Group, which includes representatives from across the UK and gives a focus to work to support the participation of disabled people in the electoral process.

The Electoral Commission's 2019 report on the accuracy and completeness of electoral registers in Great Britain indicated that 'people with a long-standing physical condition or disability are more likely to be registered (92%) than those without a disability (82%), or those with a longstanding mental condition or disability (83%).'


Written Question
Housing: Renewable Energy
Friday 29th January 2021

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to make (a) heat pumps, (b) solar and (c) other domestic renewables compulsory for all new housing.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

The Building Regulations are couched in performance terms and do not prescribe the technologies, materials or fuels to be used. This allows builders and homeowners the flexibility to innovate and select the most practical and cost-effective solutions appropriate in any development. For example, many roofs are not suitable for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels because of the visual amenity, strength, or direction of the building. 

We will need to move away from fossil fuel heating in order to meet our commitment to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The future is likely to see a mix of low carbon technologies used for heating and it is unlikely that there will be a one-size-fits all solution, so multiple technologies will play a role. To make sure that homes built under the Future Buildings Standard are zero carbon ready, from 2025 we intend to set the performance standard at a level which means that new homes will not be built with fossil fuel heating. We expect heat pumps will become the primary heating technology for new homes under the Future Homes Standard and that heat networks will also have an important role to play.