Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of vehicles rented by her Department are electric vehicles.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department makes use of the Government Car service, which provides vehicles to a number of Government departments. MHCLG does not hold information on the number of electric vehicles utilised.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
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 take steps to develop a strategy for (a) preventing and (b) responding to wildfires.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Prime Minister announced in February 2025 that the Home Office’s fire functions would move to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) from the 1 April 2025 under a machinery of government (MOG) change. This included its responsibilities as lead government department for wildfire.
In the Third National Adaptation Plan (2023) the previous government committed to scoping a wildfire strategy and action plan. Prior to the MOG the Home Office convened a number of stakeholder workshops with the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), its’ agencies, and other stakeholders to identify policy options for addressing wildfire risk. The outcomes of this work are currently being considered.
Since 2024 the government has funded a National Resilience Wildfire Advisor to assess what additional national capabilities might be needed in the fire sector to increase resilience to wildfire risk. In addition to ensuring the effective coordination of approaches across the sector, MHCLG has also been working with other departments, stakeholders and partners to identify further research opportunities to enhance our understanding of wildfire risk.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making (a) Integrated Care Boards and (b) NHS trusts statutory consultees in the planning process.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
NHS and Integrated Care Boards are consultees on local plans. This helps ensure that local strategies to improve health and the provision of the required health infrastructure are considered upfront in plans and in planning decisions. There are no current plans to make NHS and Integrated Care Boards statutory consultees in the planning application process.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help support local authorities to keep council-owned leisure centres open.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government recognises the challenges local authorities are facing as demand increases for critical services. Resetting the relationship between national and local government and improving how local government is funded in this Parliament, are crucial in ensuring local people get the support and services they need and deserve.
The majority of funding in the local government finance settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities. This includes funding for leisure centres. Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement.
Asked by: Josh Newbury (Labour - Cannock Chase)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what role (a) district and (b) borough councils will play in future devolution agreements.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to ensuring that every part of England can rapidly benefit from devolution, moving power out of Westminster back to those who know their areas best. District councils are an important part of local government and should play an active role in devolution arrangements in their area, often as an important delivery partner.