Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 his Department's publication entitled High Street Rental Auctions: Non-statutory guidance, updated 5 June 2025, what steps her Department has taken to commence the use of High Street Rental Auctions powers since the publication of that guidance.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government is firmly committed to tackling high street vacancy. Since publishing the non-statutory guidance on 2 December 2024, we have continued to work closely with the 12 early adopters and other local authorities to implement High Street Rental Auctions (HSRA), in addition to providing support and targeted funding. Uptake continues to grow as more councils adopt the measures and are reporting reductions in long-term vacancies, with landlords taking action even before formal notices or auction processes begin.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 a lookup table matching census Output Areas to Broad Rental Market Areas.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has no plans to publish a lookup table matching census Output Areas to Broad Rental Market Areas.
The Broad Rental Market Areas for a specific postcode or local authority area can be found using the Valuation Office Agency’s LHA Direct search. This can be found here.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 table SoPS 1.2 of his Department's annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, if he will publish a breakdown of the Gross Outturn and Income of CDEL in the Local Growth and Devolution Estimate Line in financial year 2024-25.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Please see table below for a breakdown of the gross outturn and income expenditure streams of the requested estimate row for CDEL.
Estimate Row | Main Expenditure Streams | Gross | Income | Net |
Communities DEL Estimate Rows | 24/25 | £k | £k | £k |
C: Local Growth and Devolution CDEL |
| 787,168 | - | 787,168 |
| 503,113 | - | 503,113 | |
| 431,579 | - | 431,579 | |
| 343,438 | - | 343,438 | |
| 246,760 | -246,760 | 0 | |
| 152,500 | - | 152,500 | |
| 143,610 | - | 143,610 | |
| 141,676 | - | 141,676 | |
| 103,286 | - | 103,286 | |
| 84,083 | - | 84,083 | |
| 81,266 | - | 81,266 | |
| 99,839 | -1,719 | 98,120 | |
Total | 3,118,318 | -248,479 | 2,869,839 |
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 MHCLG's Annual Report 2024/5, if he will publish a breakdown of the Gross Outturn and Income of CDEL in the Housing and Planning Estimate Line in FY 2024/5.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Please see table below for a breakdown of income and expenditure on the requested estimate rows and DEL control totals.
Estimate Row | Main Expenditure Streams | Gross | Income | Net |
Communities DEL Estimate Rows | 24/25 | £k | £k | £k |
B: Housing and Planning CDEL |
| 642,249 | - | 642,249 |
| 278,770 | - | 278,770 | |
| 199,897 | - | 199,897 | |
| 102,517 | - | 102,517 | |
| 63,781 | - | 63,781 | |
| 59,728 | - | 59,728 | |
| 711,000 | -711,000 | 0 | |
| 131,732 | -25,408 | 106,324 | |
Total | 2,189,675 | -736,408 | 1,453,267 | |
I: Housing and Planning (ALB)(Net) CDEL |
|
| 2,398,482 | |
|
| 847,683 | ||
|
| 298,720 | ||
|
| 150,599 | ||
|
| 18,197 | ||
Total |
| 3,713,681 | ||
C: Local Growth and Devolution RDEL Programme |
| 1,012,406 | - | 1,012,406 |
| 167,774 | - | 167,774 | |
| 101,533 | -101,755 | -222 | |
| 69,233 | - | 69,233 | |
| 36,891 | - | 36,891 | |
| 19,540 | - | 19,540 | |
| 59,509 | -387 | 59,122 | |
Total | 1,466,886 | -102,142 | 1,364,744 |
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for a breakdown of the programme spend and income of RDEL in the Local Growth and Devolution Estimate Line in FY 2024/5, with reference to MHCLG's Annual Report 2024/5, SoPS 1.1.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Please see table below for a breakdown of income and expenditure on the requested estimate rows and DEL control totals.
Estimate Row | Main Expenditure Streams | Gross | Income | Net |
Communities DEL Estimate Rows | 24/25 | £k | £k | £k |
B: Housing and Planning CDEL |
| 642,249 | - | 642,249 |
| 278,770 | - | 278,770 | |
| 199,897 | - | 199,897 | |
| 102,517 | - | 102,517 | |
| 63,781 | - | 63,781 | |
| 59,728 | - | 59,728 | |
| 711,000 | -711,000 | 0 | |
| 131,732 | -25,408 | 106,324 | |
Total | 2,189,675 | -736,408 | 1,453,267 | |
I: Housing and Planning (ALB)(Net) CDEL |
|
| 2,398,482 | |
|
| 847,683 | ||
|
| 298,720 | ||
|
| 150,599 | ||
|
| 18,197 | ||
Total |
| 3,713,681 | ||
C: Local Growth and Devolution RDEL Programme |
| 1,012,406 | - | 1,012,406 |
| 167,774 | - | 167,774 | |
| 101,533 | -101,755 | -222 | |
| 69,233 | - | 69,233 | |
| 36,891 | - | 36,891 | |
| 19,540 | - | 19,540 | |
| 59,509 | -387 | 59,122 | |
Total | 1,466,886 | -102,142 | 1,364,744 |
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 drivers of and reasons for the doubling of the wage and salary costs of the Land Registry since April 2017.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
HM Land Registry’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2016-17 and 2024-25 respectively show that staff costs for permanent HMLR employees have increased from £168 million to £326 million.
The drivers of this increase are a combination of the compound interest of annual pay increases, plus the increase in permanent employees from 4,148 at the end of March 2017, to 6,907 at the end of March 2025.
The principal reason for the staff increase at the Agency has been the need to invest in its people and systems to improve the services it provides following a period of historic underinvestment following the property market crash in 2007-08, prior to which HMLR had over 8,000 permanent employees.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 drivers of and reasons for the doubling of the wage and salary costs of the Planning Inspectorate since April 2017.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Planning Inspectorate deals with a range of planning and environmental casework from across government including:
Since 2017 the Planning Inspectorate has increased its employees by approximately 60%, including an increase in full time equivalent Inspectors providing advice, decisions, and recommendations from 261 to 421 (61%).
This reflects the significant increase and complexity in the Planning Inspectorate's casework over that period as well as a significant investment in digital services which has been necessary for the organisation to fulfil its critical role in delivering the agendas of successive governments.
Inflation accounts for about a third of the increase in costs over the period.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the average number of working days lost to sickness absence per full-time equivalent member of staff was in (a) the Department and (b) its executive agencies in the last year; and how many formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absence exceeded departmental triggers.
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 department is not responsible for collecting or maintaining performance data for staff in its executive agencies. We do hold information on the number of formal performance warnings issued to staff within the core department; however, producing the requested information for both the core department and its executive agencies, and in the format specified, would incur disproportionate time and cost.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the total cost was for (a) settlement agreements and (b) special severance payments made to departing staff from his Department in the last year.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Any payments made in each Financial Year relating to settlement agreements, which includes special severance payments associated with settlement agreements where relevant, will be published in the relevant Annual Report and Accounts.
For the last financial year, these are published at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mhclg-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025
A further update will be provided as part of the next set of published accounts for 2025-26.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many disciplinary cases were concluded against civil servants in (a) his Department and (b) his Department's agencies broken down by (i) outcome and (ii) whether the primary allegation related to (A) performance and (B) conduct in the last twelve months.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department is not responsible for collecting or maintaining data on disciplinary action for staff in its executive agencies. We do hold information on concluded disciplinary cases within the core department; however, producing the requested information for both the core department and its executive agencies, and in the format specified, would incur disproportionate time and cost.