Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 answers of 15 December 2025 to Questions 98222, 98223, 98224, and 98225, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the accuracy of ICNIRP self-certification declarations submitted by telecommunications operators in respect of public exclusion zones for new and existing masts.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not monitor ICNIRP self-certification.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 potential merits of exempting foster carers from Council Tax in whole or in part.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities are responsible for the administration of council tax and have discretionary powers to apply exemptions or council tax discounts. This could include offering discounts to foster carers where they consider this appropriate.
The Government has recently consulted on modernising and improving the administration of council tax. This included seeking views on the current range of council tax disregards provided in the system. The Government will publish its response to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local authorities are implementing the changes introduced in November 2024 to exempt all veterans from local connection requirements when applying for social housing; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of compliance by councils in the West Midlands.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Allocation of Housing (Qualification Criteria for Armed Forces) (England) (Amendment) Regulations, which came into force in December 2024, mean that local authorities are no longer allowed to apply local connection tests to veterans of the Regular Armed Forces, regardless of when they last served.
Statutory guidance was updated on 18 December 2024 to reflect this change. The Department also notified local authorities when the regulations had been laid and came into force.
My Department will be monitoring the impact at local authority level through the Local Authority Housing Statistics, which will be published later in the year.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 ban the use of direct emission heating systems in new build homes.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Future standards will set our new homes and building on a path that moves away from relying on volatile fossil fuels and towards more clean, secure energy. The future is likely to see a mix of low carbon technologies used for heating, including heat pumps and heat networks.
The Future Homes Standard consultation was published in December 2023 and closed in March 2024. It set out detailed technical proposals for what future standards could entail. All the options that were proposed would preclude the use of fossil-fuel boilers in new homes. We are reviewing proposals and feedback from the consultation and will publish the Government response in due course.