Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has plans to introduce legislation to enforce (a) developers and (b) local authorities to use section 106 contributions when local developments are being built.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It is the responsibility of local planning authorities to consider whether otherwise unacceptable development could be made acceptable through the use of conditions or planning obligations when determining applications.
The government is committed to strengthening the developer contributions system and made progress through the new National Planning Policy Framework in December, including changes to support the increased provision of various types of public infrastructure, and social and affordable housing delivery.
The government is also committed to updating the viability planning practice guidance to improve the operation of the developer contributions system. The government will set out further details in due course.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 plans to introduce local referenda on local government reorganisation in Leicestershire.
Answered by Jim McMahon
We do not have any plans to introduce local referenda as part of the local government reorganisation process. As per our invitation letter guidance we expect councils to engage locally when developing proposals. We expect local leaders to engage their MPs and to ensure there is wide engagement with local partners and stakeholders, residents and businesses. This engagement should both inform the development of robust proposals and build a shared understanding of the improvements they expect to deliver through reorganisation.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 is using AI software in responding to written parliamentary questions.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
No, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has not used AI software to respond to written parliamentary questions.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of the increase in employer National Insurance contributions on councils.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Additional funding for employer NICs has been determined based on a national assessment of the costs for directly employed staff. The grant distribution methodology has been published in an explanatory note on the government website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-explanatory-note-on-the-employer-national-insurance-contribution-grant-2025-to-2026.
We recognise the challenges that local authorities are facing as demand increases for critical services. That is why the government is providing an additional £2 billion of grant funding through the Settlement, which includes £502 million of additional grant funding to manage the impact of employer National Insurance Contributions changes on council budgets, and £13 million for combined authorities, totalling £515 million. The final Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions her Department has had with Leicestershire County Council on (a) local government reorganisation and (b) devolution.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Following the publication of the English Devolution White Paper on 16 December, Ministers and officials have engaged extensively with Local Authorities across England, including Leicestershire County Council, on what these ambitious agendas means for local areas. I met with the Leaders of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland on 9 January to further understand local positions on devolution and local government reorganisation.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many new homes have been built in (a) the UK, (b) Leicestershire and (c) Mid Leicestershire constituency since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department publishes a quarterly release entitled ‘Housing supply: Indicators of New Supply, England’, which includes estimates of new build starts and completions in England, Leicestershire and in each local authority district. Statistics to the quarter ending September 2024 can be found in Table 253a on gov.uk here.
Estimates of new build starts and completions in the UK are collated and published by the Office for National Statistics and are available on its website here.
Both of these datasets cover new build dwellings only and should be regarded as a leading indicator of overall housing supply.
The Department publishes an annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’, which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply. This includes estimates of new homes delivered in each local authority, in each financial year, since 2001/02 to 2023-24 can be found in Live Table 122 on gov.uk here.
Figures at parliamentary constituency level are not centrally collected.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the number and proportion of people who live in social housing in Mid Leicestershire constituency who were born in the UK.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not hold the required information. MHCLG publishes data on the number and proportion of people living in a new social housing letting issued in 2023/24 by local authority area, but this data does not cover all people living in the social rented sector.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 plans to introduce union representation onto freeport boards.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Freeports can play an important role in achieving our number one priority – economic growth – by attracting investment and creating jobs in former industrial heartlands across the UK. That is why the government confirmed it is backing the Freeports Programme in October 2024. We are, however, working closely with Freeports to review progress to date and how to best align the Programme with this government’s growth strategy. We will provide further details on these changes in due course.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many employee settlement agreements there were in her Department in each year since 2020; and what the total value of such agreements is.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Department has not entered into any employee settlement agreements in any of the years since 2020.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 an assessment of the adequacy of arrangements for standards enforcement in local government.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Government is actively considering options to strengthen the standards regime for local government and provide councils with more effective means to address serious misconduct by elected members. We want to give local leaders the tools they need to establish and maintain a strong ethical culture within their authority, and give the people they serve the confidence that local democracy works for them.
Our intention is to engage with local authorities, sector representative bodies, and other key stakeholders in due course to ensure a wide range of views are heard.