Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 make an assessment of the adequacy of Government funding to (a) local authorities in Yorkshire and (b) York Central constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Local Government Finance Settlement is our most significant move yet to make English local government more sustainable. The government is making good on long overdue promises to fundamentally update the way we fund local authorities. We are delivering fairer funding, targeting money where it is needed most through the first multi-year Settlement in a decade.
The provisional Settlement 2026-27 will make available almost £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England, a 5.7% cash-terms increase compared to 2025-26. For York Council we are making available up to £198 million in 2028-29 in Core Spending Power, an increase of 7.7% compared to 2024-25.
Core Spending Power allocations for individual local authorities through the provisional Local Government Financial Settlement 2026-27, including those in the Yorkshire region can be found here.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she is ensuring that Fire and Rescue services have a statutory duty to support flood events.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Protecting communities from flooding is a key priority for this Government. Fire and Rescue Authorities already have duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to prepare for emergencies, including major flooding. However, we recognise the interest in creating a statutory duty for flood response and officials are working with DEFRA, as lead government department for flooding, to consider the wider implications of this.
MHCLG supports Fire and Rescue Authorities in responding to flood incidents by providing national resilience High Volume Pump (HVP) capabilities. These are available to be used by Fire & Rescue Services across the country during major flood incidents. Additionally, DEFRA hold the Flood Rescue National Asset Register, a list of teams or assets that voluntarily join the register and maintain availability for national deployment in England.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help support local authorities to (a) remove and (b) protect the safety of staff who are removing (i) graffiti and (ii) flags that have been placed without authorisation.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government supports the flying of flags across the country. Flags should be an embodiment of bringing our country and our communities together. Guidance exists, such as ‘Flying flags: a plain English guide” - as set out in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2007 (as amended in 2012 and 2021) – which outlines the regulations related to the flying of flags in England.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential risks of the unauthorised placing of flags on lampposts; and whether she has issued guidance to local authorities on (a) their removal and (b) how to de-escalate community tensions.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government supports the flying of flags across the country. Flags should be an embodiment of bringing our country and our communities together. Guidance exists, such as ‘Flying flags: a plain English guide” - as set out in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2007 (as amended in 2012 and 2021) – which outlines the regulations related to the flying of flags in England.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 it her policy to publish a community safety strategy.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government’s Safer Streets Mission led by the Home and Plan for Change commitments set out a whole-system approach to reduce serious harm and restore public confidence in policing and the criminal justice system. Central to this is our ambitions to strengthen neighbourhood policing; tackling anti-social behaviour and making town centres safer and more secure; and halving violence against women and girls and knife crime within a decade.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 her Department's consultation document Fair Funding Review 2.0 updated on 23 June 2025, what the funding formula used for the review is.
Answered by Jim McMahon
I refer the hon. Member to chapter 4 of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation which sets out the approach to assessing local authority demand through seven formulae. Government have also published detailed technical annexes for each formula.
We will publish our response to the consultation in the autumn, which will be followed by the publication of the provisional multi-year Settlement.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 estimate of the number of people in the private rented sector due to a lack of social housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
According to the most recent data from the English Housing Survey from 2022/23, 6% (280,000) of Household Reference Persons in the private rented sector reported that someone in their home is on the waiting list for social housing.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of introducing rent controls; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on Local Housing Allowance expenditure on private rent.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has been clear it does not support rent controls and has not discussed their introduction at a local authority level.
We believe that rent controls could make life more difficult for private renters, both in terms of incentivising landlords to increase rents routinely up to a cap where they might otherwise not have done, and in pushing many landlords out of the market, thereby making it even harder for renters to find a home they can afford.
The Renters’ Rights Bill will empower private rented sector tenants to challenge unreasonable within-tenancy rent increases.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on introducing rent controls at a local authority level.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has been clear it does not support rent controls and has not discussed their introduction at a local authority level.
We believe that rent controls could make life more difficult for private renters, both in terms of incentivising landlords to increase rents routinely up to a cap where they might otherwise not have done, and in pushing many landlords out of the market, thereby making it even harder for renters to find a home they can afford.
The Renters’ Rights Bill will empower private rented sector tenants to challenge unreasonable within-tenancy rent increases.