Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
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 the Written Ministerial Statement on Local Government Finance on 24 February 2025, HCWS461, whether her Department plans to take steps to prevent local authorities from disposing of community and heritage assets.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The government is clear that public ownership of locally significant assets should be protected to ensure residents can continue to benefit from them. In February, government set out an expectation to councils in receipt of Exceptional Financial Support that, where a council is considering funding this support through asset sales, they should avoid the disposal of community heritage assets where possible. It is for a local authority to ensure they satisfy this expectation in the context of their overall financial position.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
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 the Government response to the proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system consultation, last updated on 27 February 2025, whether she plans to provide local authorities with powers to charge a fee for Listed Building Consent planning applications.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Planning fees in England are set by the Secretary of State. Local planning authorities cannot charge a fee for listed building consent applications.
Under the government’s proposals for localised fee setting in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, government may continue to prescribe where a fee should not be charged for a particular type of application.
The government intends to consult on the details of localised fee setting later this year.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
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 Written Statement of 30 July 2024 on Building the homes we need, HCWS48, how many of the new planning officers will have the expertise to handle historic and traditionally constructed buildings.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At the Budget, the Chancellor announced a £46 million package of investment to support capacity and capability in local planning authorities.
We are working with delivery partners to understand how we can scale delivery and fund the recruitment and training of an additional 300 planners as part of that investment. This includes expansion of the Pathways to Planning programme which has had significant interest from prospective graduates wanting to take up roles in local planning authorities and train while they work.
In relation to the specific skills needed in managing historic buildings, we are developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, including Historic England, to ensure that local planning authorities have the types of skills, both now and in the future. More details will be announced in due course.
This will be further underpinned by increases in planning fees we are introducing in the coming months that will help improve the resourcing of planning services, so that LPAs can fund the skills they need.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
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 the oral contribution of 2 September 2024 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Official Report, Column 3, if she will publish a timetable for implementing high street rental auctions.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Government is committed to supporting high streets and town centres, empowering communities and tackling the problem of persistent vacancy. Owing to the complex and technical nature of the policy, secondary legislation is required to implement High Street Rental Auctions. We are working through the legislative process and will confirm the commencement date in due course.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to change the local government funding formula in the upcoming Local Government Finance Settlement; and whether she plans to consult on (a) technical changes and (b) data sources before publication.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged. The department will work with local government leaders to ensure they are better able to fulfil their statutory duties.
We want to hear from councils about the financial challenges they are facing and we are committed to stabilising the local government finance landscape in this Parliament.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to redistribute assets and wealth between different (a) local authorities, (b) communities and (c) local government through the Local Government Finance Settlement.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged. The department will work with local government leaders to ensure they are better able to fulfil their statutory duties.
We want to hear from councils about the financial challenges they are facing and we are committed to stabilising the local government finance landscape in this Parliament.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Local Government Finance Settlement will contain measures to reform adult social care funding.
Answered by Jim McMahon
We recognise the financial pressures that local authorities face and remain committed to supporting local government to deliver improved outcomes for local people through the adult social care system. We are committed to delivering a multiyear settlement in this Parliament giving certainty on allocations going forward to create a more sustainable, simplified adult social care funding system. Our Government’s manifesto set out our intention for a programme of reform to create a National Care Service. The National Care Service will deliver consistent and high quality care across the country, which will be locally delivered, supporting people to live independently for as long as possible. We will engage with local government as we develop this programme of reform.
Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged. The department will work with local government leaders to ensure they are better able to fulfil their statutory duties.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
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 has taken to facilitate (a) restaurants and (b) pubs to offer outdoor smoking facilities since 2010.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The provision of outdoor smoking facilities on the premises of an individual business is currently a matter for the business itself. However, where a business has a pavement license allowing it to have seating on the public highway, the national 'smoke free seating condition' must be followed. This requires the licence holder to make reasonable provision for seating where smoking is not permitted, so that where space is provided for smokers, customers will also have the option of sitting in a non-smoking area.