Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changing the rules which prevent families from bidding for social houses that have too few bedrooms on waiting times for social housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government expects registered providers of social housing to develop solutions that make best use of their stock.
When framing the rules which determine the size of property to allocate to different households and in different circumstances, local housing authorities are free to set their own criteria, provided they do not result in a household being statutorily overcrowded.
As announced in our National Plan to End Homelessness in December last year, we will work with stakeholders to review and update statutory guidance on social housing allocations to ensure that allocations reflect local need and effectively support vulnerable households.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
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 impact of extending the statutory override for local authorities until the end of 2027/28 on the financial security of those local authorities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises that local authorities are continuing to face significant pressure from Dedicated Schools Grant deficits on their accounts. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government engages regularly with local authorities and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy on the impact of the Dedicated Schools Grant deficits, and in June 2025, we announced a two-year extension to the Dedicated Schools Grant Statutory Override to support local authorities to manage these impacts. We recognise that the size of deficits that some councils may accrue while the Dedicated Schools Grant Statutory Override is in place may not be manageable with local resources alone. We will provide further detail on our plans to support local authorities with historic and accruing deficits and conditions for accessing such support later in the Local Government Finance Settlement process.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
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 Answer of 13 January to Question 103107 on Monuments, whether he is taking steps to ensure that scheduled monuments will (a) continue to be protected under planning rules and (b) not be considered as Grey Belt land.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Scheduled Monuments continue to be protected as designated heritage assets of the highest significance under both the current National Planning Policy Framework and the draft revised Framework which is currently out for consultation.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he will take steps to allow non-Mayoral authorities to access proposals for a Tourism Levy.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are consulting whether the visitor levy should be extended to Foundation Strategic Authorities, which can be accessed on gov.uk.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of (a) the number of people with additional needs awaiting a Specialised Supported Housing home and (b) the estimated cost r of housing people with additional needs in unsuitable accommodation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In November 2024, my department published independent research on supported housing supply, demand, funding and commissioning across Great Britain – which can be found here. The published research report included coverage of working-age adults with learning disabilities, autistic people, and people with mental health needs.
The research estimated that in 2023 there were 53,000 units of supported housing serving working-age adults with a learning disability and/or autism in England, and 19,000 units for working-age adults with mental health needs. The report noted that half of local commissioners surveyed who responded said that there was a lot of or some unmet demand for working-age adults with a learning disability and/or autism, and that almost two-thirds of commissioners thought there was some or a lot of unmet need for supported housing for working-age adults with mental health needs.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the withdrawal of funding for the neighbourhood planning support programme on (a) town and (b) parish councils who will need to update their Neighbourhood Plan following the development of a new Local Plan.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not collect information on which Town or Parish Councils in England do not currently have a neighbourhood plan.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 59114 on 19 June 2025.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data his Department holds on the number of (a) town and (b) parish councils that do not have a neighbourhood plan.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not collect information on which Town or Parish Councils in England do not currently have a neighbourhood plan.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 59114 on 19 June 2025.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, in the context of his Department’s open consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system, whether he will consider the potential merits of legislation providing that Sport England is notified for any loss of land but retained as a statutory consultee where a significant loss is proposed.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to Question UIN 103087 on 13 January 2026.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential benefits of providing funding through councils' public health grants for public toilet provision.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In keeping with our commitment to funding simplification, the Government has no current plans to introduce a statutory duty or ringfenced funding relating to toilet provision.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing and managing toilet provision and are best placed to do so due to their ability to account for local needs. However, we recognise the importance of toilet provision and have taken steps to support local leaders. At the 2025 Spending Review, we committed over £5 billion in new grant funding over the next three years for essential local services such as toilets. In addition, we continue to provide 100% mandatory business rates relief for separately assessed public toilets. No specific assessment on the level of provision of public toilets has been made.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
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 his Department has made of the potential impact of the level of public toilets on the public.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In keeping with our commitment to funding simplification, the Government has no current plans to introduce a statutory duty or ringfenced funding relating to toilet provision.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing and managing toilet provision and are best placed to do so due to their ability to account for local needs. However, we recognise the importance of toilet provision and have taken steps to support local leaders. At the 2025 Spending Review, we committed over £5 billion in new grant funding over the next three years for essential local services such as toilets. In addition, we continue to provide 100% mandatory business rates relief for separately assessed public toilets. No specific assessment on the level of provision of public toilets has been made.