Written Statements

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

Thursday 12 December 2024

United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020: Review

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security (Mr Douglas Alexander)]

The smooth functioning of the United Kingdom’s internal market is vital to achieving economic growth. People and businesses depend on being able to buy and sell goods, provide services, and work across the four nations of the United Kingdom.

The Government are committed to working closely with the devolved Governments to deliver effective outcomes for people across the UK. To ensure the efficiency of the UK’s internal market, the Government consider common frameworks to be the key fora for supporting collaborative policymaking processes in the areas they cover, managing policy divergence between the UK’s nations where it occurs, and maximising the benefits of taking different, innovative approaches in different parts of the UK. We are therefore committed to finishing the common frameworks programme as soon as possible.

The UK Internal Market Act’s market access principles for goods and services, and system for the recognition of professional qualifications across the UK, can also play an important role in protecting jobs and livelihoods and promoting growth across the whole UK. Where they apply, they allow businesses, consumers and professionals to comply with the regulations in the part of the UK they are based in, to sell goods and provide services across the whole UK.

However, we recognise that the operation of the UK Internal Market Act can be improved, including more certainty and clarity when considering proposals which remove areas of regulation from the scope of the market access principles. We believe that the UK Internal Market Act should complement common frameworks and support collaborative policymaking.

To improve the management of the UK internal market, the Government will deliver an initial package of measures to demonstrate a more pragmatic approach. This includes a recommitment to the principles for common frameworks agreed at the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) in October 2017 between the previous Government and devolved Governments. This recommitment includes:

Developing closer working relationships and increased transparency between the Government and the devolved Governments on UK internal market matters that impact significantly on devolved responsibilities within common frameworks;

Acknowledging the benefits of policy innovation and shared learning on policy development and implementation, while enabling the smooth functioning of the UK internal market;

Aiming to finalise the common frameworks programme by Easter 2025 ensuring the necessary structures exist for joined up intergovernmental discussions around regulatory divergence and implications for the performance of the UK internal market; and

Agreeing an exclusion from the UK Internal Market Act’s market access principles regarding the sale of rodent glue traps, in response to the Scottish Government’s previous proposal, as this Government recognise this proposal has a minimal economic impact on trade within the UK.

The Government then intend to launch the statutory review of the UK Internal Market Act in January 2025, seeking the views of a wide range of public stakeholders, with the aim of completing the review by summer 2025. This is earlier than the statutory deadline of December 2025, as we recognise the importance of formally considering the role of the UK Internal Market Act in the effective operation of the UK internal market.

As a statutory minimum, this review must cover use of the powers in part 1 (goods) and part 2 (services), including the powers to add, delete or amend exclusions from the scope of the Act, and the arrangements relating to the use of the Office of the Internal Market to perform the functions in part 4 of the Act, covering independent advice and monitoring of the UKIM.

However, the Government recognise the importance of fully considering the operation of the Act beyond the narrow statutory requirements. Therefore, the Government will broaden the scope of the review to include the practical operation of parts 1, 2 and 3 of the Act, including inviting views on the process for considering exclusions from the Act, and the role and functions carried out by the Office for the Internal Market as set out in part 4. We will directly engage the devolved Governments in conducting the review.

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LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme Payments: Income Tax Exemption

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (James Murray)]

Today, the Government have confirmed ex gratia payments made under the LGBT financial recognition scheme will be exempt from income tax. The scheme is designed to offer financial recognition to those who served under, and suffered from, the ban on LGBT personnel serving in HM armed forces between 1967 and 2000.

This decision to grant an income tax exemption ensures that applicants receive the full payment amount, marking an important step toward addressing the historic wrongs faced by LGBT personnel and veterans in the past.

The Government will legislate via secondary legislation to formalise this tax exemption in due course.

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Covid-19 Day of Reflection 2025

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Lisa Nandy)]

I am today announcing that a UK-wide day of reflection will take place on Sunday 9 March 2025. I am pleased that one of the key recommendations of the independent UK Commission on Covid Commemoration, chaired by right hon. Baroness Morgan of Cotes, will be honoured next year, as it was in March 2024. By continuing to hold a day of reflection, in line with previous years, we hope to offer communities across the country the opportunity to join together in commemoration of those who lost their lives.

The UK Commission for Covid Commemoration was established to find appropriate ways to remember those who have lost their lives, and to consider how this period of our history could be marked. It held an extensive consultation with those most impacted by the covid-19 pandemic, including representatives from bereaved family organisations and published a final report with 10 recommendations. Its first recommendation is that

“a UK-wide day of reflection should be established and held annually”.

While the Government, since taking up office earlier this year, give careful consideration to the Commission’s full report, I am pleased that we are supporting communities in marking the impacts, losses and suffering of the pandemic in ways that are meaningful to them.

Sunday 9 March 2025 is an opportunity for communities across the UK to come together in a day of reflection for the covid-19 pandemic. People and communities will have the opportunity to join together in reflection and commemoration for those who lost their lives and for everyone impacted by the pandemic. On the day itself and in the week before, the public will be able to mark the day in ways that feel most appropriate and fitting to them, both in person and online.

2025 will mark the fifth year anniversary since the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic and represents a significant milestone as we continue to remember all those affected.

The day of reflection is an opportunity for people to:

Remember and commemorate those who lost their lives since the pandemic began;

Reflect on the sacrifices made by many and the impact the pandemic had on the nation and our daily lives;

Pay tribute and honour the work of health and social care staff, frontline workers, researchers and all those who volunteered and showed acts of kindness during this unprecedented time.

I hope that Members of the House find ways to support their communities in marking this occasion, and are able themselves to join in, and reflect on this part of our shared national history.

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LGBT Veterans: Etherton Review

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for Veterans and People (Al Carns)]

This Government acknowledge the historic policy prohibiting homosexuality in the armed forces was regrettable, wrong and completely unacceptable. Following the publication of Lord Etherton’s review into the experience of LGBT veterans between 1967 and 2000, the intent behind all 49 recommendations were accepted by the previous Government and now backed by this Government. In the coming days, 42 of these 49 recommendations will have been delivered and the commitment remains to implement the remaining recommendations.

Recommendations 28 and 29 of Lord Etherton’s review referred to a financial award, an important tangible recognition to those affected under the ban between 1967 and 2000 and a way to show this Government’s commitment to accountability and rectification of systemic inequalities. That is why I am pleased today to announce that the LGBT financial recognition scheme will launch on 13 December, one year after the recommendation was formally accepted by the previous Government, with a budget of £75 million, 50% higher than the cap recommended in the Etherton report. The scheme intends to provide recognition to those impacted by the ban, and to express Defence’s regret of the policy it upheld between 1967 and 2000, not to compensate for loss of earnings.

The financial recognition scheme will include two types of payments, the first for those who were dismissed or discharged and the second for those who were impacted in other ways. This will acknowledge the suffering caused by the historic policy with payment levels being proportionate to the experiences of individuals.

The “LGBT dismissed or discharged payment” will be available to veterans who were dismissed or administratively discharged, including officers who were instructed to resign, based solely on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity under the ban. Eligible applicants for this payment will receive a flat rate of £50,000 and may be eligible to apply for a further LGBT impact payment.

The “LGBT impact payment” will be available to those who experienced pain and suffering which was directly related to the ban, including harassment, invasive investigations and imprisonment. There will be 3 tariff levels with payments varying from £1,000 to £20,000 and this payment will be decided by an independent panel, separate from and independent of the Ministry of Defence.

The scheme will remain open for two years and all payments will be exempt from income tax and will not affect any means-tested benefits that an applicant receives. The Government recognise that some veterans impacted by the ban are seriously unwell, and the applications of terminally ill veterans will be prioritised.

Whilst the financial recognition scheme cannot undo the damage of the historic policy, it represents a meaningful effort to honour those impacted and provide a sense of closure.

In addition to the financial recognition scheme, I would like to also announce today, the implementation of two further restorative measures. Firstly, veterans who were administratively discharged during the ban, based solely on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, will now be able to apply to have this discharge qualified to set right their records, removing any blame or dishonour from those who served. Secondly, veterans who were reduced in rank as part of their dismissal or discharge can apply to have their rank restored, intending to recognise the achievements made during their service.

Finally, whilst not within the scope of Lord Etherton’s review which looked into experiences under the ban between 1967-2000, when HM armed forces policy differed from criminal law, this Government acknowledge that LGBT veterans serving before 1967 may have had similar experiences. That is why today, I would like to extend four non-financial restorative measures to this cohort. These veterans can now apply to have administrative discharges qualified, reduced rank restored and certificates of service re-issued, and former officers may apply to have their service details published in the Gazette, as part of the official record.

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Operation Stifftail

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for the Armed Forces (Luke Pollard)]

Operation Stifftail, the UK’s deployment of the Sky Sabre ground-based air defence capability in Rzeszów, south-east Poland, has now concluded. Originally deployed in April 2022 and extended on four occasions at the request of the Polish Government, this has been a hugely successful operation that has significantly benefited the UK-Poland relationship, contributed to supporting Ukraine, bolstered NATO’s eastern flank, and furthered interoperability between our two armed forces.

Working as part of the Polish-led, multinational, integrated and multi-layered air defence network, the UK troops on Op Stifftail have demonstrated exceptional hard work, determination, and professionalism. The capability supported Poland’s wider air defence, contributing to Ukraine’s continued fight against Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion by protecting the logistics enabling node at Rzeszów, which facilitated the movement of most western military equipment donations to Ukraine and ensured the safe onward travel of Ukrainian recruits to undertake basic training in the UK. The equipment will now be reconstituted to the UK so that it can be made available for further use in 2025.

Op Stifftail has provided a consistent backdrop in a long line of UK-Polish military co-operation over the last three years. Alongside this operation, we have deployed a squadron of Royal Engineers to respond to the migrant crisis on the Belarusian border, a squadron of Challenger 2 tanks to support Poland’s donation of T72 tanks to Ukraine, and several RAF Typhoons to bolster the protection of Poland's airspace.

The UK will continue to stand with Poland and our other allies on NATO's eastern flank. The UK leads NATO's Forward Land Forces in Estonia and contributes a persistent presence to the US-led FLF effort in northern Poland. In the spring, we will deploy UK Typhoon fighter aircraft to Poland for the protection of Poland's airspace through NATO's enhanced air policing. We will also be sending a military engineering liaison officer to work closely with the Polish army to continue bolstering the security of Poland's eastern border with Belarus and Russia.

As well as delivering against their primary operational tasks, each of these deployments provide unique conditions for our armed forces to develop relationships, better understand our respective operating procedures, and ultimately form a bond of trust that ensures that when the time comes, we can deliver a gold standard of integration and interoperability and prove that we are stronger together and more than the sum of our parts.

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Clinical Trials Regulations

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Andrew Gwynne)]

My noble friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Baroness Merron, has made the following written statement:

I am pleased to announce that the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 have been laid before Parliament today. When approved by Parliament, this legislation will represent the most significant reform of UK clinical trials regulation in over 20 years, addressing the sector's need for a more efficient and adaptable regulatory framework, while safeguarding the wellbeing of trial participants. It will establish a proportionate, streamlined, flexible and effective clinical research environment, placing patients at the heart of the process and strengthening the UK’s position as a global leader for innovative clinical trials.

Clinical trials are essential for the safe development of medicinal products, allowing innovators to rigorously evaluate their products in healthy volunteers and patients. Through this, clinical trials provide a route for bringing pioneering new treatments directly to patients, serving as a crucial step in healthcare innovation. This legislation will play a vital role in transforming the environment for running clinical trials in the UK.

Modernising the regulatory framework will strengthen the UK’s standing as a prime destination for conducting groundbreaking, safe clinical trials. This supports the recommendations of the Lord O’Shaughnessy review, making the UK more attractive for commercial clinical trials and increasing opportunities for UK patients to have early access to innovative treatments that could improve or even save lives. These reforms will also help the NHS conduct trials more efficiently, fostering research that improves methods for preventing, diagnosing, and treating a wide range of conditions. Ultimately, this will expand patient access to new therapies and reinforce the NHS’s reputation as a world-leading platform for health and life sciences research.

The revised legislation aims to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens on trial sponsors while keeping participant safety at the forefront. By removing overly prescriptive elements, the legislation will introduce greater flexibility and risk-proportionality, reflecting the evolving nature of clinical trial design and the innovative treatments they investigate.

These reforms will:

Create a proportionate and flexible regulatory environment—the new legislation will empower researchers to take more risk appropriate approaches to trials, meaning the regulatory requirements will be more flexible to match the risk that a trial presents.

Cement the UK as a leading destination for international trials—the new legislation will introduce more streamlined and efficient application processes, making it easier to apply for trials in the UK but without compromising on safety standards. A combined regulatory and research ethics review will be brought into legislation and approval timelines will be internationally competitive.

Move away from a one-size-fits-all approach, to be responsive to innovation—the new legislation has been drafted to ensure it is as future-proof as possible and is responsive to different types of trials and innovative ways of carrying out trials. Guidance will be used for specific details, rather than granular and duplicative requirements in legislation.

Ensure patients and their safety are at the focus of all clinical trials and supported by greater transparency bring the benefits of clinical trials to everyone—the new legislation will ensure increased public transparency about trials, including a requirement for registration on a public database and sharing of trials results with participants.

The reforms were developed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Health Research Authority through a series of stakeholder workshops, seeking the views of a wide range of organisations and individuals from across the clinical research sector, including patient representatives. A public consultation took place in January to March 2022, to which over 2,000 responses were received, and the Government response was published in March 2023.

The regulations, along with the associated explanatory memorandum and de minimis assessment, an analysis of the impact of the reforms on business, will be published on gov.uk today.

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Commercial Research Delivery Centres

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Andrew Gwynne)]

My noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Baroness Merron, has made the following written statement:

Today, I am pleased to announce an ambitious expansion of commercial clinical research capabilities across the four nations of the UK through the establishment of 20 new commercial research delivery centres.

The CRDC programme will be funded across the UK by the voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth investment programme and, in part, by the Department of Health and Social Care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research in England. The VPAG Investment programme, a unique joint public-private partnership between the UK Government and the pharmaceutical industry agreed as part of the 2024 VPAG Scheme, aims to boost economic growth and the global competitiveness of the UK’s life sciences sector. This network of CRDCs is the first clinical trial infrastructure to receive funding from the VPAG investment programme to accelerate access to new medicines and vaccines to patients, through research.

Funding is being allocated to NHS organisations across all four UK nations, reinforcing the pan-UK commitment to research. The CRDCs cover the length and breadth of the UK from the Sussex coast to Aberdeen, including coverage across Wales and Northern Ireland, ensuring a truly UK presence. They will act as hubs for pioneering approaches in commercial clinical research delivery with a dedicated workforce and facilities and streamlined and efficient trial set-up to support industry trials. The CRDCs will enhance the UK’s competitiveness on the global health research stage and make it a destination of choice for life sciences innovation, supporting both the health and growth missions set by Government.

In a significant step forward, the CRDCs will bring clinical trials beyond large hospital trusts and into smaller hospital community settings and primary care. This will make research participation easier for people across our communities, including those currently underserved by research, ensuring that everyone can have access to new treatment through cutting-edge medical research.

Aligned with the UK Government’s missions to build a healthcare system fit for the future and kickstart economic growth, the CRDCs bring enhanced resource and infrastructure across the NHS, by growing research capacity and creating opportunities for collaboration with industry partners to trial new treatments. They will contribute to the strength and vitality of our life sciences sector, creating opportunities for growth and collaboration across the UK. This significant investment in commercial research delivery is a powerful signal of the UK’s commitment to the life sciences and it contributes to advancements in patient care to improve health outcomes for people across the UK.

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Building the Homes we Need

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for Housing and Planning (Matthew Pennycook)]

This Government have inherited an acute and entrenched housing crisis. The average new home is out of reach for the average worker, housing costs consume a third of private renters’ income, and the number of children in temporary accommodation now stands at a historic high of nearly 160,000. Yet just 220,000 new homes were built last year and the number of homes granted planning permission has fallen to its lowest in a decade.

That is why the plan for change committed to rebuild Britain, with the hugely ambitious goal of delivering 1.5 million new homes this Parliament, and the vital infrastructure needed to grow our economy and support public services.

The Government have responded with the urgency this demands. We published a consultation on a revised national planning policy framework within a month of gaining office, proposing measures to reverse anti-supply changes introduced in December 2023 and in their place setting out pro-growth reforms. Since then, we have published proposals to prioritise and fast-track building on previously developed urban land through a brownfield passport and for speeding up decision making through modernisation of planning committees. Next year, we will introduce a planning and infrastructure Bill to speed up and streamline the planning process, to build more homes of all tenures and accelerate the delivery of major infrastructure projects. At the Budget on 30 October, we committed an additional £50 million to boost capacity to deliver this ambitious planning reform agenda, alongside providing an additional £500 million in grant for affordable housing, and further £3 billion of additional support to the private housing market, to translate permissions into build out.

Today’s publication marks the next step in delivering on our promise to radically reform the planning system. The measures set out below build on more than 10,000 consultation responses and extensive engagement with private house builders, affordable housing providers, local authorities and other organisations from the sector. Taken together, they reflect our commitment not to duck the hard choices that must be confronted in order to tackle the housing crisis—the alternative is a future in which a decent, safe, secure and affordable home is a privilege enjoyed only by some rather than being the right of all working people.

Restoring and raising housing targets

The plan-led approach is, and must remain, the cornerstone of our planning system. It is through local plans that communities shape decisions about how to deliver the housing and wider development their area needs. But we are clear that these decisions must be about how to meet those needs, not whether to do so at all. We are therefore restoring mandatory housing targets. This means that local authorities must use the standard method as the basis for determining housing requirements in their local plans.

As we set out in July, a mandatory method is insufficient if the method itself is not adequate to meet housing need. We consulted on an ambitious revision of the existing standard method, increasing the total annual national target from 300,000 to 370,000, ending the reliance on decade-old population projections, and removing the arbitrary 35% urban uplift that resulted in a skewed national distribution, disproportionately focused on London to the detriment of the rest of the country. Instead, the new method relies on a baseline set at a percentage of existing housing stock levels, to better reflect housing pressures right across the country, and uses a stronger affordability multiplier to focus additional growth on those places facing the biggest affordability challenge.

We heard through the consultation that our method could go even further in targeting growth at those places where house prices are most removed from local incomes, and so we have made an adjustment to the method to make it more responsive to demand pressures. The final method now incorporates an even stronger affordability adjustment—nearly four times as strong as the inherited formula. This will have the effect of altering the distribution, increasing numbers in those places facing the most acute affordability pressures while maintaining ambitious targets across the whole of the country.

Building in the right places

Meeting ambitious new targets relies on allocating sufficient land to do so. We have been clear that developers should first look to brownfield, or previously developed, land. That is essential to protect our most valuable countryside and agricultural land. And we have made changes to support that, making the default answer to proposals to build on brownfield “yes” and expanding the current definition of brownfield land to include hard standing, ahead of further reforms planned for next year on the back of our brownfield passport working paper. Together, these changes will ensure that we make full and efficient use of previously developed land.

But we know that there are simply not enough sites on brownfield land registers to deliver the volume of homes that the country needs each year, let alone enough that are viable and in the right location. And that is why we have grasped the nettle and proposed a modernised, strategic approach to green belt land designation and release, fit for the 21st century.

In the first instance, it requires local authorities to use the local plan process to adopt a “sequential approach”, considering brownfield, then grey belt, and only then higher performing land—all while ensuring that sustainability is a central consideration throughout. We expect authorities to conduct green-belt reviews, to identify the right land to bring forward in their areas. Where authorities fail to meet development needs, developers may bring forward proposals on low-performing grey-belt land outside of the plan process, but with higher-performing land protected from this form of release.

Through our consultation we found broad support for this strategic approach to green-belt release, and for the concept of grey belt, which recognises that there are significant parts of the green belt that contribute little by way of aesthetic, public access, or ecological value. However, we did see evidence that our proposed definition of grey belt was likely to leave too much room for subjectivity and debate. In response, we have set out a clearer description of how to assess whether land meets the definition, and we will be providing further guidance in the new year. We remain clear that existing protections for land covered by environmental and national landscape designations—for example national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and sites of special scientific interest—will remain.

At the centre of our reformed green-belt policy lie our golden rules, which mean that housing can only be built on green-belt land if developers deliver high levels of affordable housing, appropriate local infrastructure, and accessible public green space. Our consultation proposed rules requiring that residential schemes across the country would deliver 50% affordable housing, while recognising that because land values vary, the limited use of viability assessments should be permitted within certain constraints. The objective of these rules was to make sure that the public would receive the fair share of the planning uplift driven by the new rules, and that returns to landowners would be fair but not excessive.

We received significant feedback from a wide range of stakeholders who welcomed the ambition of these rules and the commitment to maximising affordable housing delivery, but who shared strong evidence that fixing the affordable housing requirement at 50% nationally would not reflect regional variations in viability and would hinder delivery. This risked leaving authorities with a choice: allow flexibility and turn the amount of affordable housing into a negotiation; or hold firm and make sites unviable, delivering no homes, affordable or otherwise. Responding to this, our final policy introduces a 15 percentage point premium on top of existing affordable housing requirements, up to a maximum of 50%, and rules out any negotiation until we have strengthened national planning practice guidance on viability—in which we will consider the case for permitting viability negotiations on previously developed land and larger strategic sites, likely to carry greater infrastructure costs.

In a majority of authorities, this will result in an affordable housing requirement of 50%. Local authorities will be required to adopt their own ambitious golden rules through the local plan process, which will supersede these national requirements as new plans come into force. This revised approach delivers on our commitment to sharing the proceeds of land value uplift fairly, securing clear public benefits, while delivering more homes and more affordable homes than a flat 50% rate. It will increase the speed of housing provision by giving all actors greater certainty about what is required and what will achieve planning permission.

Supporting local planning

We have made clear our commitment to universal local plan coverage—local plans are the best way of engaging communities in decisions about the future of their area, of optimising use of land to deliver for the economy and for the environment, and for giving the certainty businesses need to invest in development. A plan-led system in which fewer than a third of places have up-to-date plans does not work. That is why we are taking a tough but pragmatic approach to imposing new housing numbers on local plans—one which sees new numbers feed through into local plans as quickly as possible, while allowing well-developed plans to be adopted.

We are making three changes to the proposals we consulted on, reflecting these twin objectives. First, we will give local authorities an extra two months to progress their plans under the existing framework. Those that reach examination will be assessed in line with existing housing targets, but where there is a significant shortfall, they will be required to begin work on a new plan as soon as the new plan-making system commences next summer. Similarly, those that reach the final stage of plan preparation will be allowed to progress only where there is no significant shortfall. Secondly, responding to feedback that we should measure significant shortfall in proportionate rather than absolute terms, we are replacing the 200-home threshold with a requirement that plans provide for at least 80% of the new standard method figure. Thirdly, we are introducing a new requirement that authorities with plans adopted under the old standard method must provide an extra year’s worth of homes in their five-year housing pipeline. This requirement will kick in from 1 July 2026 and drive authorities to take steps to close the gap between existing housing requirements and the new targets by bringing more land into the system.

We recognise that going back and increasing housing numbers will create additional work, which is why we will provide financial support to those authorities asked to do this. To ensure that local authorities are well equipped and supported to implement our policy changes, we will provide grant funding to support authorities with local plan delivery and green belt reviews. A total of £14.8 million is available across both funds to support local planning authorities with these costs. In the light of the revised national planning policy framework, I will be writing to all local planning authorities with more details, and asking them to provide an updated plan-making timetable within 12 weeks, in order to drive delivery and give transparency over progress.

I expect authorities to rise to this challenge—over the last five months we have seen an acceleration on plan making, which demonstrates what is possible with clear policy direction from national Government and the right political will at a local level. But we will use the full range of ministerial intervention powers at our disposal if that does not happen, including taking over an authority’s plan making directly. The revised local plan intervention criteria, published today, will boost our ability to act quickly where plan making stalls.

The pressure on planning departments goes beyond plan making, as we drive towards the unprecedented numbers of planning permissions needed to meet our 1.5 million homes and wider development objectives. That is why, responding to consultation feedback, we will set householder application fees at what we estimate is cost-recovery level, in order that applicants cover the costs of processing their planning applications. This will bring a boost of more than £50 million per year into local planning authorities from next year, enabling authorities to provide a quicker, better service. We will, through the planning and infrastructure Bill, go further in enabling local planning authorities to vary or set fees to cost recovery levels as appropriate for their area. This funding comes on top of the additional £50 million of planning capacity and capability funding announced at Budget. In combination with the dedicated support for updating local plans, this amounts to a package of over £100 million in the coming year.

Securing high-quality development and more affordable housing

Rapidly driving up planning consents in the context of a system with woefully inadequate local plan coverage will increase the number of permissions secured outside of local plan allocations in the short-term. This is necessary if we are to see the scale of delivery we need to meet our commitment to 1.5 million homes. Therefore, where it applies, the presumption in favour of sustainable development must have real teeth. The changes we make today ensure that the presumption carries real weight, acting as a significant adjustment to the decision-making balance in favour of approving development. We are however absolutely clear that this is not a green light for low-quality development. That is why we have amended the presumption to call out the existing safeguards that exist in national policy around the provision of affordable housing, design quality, and sustainability of location, in line with the proposals we consulted on. We simply do not accept there is an inherent trade-off between supply and quality.

We have taken wider steps to drive the reformed house-building industry we are committed to delivering—one that is more responsive to consumer needs, which places affordability at the heart of what it does, and which builds out faster. We are therefore making changes to set an expectation of mixed-tenure on large sites, support more small sites to come forward to support SME delivery, and make clear our support for social rent schemes. Reflecting the absolute priority we attach to delivering social rent homes, we are amending the definition of affordable housing to carve it out as a separate category, distinct from the broader category of affordable housing for rent.

As part of the Government’s plans to deliver much needed affordable homes, Homes England is today launching a new clearing service to help unblock the delivery of section 106 affordable housing. This follows reports in recent months of developers experiencing greater difficulty in selling section 106 affordable homes for which they have planning permission. This new service will help improve the functioning of the market for affordable housing, by supporting buyers and sellers to find each other more effectively—with developers able to share details of unsold section 106 affordable homes for registered providers and local authorities to search. The service aims to facilitate dialogue and partnerships that allow homes to be delivered in line with the originally agreed tenure mix set out in section 106 agreements. It will also provide new data and insight into the section 106 market. The Government are calling on all developers with uncontracted section 106 affordable homes, including small and medium builders, to proactively and pragmatically engage with the new clearing service, and on registered providers and local planning authorities to engage positively as providers and enablers of affordable housing. This is an important step in unlocking these homes and driving delivery.

As new land enters the system, we expect to see new permissions rapidly translated into build-out. In order that we have transparency and accountability, I will introduce secondary legislation next year to implement powers brought forward under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 to require developers to commit to a build-out trajectory up front and report on delivery against it. Where that does not happen, authorities will be empowered to hold them to account, including through declining to determine applications from developers with a poor record of delivery. We will publish technical consultations to guide delivery of the necessary regulations in the new year.

Building infrastructure to grow the economy

Finally, in July we proposed changes to the planning system to drive greater commercial development in those sectors which will be the engine of the UK’s economy in the future. We will confirm the changes as detailed in the consultation and make it easier to build laboratories, gigafactories, data centres and digital infrastructure, and the facilities needed to support the wider supply chain. We will also specifically recognise the need to support proposals for new or upgraded facilities and infrastructure, setting the expectation that suitable sites for these types of modern economy uses are identified in local plans. As proposed in the summer, we will bring onshore wind back into the nationally significant infrastructure projects consenting regime, and raise the threshold of projects for both onshore wind and solar to 100 MW. We will follow through with prescribing data centres, gigafactories and laboratories as types of business or commercial development capable of being directed into the nationally significant infra- structure projects consenting regime, depending on the scale of the project.

Part of a bigger plan

These changes are necessary to unlock the land needed to deliver 1.5 million homes and the scale of new infrastructure we will need to support growth. But we are clear that they must form part of a wider plan to address wider blockers in the planning system and to drive rapid build-out. We will use the planning and infrastructure Bill to improve certainty in decision making, create a win-win for development and nature, and streamline processes for critical infrastructure. Since we know that we cannot meet housing need without planning for growth on a larger than local scale, we will empower local leaders to work cross-boundary to deliver strategic plans.

Only by delivering these reforms will we unlock investment and delivery. It is also vital that, alongside the appropriate infrastructure, these reforms also deliver substantial affordable housing. It is vital that local communities can see the benefits of development in terms of enhancements to public services and more affordable housing for local people. We recognise that to deliver on these reforms we will need to work in partnership with local leaders, house builders and infrastructure developers to deliver investment into these sectors, and we are grateful for the support for these proposals from across the sector.

These reforms are essential to transform the housing crisis, deliver growth, protect the environment, and provide hope to the many thousands of people locked into substandard and unaffordable housing.

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Local Government Best Value

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Minister for Local Government and English Devolution (Jim McMahon)]

All hon. Members will recognise the importance of having well-functioning local councils which provide essential statutory services local residents rely upon. The Government will continue to work directly with a small number of councils in difficulty, and this should be done in a way that is not punitive and is based on genuine partnership to secure improvements. Today, I would like to update the House on the statutory interventions in Croydon and Nottingham.

Croydon

In February 2021, the previous Government intervened in Croydon following serious financial and governance concerns raised in the non-statutory review of the council and two reports in the public interest from external auditors. A non-statutory improvement and assurance panel was appointed in February 2021. The intervention was then escalated in July 2023 through the issuing of directions which strengthened the remit of the panel by moving it to a statutory footing. The panel continues to be led by Tony McArdle OBE and consists of experts in finance, commercial, adult social care, housing and children’s services.

I will today publish the latest report from the panel, received in April this year, alongside its subsequent letter received on 15 November. Overall, there have been significant developments in the council’s progress towards reform and recovery, particularly improved governance, leadership and service delivery.

Despite this progress, the council remains one of the most financially distressed in the country. The council’s general fund debt sits at £1.3 billion and it relies on the allocation of exceptional financial support (EFS) through in-principle capitalisation directions to balance its budget. The council has produced a transformation plan and a medium-term financial strategy (MTFS) to attempt to reduce its large deficit and debt to a more manageable level. I recognise that there is further work to be done to restore the council to long-term financial sustainability and that this should be a priority area of action for the council moving forward.

I have asked the panel to provide a further update on the intervention’s progress in April 2025, with particular attention to the council’s budget-setting process and delivery of its transformation plan, in which it aims to become the most cost-efficient authority in London. I will continue to work closely with the council as it seeks to address its financial challenges and sustain the strong working relationship both the panel and council have built with the Ministry. I will continue to monitor progress over the coming months and keep the House informed of developments.

Nottingham

As the House will be aware, the Ministry’s involvement began with a non-statutory improvement and assurance board in January 2021 following serious governance and risk management issues associated with the council’s now closed private energy company, Robin Hood Energy. The council also identified unlawful practices associated with its housing revenue account in December 2021 and issued a section 114 notice shortly afterwards.

The board was escalated to a statutory footing in December 2022. Serious issues remained with finances, governance and culture—including the council’s second section 114 notice in November 2023—and progress was felt to be too slow.

On 22 February 2024, the former Secretary of State, the right hon. Michael Gove, announced that directions had been issued to implement a commissioner-led intervention package. These required the commissioners to report to the Secretary of State at six-monthly intervals, and the first report was received on 22 August 2024, which I will publish today.

This report makes clear that progress has been made: council officers and members have been working constructively with commissioners to map out a path to recovery, and have a strategy in place to reach a more sustainable position and better deliver services to their residents. It is clear that significant challenges remain— including the ongoing budget gap, need for service modernisation and culture change across the organisation —and I look forward to hearing more about the council’s progress in the next report, which I have requested in March 2025.

Conclusion

The Government will play their part by repairing the foundations of the sector overall, with the settlement this month being the start of that programme. This will include an immediate funding injection worth over £4 billion, including a £600 million recovery grant, which will be distributed to places with greater need and demand for services (we have used deprivation as a proxy for this), and which are least able to fund their own services locally. It also includes a £680 million uplift to the social care grant for adult and children’s services, a new children’s social care prevention grant, worth £250 million, which will lay the groundwork for children’s social care reform and an additional £44 million of new funding to pilot a kinship allowance and create hundreds of new foster placements. To fix the broken care market, the Government are also bringing forward legislation to crack down on the profiteering from our most vulnerable children and plans include a financial oversight regime, enhanced Ofsted powers and powers to cap profits if excessive profit making continues.

Moving forward we will hardwire stability and security into the system with multi-year settlements and fewer restrictive grants. This will allow councils to focus spending on local priorities, and we will set out and measure progress on the key services and outcomes we expect local government to deliver.

These measures as a whole go hand in hand with the work to make every council fit, legal and decent with a rebuilt system of accountability and oversight. We will repair the early warning system, deal with the audit backlog, and focus on raising standards in local government will help support the overall resilience of the sector in the long term.

The road to financial recovery in Croydon and Nottingham must be met with the seriousness it deserves, and I am pleased to see a clear commitment to move to new operating models. Because of the scale of the challenges, it is self-evident that there will still be difficult decisions to come. It is essential that in making these decisions there is a clear strategy for the form respective councils will take as their new operating model, and that prevention and reform of local public services is central to it.

The Government are committed to work in genuine partnership with councils under intervention to support their reset, reform and recovery, making sure residents have what they need from their local council, including confidence in its governance, financial management and service delivery. I will continue to monitor progress over the coming months and ensure these councils get the support they need to secure sustainable continuous improvement.

I will deposit in the Library of the House copies of the documents I have referred to, which are also being published on gov.uk today.

[HCWS307]

Criminal Courts: Independent Review

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Shabana Mahmood)]

This Government inherited a justice system in crisis with huge delays to hearings and victims left in limbo waiting to see justice done. We are committed to reducing the outstanding caseload in the Crown court and ensuring justice is delivered.

The first thing we had to do was understand the scale of the problem facing us. When this Government took up office in July, errors in His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service data meant there was no published data for the Crown court caseload. I asked the Department to commission an external auditor to look into the data so we could be certain of the scale of the challenge ahead of us in tackling the Crown court backlog.

Following this independent assurance review, we can now confirm that the open caseload in the Crown court has risen to around 73,000, up from 38,000 cases in December 2019. This means victims are waiting far too long to see justice, with some trials now being listed for 2028.

The data published today has been through an intensive series of reviews and validation to ensure it reflects the reality seen at the courts. However, these statistics show the scale of the challenge and now we must continue to bear down on the backlog to deliver swifter justice for victims. Since July, we have begun that work.

We first increased the number of Crown court sitting days this financial year to 106,500, a higher allocation than in six of the last seven years. We then expanded magistrates court sentencing powers so they can hand down custodial sentences of up to 12 months for a single triable either way offence. This frees up the equivalent of 2,000 sitting days per year in the Crown court so judges can focus on the most serious cases.

Meanwhile, we are continuing to use 16 Nightingale courtrooms across seven venues to hear more cases up and down the country and are recruiting approximately 1,000 judges and tribunal members annually across all jurisdictions.

But we must also be honest. The scale of this challenge is greater than these measures alone can achieve. Even if our courts sat at their maximum possible capacity, we could not stop the backlog from increasing, let alone bring it down.

If victims are going to see justice done more swiftly in this country, we cannot simply do more of the same. We need to do things differently.

That is why today, with the agreement of the Lady Chief Justice, I have asked Sir Brian Leveson to undertake a review of our criminal courts to consider how we can speed up the hearing of cases, and I am grateful for his support with this.

The review will have two goals:

First, to consider how the criminal courts could be reformed to ensure cases are dealt with proportionately, in light of the current pressures on the Crown court. The review will look at when we use our Crown courts and when we should make more use of other courts. Specifically, whether more cases should move from the Crown court to the magistrates court and whether offenders should be given the right to appeal a magistrate’s sentence, where today they are able to appeal their case in the Crown court. Sir Brian will also consider the case for a new “intermediate court” for cases too serious to be heard by a magistrate alone but which could be heard by a judge alongside magistrates.

Second, to look at how the criminal courts could operate more efficiently. This includes consideration of how new technologies, including artificial intelligence, could be used to improve the criminal courts.

The pressure facing our criminal courts is considerable and I am grateful for everyone who works tirelessly across the system to ensure justice is heard. The backlog is at a record high. In the short term, it will continue to rise. But this review will ensure that, in the years to come, we bear down on the backlog. Criminals will face the consequences of their actions more swiftly and victims will receive the justice they deserve.

[HCWS300]

Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Prime Minister (Keir Starmer)]

The United Kingdom delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe is as follows:

Full representatives

Sharon Hodgson MP (Leader of the UK delegation)

The Baroness Blower

Colum Eastwood MP

The Lord Hannett of Everton

Sir Mark Hendrick MP

The Lord Smith of Hindhead

Dr Rupa Huq MP

Mike Martin MP

Anneliese Midgley MP

Jon Pearce MP

The right hon. Mark Pritchard MP

The right hon. Sir John Whittingdale MP

The right hon. the Baroness Winterton of Doncaster

Substitute members

Alex Ballinger MP

Lee Barron MP

The right hon. the Lord Bruce of Bennachie

Neil Coyle MP

Dame Caroline Dinenage MP

Helena Dollimore MP

Anna Gelderd MP

Stephen Gethins MP

Tracy Gilbert MP

James MacCleary MP

The Lord McInnes of Kilwinning

The Baroness Ramsey of Wall Heath

The Lord Shamash.

[HCWS302]

UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly: UK Delegation

Thursday 12th December 2024 Written Statements

[The Prime Minister (Keir Starmer)]

The United Kingdom delegation to the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly is as follows:

Full representatives

Marsha de Cordova MP (Leader and Co-Chair)

Catherine Atkinson MP

The Lord Bach

Alex Ballinger MP

Matt Bishop MP

Sarah Bool MP (Vice Chair)

The Baroness Bull

The Baroness Crawley

Stella Creasy MP

The Baroness Donaghy

Catherine Fookes MP

Sir Ashley Fox MP

The right hon. the Lord Frost

The Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town

Sir Mark Hendrick MP

Uma Kumaran MP

Katie Lam MP

The right hon. the Lord Lamont of Lerwick

Noah Law MP

The Lord Liddle

The Baroness Ludford

James MacCleary MP

Frank McNally MP

The Baroness Mobarik

Abtisam Mohamed MP

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne

Steve Race MP

Shivani Raja MP

Connor Rand MP

The Lord Ricketts (Vice Chair)

The Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

Peter Swallow MP

Robin Swann MP

The Lord Teverson

Caroline Voaden MP

Substitute Members

Lee Barron MP

The right hon. the Lord Bruce of Bennachie

Ben Coleman MP

Jacob Collier MP

Wera Hobhouse MP

The Lord Kempsell

The Lord Krebs

Laura Kyrke-Smith MP

Alice Macdonald MP

Jack Rankin MP

Laurence Turner MP

The right hon. the Lord Whitty.

[HCWS303]