Contingent Liability Guarantee: SEFE
(1 day, 2 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Chris McDonald)
I wish to make Members aware of the details of a contingent liability guarantee, which will be entered into in favour of SEFE, in accordance with and pursuant to the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025, to support British Steel Ltd, and for the purpose of securing the continued and safe use of blast furnace operation in Scunthorpe.
The guarantee will replace the existing credit support, be of the same value, is a policy requirement for SEFE, and would be in respect of British Steel Ltd’s payment obligations to SEFE. Without such guarantee, SEFE would not extend the underlying supply contract with British Steel Ltd, leaving British Steel Ltd unable to access a key supply, or British Steel Ltd would only be able to do so on materially worse terms.
The terms of the guarantee ensure that the impact to the public purse is reduced. The guarantee may be terminated by the Department by providing SEFE with 10 business days’ written notice. The effective date of the guarantee is 31 March 2026.
Authority for any expenditure required under this liability will be sought through the normal procedure. I will lay a departmental minute before Parliament today, containing a description of the liability undertaken.
If, during the period of 14 parliamentary sitting days, a member signifies an objection by giving notice of a parliamentary question or by otherwise raising the matter in Parliament, final approval to proceed with incurring the liability will be withheld pending an examination of the objection.
[HCWS1102]
Defence Estate Security Review
(1 day, 2 hours ago)
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The Minister for the Armed Forces (Al Carns)
Further to the Minister for the Armed Forces’ statement of 8 September (HCWS913), I am providing a further update on the measures we continue to take to enhance and improve security across the defence estate.
As we set out previously, after many years of under-investment and hollowing out under the previous Administration, we have identified the physical security of our sites as an area in need of greater focus. The Department is using in-year funding to deliver physical security enhancements, focusing on high priority sites across the defence estate. We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of security to safeguard our national defence capabilities.
Since we last updated the House, we have maintained our posture of enhanced vigilance and continue to strengthen our security culture. Our updated guidance and reinforcing messaging applies to all those working on our estate, including our contractors. We have made it easier for defence personnel and industry partners to report suspected security incidents.
In respect of our airbases, the Royal Air Force has made significant progress in strengthening security through advanced technical enhancements, now operational at multiple main operating bases. These enhancements provide a robust layer of protection at our most critical sites. A key innovation is the use of cutting-edge technology through the immediate threat mitigation solution—a self-contained CCTV system designed to detect, track and deter unauthorised access.
This technical innovation strengthens physical security measures. At RAF Brize Norton, for instance, the upgraded automated track-and-detect system monitors specific areas and feeds into a central control room which is monitored 24/7, enabling faster decision making and improving the Military Provost Guard Service’s ability to respond swiftly and effectively to incidents. In addition, engagement with local landowners and Thames Valley police is strengthening suspicious activity reporting.
Together, these steps ensure technology and our workforce operate in tandem as part of a layered security approach, with lessons learned being rolled out across the defence estate.
We will also be piloting restricted airspace above 40 strategic sites across the defence estate, a precursor to wider implementation in 2026, reinforcing existing national security act legislation. This will aid the enforcement of the National Security Act prohibited place legislation and assist with identifying malicious and unlawful activity. We are significantly investing in remote piloted aerial systems, a drone capability that provides persistent surveillance and patrolling to help deter threats and identify them when they arise. This equipment has been procured and personnel are beginning training shortly.
We have taken decisive steps to improve recruitment across MOD Police, MOD Guard Service, Military Provost Guard Service, and Security Services Group. Recent financial incentive campaigns for the Military Provost Guard Service have been a success and we will consider similar campaigns where appropriate. Other steps include more targeted approaches to advertising and improved candidate engagement.
Looking further ahead, improvements through the implementation of the strategic defence review will address the chronic under-investment in the security of the defence estate this Government inherited and improve the assurance of security and resilience risk management that this Government inherited. The £20 million for digital transformation of our security, which the Minister for the Armed Forces announced in her statement to the House on 8 September, is being invested in three flagship systems to modernise defence security. These include MOD adoption of the critical national infrastructure knowledge base, a new enterprise incident case management system, and a real-time physical security assurance platform.
Ensuring the safety and security of the defence estate continues to be a key priority. We are focused on improving physical security, taking advantage of technological advancements and reinforcing our workforce to ensure that we deliver. And all those who seek to threaten the security of our bases should be in no doubt that we will use all the levers at our disposal to take swift action wherever and whenever that occurs. The Department will not hesitate to pursue prosecution where criminality is suspected.
[HCWS1103]
Nigeria
(1 day, 2 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Chris Elmore)
My noble Friend the Minister of State for International Development and Africa (the right hon. Baroness Chapman of Darlington) has today made the following statement:
I am writing to update the House on recent abductions in Nigeria, and the UK’s ongoing security partnership with Nigeria.
In the last week, Nigeria has faced a further series of abhorrent abductions from schools and churches, including the attack on St Mary’s catholic school in Niger state, which is one of the largest recorded mass abductions in the country’s history. These crimes are intolerable. Everyone should be safe to exercise their fundamental human rights to education and freedom of worship. The UK stands firmly with the people and Government of Nigeria during this difficult time, and of course with the families of those children who have been abducted.
As a valued Commonwealth friend, we are working closely with our Nigerian partners as they respond to these incidents, and welcome the efforts to date to secure releases of schoolgirls in Kebbi state and worshippers in Kwara state. One year on from the signing of the UK-Nigeria strategic partnership in November 2024, which includes our security and defence partnership as a key pillar, our co-operation continues to strengthen security and prosperity. This includes assisting the Nigerian Government to establish a dedicated unit, the multi-agency kidnap fusion cell, which brings together Nigeria’s police, military and justice agencies to rescue victims and bring perpetrators to justice.
The safety of school children is paramount. UK education funding has supported school safety improvements including through the “Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria Education” programme. In March 2025, with UK support, a safe school rapid response co-ordination centre was launched in Jigawa state, providing training and deployment of security personnel to public schools.
Abductions and kidnap for ransom remain a prevalent issue across Nigeria. Across the country, insecurity continues to devastate communities and severely impact ordinary people, driving displacement, heightening protection risks and eroding livelihoods. In the north-east, terrorist groups including Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa have indiscriminately killed individuals not just from Christian but also from Muslim communities. In the north-west and north-central, criminal bandits are primarily targeting communities for profit and ransom.
This Government are committed to strengthening our security and defence partnership with Nigeria to address the roots of insecurity. In my meeting with Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, on 11 November, we discussed the security situation in Nigeria and issues relating to freedom of religion or belief, and the Foreign Secretary also discussed with him on 10 November the ongoing importance of UK-Nigeria security co-operation.
Through our security and defence partnership, we are helping to build capacity within Nigeria’s security agencies to effectively undertake counter-terrorism operations, investigations and intelligence analysis to prevent future attacks. Our “Strengthening Peace and Resilience in Nigeria” programme is working with Nigerian partners to address the root causes of intercommunal conflict, support collaboration and productive livelihoods for farmers and pastoralists and strengthen conflict early warning and response systems.
Through our strategic partnership, this Government remain committed to working with the Government of Nigeria to tackle insecurity in all its forms.
We will continue to express our solidarity with the people of Nigeria, to express our condemnation of these abhorrent abductions, and to stand up for freedom of religion or belief both in Nigeria, and throughout the world. We join the Government of Nigeria in calling for the safe return of all those who have been kidnapped, and call for all perpetrators to be brought to justice.
[HCWS1105]
Reforming Local Plan Making
(1 day, 2 hours ago)
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The Minister for Housing and Planning (Matthew Pennycook)
Following my written statement concerning local plan making and guidance—[Official Report, 27 February 2025; Vol. 762, c. 62WS.]—I am today providing an update on the implementation of our reforms to the plan-making system in England.
This Government were elected on a manifesto that included a clear commitment to build 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament, and all areas are required to play their part. In order to deliver the homes and growth that the country needs, we expect all local planning authorities to make every effort to get up-to-date local plans in place as soon as possible.
The plan-led approach is, and must remain, the cornerstone of our planning system. Local plans are the best way for communities to shape decisions about how to deliver the housing and wider development their areas need. In the absence of an up-to-date plan, there is a high likelihood that development will come forward on a piecemeal and speculative basis, with reduced public engagement and fewer guarantees that it will make the most of an area’s potential. It is for these reasons that the level of up-to-date plan coverage we inherited is so problematic.
As a Government, we have made a clear commitment to achieving universal local plan coverage. To that end, we have been clear that we intend to drive local plans to adoption as quickly as possible. That is why we introduced transitional arrangements for emerging plans in preparation as part of the changes we made to the national planning policy framework in December last year, and why we have recently awarded over £29 million in funding to 188 local planning authorities to support the rapid preparation of plans that reflect that updated framework.
However, the current system is optimised neither for speed, nor for community participation. The Government are therefore clear that more fundamental reform to the system is needed, to ensure that local plans are faster to prepare and simpler for end users to access and understand.
In February, we published the Government’s response to the previous Government’s consultation on implementation of plan-making reforms. I am today publishing more detailed information about the design of the legislation required to implement the new system; how we intend to roll it out across the country, and the resources that will be made available to support plan makers to that end.
Designing and implementing new plan-making regulations
We will shortly lay the regulations that will underpin our new approach to plan making. These will reflect our February 2025 response to the previous Government’s consultation on the new plan-making system, and their development has taken into account responses to that consultation, as well as feedback provided through extensive engagement with the sector.
The regulations will set out a new process for producing plans, with clear steps that a local planning authority will need to take. This should support faster preparation of plans and more frequent updates, in line with our aim of universal coverage of up-to-date plans that reflect local needs.
The Government are today publishing a summary of what we intend these regulations to contain. This will provide plan makers and other key stakeholders with the information they need to familiarise themselves with the new system in advance of it coming into force early next year.
Rolling out the new plan-making system
The Government are acutely aware that many local planning authorities are keen to start work on plans in the new system at the earliest opportunity, to give themselves the best possible chance of success and provide much-needed certainty for their communities.
Having considered carefully responses to the earlier consultation, I am announcing today that we no longer intend to roll the system out in a series of plan-making waves. Instead, local planning authorities will be encouraged to bring plans forward as soon as possible following the commencement of the regulations early in the new year.
While authorities will have discretion over how soon they start their plan, regulations will set out final backstop dates for when plan-making must legally have commenced. Local planning authorities covered by the NPPF transitional arrangements will have to commence formal plan making (gateway 1) by 31 October 2026, while those that have a plan that is already over five years old must commence by 30 April 2027. Further information will be set out in the regulations and in guidance.
We will provide a minimum of £14 million of funding this financial year to support local plan making. This is to help local planning authorities get ambitious plans in place as soon as possible and to support those starting work on a new plan early in the new plan-making system. Further details will be published shortly.
Guidance and tools to support local authorities
In February 2025 we launched a new home for local plan-making resources on gov.uk— https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/create-or-update-a-local-plan
This is already supporting plan makers. Today we are going further by publishing, in draft, the first dedicated guidance and tools to support plan makers bringing forward a local plan in the new system.
For this initial release we have prioritised resources that can best support plan makers in the earliest stages of plan-making, aiding their understanding of how the new system will work and what they could focus on now to get ready. Additional practical tools and templates have been provided by the Planning Advisory Service, which will further support plan makers with their preparations. These resources form part of a growing digital offer to support plan makers to deliver local plans faster. It will be followed by the timely release of tools and services both this year and beyond.
Plan making in the current system
The Government have been clear that they want local planning authorities to continue bringing forward plans as quickly as possible ahead of the new system coming into force. For plans progressing to adoption under the existing plan-making legal framework, we will be setting out in the aforementioned regulations that the final date for submission for examination will be 31 December 2026.
As set out in the revised NPPF published on 12 December 2024, local plans that reached regulation 19 stage on or before 12 March and needed updating as they were meeting less than 80% of local housing need, are expected to be updated and submitted by 12 June 2026, unless updating the plan required the authority to return to regulation 18. If this was the case, authorities have until 31 December 2026 to reach submission.
The Government are committed to taking tough action to ensure that local authorities have up-to-date local plans in place. While we hope the need will not arise, we have made it clear that we are willing to make full use of available intervention powers—including taking over a local authority’s plan making directly—if local plans are not progressed as required.
Duty to co-operate
The new plan-making system provided by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 does not include the duty to co-operate that was inserted into the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 through the Localism Act 2011 to help bridge the gap in cross-boundary co-operation resulting from the abolition of regional planning. Instead, the new system will rely on revised national policy and the new tier of strategic planning to ensure effective co-operation between plan-making authorities.
The regulations for the new system will also save the current plan-making system for a period to allow emerging plans to progress to examination by 31 December 2026. Given the above, and to help drive local plans to adoption as quickly as possible and progress towards our objective of universal local plan coverage, we have decided not to “save” the duty, thereby removing this requirement for plans in the current system.
Local planning authorities should continue to collaborate across their boundaries, including on unmet development needs from neighbouring areas, and we expect planning inspectors to continue to examine plans in line with the policies in the NPPF on maintaining effective co-operation. I have written to the chief executive of the Planning Inspectorate to ask that these matters are made clear to local plan inspectors.
[HCWS1104]