Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the difference between commissioners and envoys in the context of local government intervention.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Secretary of State may intervene under the Local Government Act 1999 where they are satisfied that a council is failing to meet its Best Value Duty to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement. Intervention typically involves directing the council to take specific actions to improve and appointing individuals to work with the council to support their improvement.

Commissioners have been appointed to seven councils to provide challenge and exercise specified council functions if necessary to accelerate improvement.

Ministerial Envoys have been appointed to two councils to provide support and guidance, helping them drive their own improvement, and generally do not have the ability to exercise council functions.

Some Ministerial Envoys hold powers in reserve to exercise council functions, which are intended to be used only as a last resort to ensure compliance with the Best Value Duty.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what representations officials in the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government have made to the Greater London Authority about the 35- per-cent affordable housing quota.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

On 23 October the Housing Secretary and Mayor of London announced a package of targeted and temporary support to drive up housebuilding in London. This includes a new, time-limited planning route and consultation on the removal of some design restrictions which limit the density of development. For further detail, please see the Written Ministerial Statement made on 23 October 2025 (HCWS991).

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of removing the statutory requirement to consult local authorities as part of the pre-application stage for nationally significant infrastructure projects, and the impact of removing that statutory requirement on local authorities securing community benefit.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Replacing the statutory requirement to consult on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) will give applicants and local authorities greater flexibility to engage in a more proportionate way. The Government has designed its policy to ensure local authorities can continue to play an important role in the NSIP regime. Applicants will be required by law to notify local authorities of their schemes. Local authorities will also be able to continue to provide Local Impact Reports to the Examining Authority and the Secretary of State outlining the impacts of a scheme on their area. The Government has also committed to extending the power for local authorities to recover costs from applicants for their advice. A consultation seeking views on how to achieve this closed on 28 October. Community benefits are typically secured through legally binding development consent obligations (DC obligations), which remain enforceable regardless of changes to consultation requirements.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have conducted a risk assessment on the potential impact of superintelligent AI systems on national security.

Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The increasing capabilities of AI may exacerbate existing risks and present new risks for which the UK needs to be prepared. There is considerable debate and uncertainty around Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), but the possibility of their development must be taken seriously.

The role of the AI Security Institute (AISI) is to build an evidence base on these risks, so the government is equipped to understand their security implications. AISI focuses on emerging AI risks with serious security implications, including the potential for AI to help users develop chemical and biological weapons, carry out crimes such as fraud, and the potential for loss of control presented by autonomous systems.

AISI works with a broad range of experts and companies to assess the potential risks these could pose as the technology continues to develop.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many local authorities will not be able to deliver a five-year housing land supply in their local plan following the decision to increase mandatory housing targets, and which local authorities will not be able to deliver that supply.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The National Planning Policy Frameworks sets out that local authorities should identify and update annually a five-year housing land supply (5YHLS) of deliverable housing sites (with appropriate buffer) for decision making. We have restored this test to safeguard the delivery of homes.

While the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) may be aware of an authority’s 5YHLS position at the time of a specific appeal, this position is not static. It may change over time due to annual updates or as a result of subsequent planning appeal decisions. As such, my Department does not collect live data on the 5YHLS status of individual local planning authorities.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to incentivise housing developers to speed up to allow local authorities to adopt new housing estates.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

I refer the Noble Lady to the answer given to question UIN 81305 on 24 October 2025.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they hold data on the number of professional and vocational qualifications awarded in the field of construction and bricklaying in 2024.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Further education and skills:

For the full 2023/24 academic year, there were 12,840 apprenticeships achievements in the construction, planning and build environment sector subject area covering all ages. An additional 48,750 adult achievement regulated qualifications in construction, were supported by Adult Skills Budget.

T Levels:

T Levels completions that count towards performance tables in 2023/24 were:

• 687 in Design, Surveying and Planning
• 319 in Building Services Engineering
• 139 in Onsite Construction
• 555 in Design and Development for Engineering and Manufacturing
• 181 in Engineering, Manufacturing, Processing and Control
• 399 in Maintenance, Installation and Repair for Engineering and Manufacturing

Key Stage 4:

In 2023/24, 9,548 pupils took construction Technical Awards that count towards performance tables.

16 to 18:

Published in the ‘A level and other 16 to 18 results’ statistical release.

For 2023/24, vocational qualifications counting towards performance tables were taken by:

• 35 Applied General students
• 2,567 Tech Level students
• 2,481 Technical Certificate students

More information can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results/2023-24.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance is issued to local authorities on the digitisation of marked electoral registers following elections, and whether they plan to legally require local authorities to make digital marked electoral registers available for purchase following elections.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Specified persons can request a copy of relevant parts of the marked copy of the register of electors, and other related lists, for a fee. This request can be for a paper or data copy. The Government has no plans to change these arrangements.

The Electoral Commission provides guidance on the supply and inspection of marked registers.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government, whether they are still advising local authorities to consider the "Traffic Advisory Leaflet 01/13: Reducing Sign Clutter", published in January 2013; and if not, whether it has been revised in an updated publication.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

"Traffic Advisory Leaflet 01/13: Reducing Sign Clutter", has been withdrawn and superseded by the updated Chapter 1 of the Traffic Signs Manual, published in 2018. Section 2.3 provides guidance on reducing sign clutter.

Found: (The Chair) The Earl of Cork and Orrery Lord Dannatt Jonathan Davies Marsha De Cordova Baroness Eaton

Found: (The Chair) The Earl of Cork and Orrery Lord Dannatt Jonathan Davies Marsha De Cordova Baroness Eaton

Found: Tom Collins The Earl of Cork and Orrery Lord Dannatt Jonathan Davies Marsha De Cordova Baroness Eaton

Found: Tom Collins The Earl of Cork and Orrery Lord Dannatt Jonathan Davies Marsha de Cordova Baroness Eaton