Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of company directors successfully completed their identity verification with Companies House by the deadline of 18 November 2025; and whether feedback is being sought on the difficulties of completing the web-based verification process.

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

Directors were not required to verify their identities by 18 November 2025. This date marked the start of a 12-month transition period during which existing directors must verify their identities by providing their personal code with the relevant companies' confirmation statement. This could only be done after the start of the transition period. The deadline for filing the confirmation statement determines the deadline for verification for existing directors. No significant decrease in the timeliness of confirmation statement filings has been observed.

Companies House continuously seeks feedback from its customers and is providing focussed support to those required to verify.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of school allergy-management policies.

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

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units in England to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies.

We intend to consult later this year on revised statutory guidance on ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’. This will seek views from schools, parents, health professionals, and other stakeholders on proposals to strengthen how schools meet their duties, including improvements to allergy safety and broader medical condition management. Our aim is to ensure that every child can access education safely and confidently, regardless of their health needs or allergy.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to introduce legislation to require all property managing agents to be suitably qualified.

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

The government is committed to ensuring that those living in the rented and leasehold sectors are protected from abuse and poor service at the hands of unscrupulous property agents.

Property agents must already belong to a government-approved redress scheme. This legislative requirement is currently enforced by local authorities and National Trading Standards’ Lettings and Estate Agency Team, who have the power to issue warnings and banning orders to rogue estate and letting agents.

The redress schemes publish data on the number of complaints they receive, the amount awarded to consumers, and maintain a public list of agents that have been expelled from their respective schemes.

Managing agents play a key role in the maintenance of multi-occupancy buildings and freehold estates. Their importance will only increase as we transition toward a commonhold future, and so we are looking again at Lord Best’s 2019 report on regulating the property agent sector, particularly in light of the recommendations in the final Grenfell Inquiry report.

Many leaseholders face persistent delays and high costs when trying to sell their properties. Currently, freeholders and managing agents are responsible for providing essential sales information, but they often have little incentive to do so efficiently. Homeowners living on private or mixed tenure estates, who contribute to the maintenance and upkeep of communal areas, can face similar challenges when trying to obtain relevant information from their estate manager. The government will take forward measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LFRA) which will speed up the provision of information for leaseholders and homeowners on private or mixed tenure estates who wish to sell their property, and protect sellers from unreasonable fees when requesting this information.

The previous government committed to regulate the property agent sector in 2018 and asked a working group Chaired by Lord Best to advise them how to do it, yet it failed to respond to their findings from 2019. Managing agents play a key role in the maintenance of multi-occupancy buildings and freehold estates, and their importance will only increase as we transition toward a commonhold future, and so we are looking again at Lord Best’s 2019 report on regulating the property agent sector, particularly in light of the recommendations in the final Grenfell Inquiry report.

On 4 July 2025, we launched a wide-ranging consultation on proposals to hold landlords and managing agents to account for the services they provide and the charges and fees they levy. This included the introduction of mandatory qualifications for managing agents and estate managers on freehold estates. This consultation closed on 26 September 2025, and we are analysing responses.

On 6 October 2025, the government announced the biggest shake-up to home buying in this country’s history, including proposing a future consultation on mandatory qualifications for estate and letting agents. We also propose introducing a code of practice setting out the minimum standards expected of all residential property agents including estate, letting and managing agents.

We will set out our full position on regulation of estate, letting and managing agents in due course.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of non-compliant number plates on the ability to trace and prosecute hit-and-run drivers.

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

Under the new Road Safety Strategy, the Government has announced firm action to tackle non-compliant or ‘ghost’ numberplates. This includes consulting on tougher penalties, including penalty points and vehicle seizure, more robust checks on number plate suppliers, and higher industry standards for numberplates. We also intend to commission targeted research to explore the potential use of AI to identify illegal plates.

Found: present: Lord Ricketts (The Chair); Lady Anelay of St Johns; Baroness Ashton of Upholland; Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town

Found: Members Baroness Fairhead Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town Lord German Lord Naseby Baroness Hale of Richmond

Found: Members Baroness Fairhead Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town Lord German Lord Naseby Baroness Hale of Richmond