Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have written to each local planning authority in England in the last 12 months to remind them that charges for pre-application advice under section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003 must relate only to cost recovery; and, if not, whether they plan to do so.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has not written to each local planning authority in the last 12 months to remind them that charges for pre-application advice should not exceed cost-recovery and has no plans to do so.
Planning Practice Guidance already makes clear that local planning authorities may charge for discretionary services, including pre-application advice, under section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003, but that such charges should not exceed the cost of providing the service.
Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they support the creation of a permanent group bringing together the Department of Health, academia, and industry on sepsis, severe infection, and antimicrobial resistance to accelerate the development of life-saving solutions.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Sepsis Modern Service Framework, a copy of which is attached, includes priority actions and tasks with indicative timelines. Immediate and short-term actions in the framework will be delivered within existing funding under the current departmental allocation following the 2025 Spending Review. Longer term funding will be subject to future spending reviews.
The wide range of experts on sepsis, severe infection, and antimicrobial resistance involved in development of the framework continue to be engaged, to support both implementation of best practice consistently across the National Health Service, and to prioritise research and innovation efforts to better enable improvements in patient care and outcomes.
The framework also commits to delivering a targeted public communications campaign for high-risk groups to improve prevention, identification, escalation, and response to sepsis.
Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve awareness of the early signs of sepsis, particularly in high-risk populations; and how they plan to disseminate awareness resources.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Sepsis Modern Service Framework, a copy of which is attached, includes priority actions and tasks with indicative timelines. Immediate and short-term actions in the framework will be delivered within existing funding under the current departmental allocation following the 2025 Spending Review. Longer term funding will be subject to future spending reviews.
The wide range of experts on sepsis, severe infection, and antimicrobial resistance involved in development of the framework continue to be engaged, to support both implementation of best practice consistently across the National Health Service, and to prioritise research and innovation efforts to better enable improvements in patient care and outcomes.
The framework also commits to delivering a targeted public communications campaign for high-risk groups to improve prevention, identification, escalation, and response to sepsis.
Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to release their implementation plan for the Sepsis Modern Service Framework; and how they will fund the necessary improvements.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Sepsis Modern Service Framework, a copy of which is attached, includes priority actions and tasks with indicative timelines. Immediate and short-term actions in the framework will be delivered within existing funding under the current departmental allocation following the 2025 Spending Review. Longer term funding will be subject to future spending reviews.
The wide range of experts on sepsis, severe infection, and antimicrobial resistance involved in development of the framework continue to be engaged, to support both implementation of best practice consistently across the National Health Service, and to prioritise research and innovation efforts to better enable improvements in patient care and outcomes.
The framework also commits to delivering a targeted public communications campaign for high-risk groups to improve prevention, identification, escalation, and response to sepsis.
Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the announcement by the Prime Minister's Office of 21 July, New PM cuts tax on household electricity bills to give breathing space on cost of living, what assessment they have made of how cutting VAT on electricity bills will be funded after this financial year.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has announced a cut in VAT on electricity bills to give millions of households breathing space on the cost of living.
These changes to VAT apply and are funded for this winter (from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027).
Any further decisions will be taken at the Budget alongside an OBR forecast, and will be consistent with the Government’s fiscal rules.
Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the announcement by the Prime Minister's Office of 21 July, New PM cuts tax on household electricity bills to give breathing space on cost of living, whether the cut in VAT on electricity bills will last for one year.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has announced a cut in VAT on electricity bills to give millions of households breathing space on the cost of living.
These changes to VAT apply and are funded for this winter (from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027).
Any further decisions will be taken at the Budget alongside an OBR forecast, and will be consistent with the Government’s fiscal rules.
Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the likelihood of a rise in the Ofgem price cap after 30 September; and what assessment they have made of the impact of such a rise.
Answered by Baroness Curran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The setting of the energy price cap is a matter for the independent market regulator Ofgem and the Government does not speculate on such matters.
Tackling affordability is this Government’s number one priority. For this reason, we have taken action to remove VAT from electricity bills from 1 October this year for six months. We also acted at last year’s Budget by taking on average £150 of costs off energy bills, with those decisions now factored into bills for the years to come.
The Government continues to monitor energy prices closely and recognises the impact that changes in bills can have on households.
Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many late payment fines for late paid income tax in the estates of the dead who died before the normal tax due date have been raised in each of the past three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Livermore
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many letters about the requirement to file quarterly Making Tax Digital returns have been sent out in error to taxpayers whose qualifying income is below the initial £50,000 threshold; and if so, what has been the mailing and administration cost of this.
Answered by Lord Livermore
As part of the Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax awareness campaign, HMRC issued letters to customers with qualifying income over £50,000. These customers were identified based upon the latest information held by HMRC at that time.
While some customers may subsequently have fallen below the threshold due to amendments to their 2024/25 tax returns made after letters were scheduled, HMRC is satisfied that the correct customers have been contacted overall and does not consider that any significant additional mailing or administration costs were incurred.
Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 11 June 2025 (HC57195), whether they have published the analysis by industry experts to understand the causes behind the increases in insurance costs; and if so, where that analysis is published.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The research referenced as part of HC57195 was commissioned by Historic England. There are no current plans for it to be published