Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 applies to Transport for London, and what discussions they have had with Transport for London about the use of the powers in that Act.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 would apply to Transport for London. However, the Government announced on 6 August that it will repeal the Act as part of the Employment Rights Bill which is currently at Final Stages in the Lords. The Act was unworkable for public transport when it was passed.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the enforcement of their proposed "respect orders" by police forces in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is crucial that police have the powers they need to tackle anti-social behaviour.
New Respect Orders, introduced through the Crime and Policing Bill, will give police stronger powers to enforce against the most persistent adult offenders.
Respect Orders will be behavioural orders, issued by the civil courts. They will enable courts to ban offenders from engaging in harmful anti-social behaviours and can also require perpetrators to take action to address the root cause of their behaviour.
Failure to comply with a Respect Order will be a criminal offence, enforceable by arrest and tried in the criminal court. Penalty for breach will include community sentences, unlimited fines, and prison time for the most serious breaches.
Updated statutory guidance will be provided to forces on Respect Orders, to ensure they are being used as effectively as possible.
We are also delivering on our commitment to restore and strengthen neighbourhood policing, ensuring thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers are out patrolling in our town centres and communities to make our streets safer.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they collect data about suicides and attempted suicides by police members across England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not currently collect data centrally on suicides or attempted suicides by police workers.
Data on suicides by occupation have previously been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
A National Action Plan for Suicide Prevention and Postvention in policing has been launched, which aims to reduce rates among the police workforce as well as enhancing data recording. The plan, which includes ensuring adequate training for the police workforce, emphasises a supportive environment that promotes mental health and combats stigma to ensure that those affected by suicide or suicidal thoughts can access appropriate and timely support.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that their intention to repeal the Vagrancy Act 1824 by spring 2026 does not cause an increase in homelessness and rough sleeping; and what plans they have to offer additional financial support to local authorities in England to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Vagrancy Act 1824 does nothing to tackle the root causes of homelessness, which is why we will be the government which repeals this punitive legislation.
At the same time, homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected. We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The government is looking at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross government strategy to get us back on track to ending homelessness.
The government have already taken the first steps to getting back on track to ending homelessness, including making a £1 billion investment in homelessness and rough sleeping services this year (2025/26), a £233 million increase on the previous year.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the leasehold property system and what plans they have to reform it; and what assessment they have made of the case for making commonhold the primary model of ownership for flats in England and Wales.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As set out in my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024, for far too many leaseholders, the reality of home ownership has fallen woefully short of the dream. As set out in our manifesto, we are determined to bring the feudal leasehold system to an end, reinvigorate commonhold and take the first steps towards making it the default tenure by the end of this Parliament.
Draft legislation and a consultation on the best approach to banning new leasehold flats will be published later this year.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether London is on track to deliver its share of the target to build 1.5 million homes in this Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government has set a target of 88,000 new homes per year in London through the new standard method and remains committed to working in partnership with the London Mayor, boroughs, and wider stakeholders to achieve a step change in building in the capital.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will consider reducing National Insurance thresholds for employers.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has taken a number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to fix the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability after the situation we inherited from the previous government.
One of the toughest decisions we made was to raise the rate of employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from 13.8% to 15%, whilst reducing the per-employee threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance (the Secondary Threshold) from £9,100 to £5,000.
The Government recognises the need to protect the smallest businesses and charities, which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning more than half of businesses with NICs liabilities either gain or see no change this year.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to reduce value added tax for hospitality and night-time venues to boost recovery, encourage investment and support long-term growth.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the significant contribution made by hospitality businesses to economic growth and social life in the UK.
VAT is the UK’s third largest tax, forecast to raise £180 billion in 2025/26. Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for vital public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer.
HMRC estimate that the cost of a 5 per cent reduced rate for accommodation, hospitality and tourist attractions would be around £13 billion this financial year. If the scope were also to include alcoholic beverages, the cost would be approximately £3 billion greater.
The Government keeps all taxes under review, and the Chancellor makes decisions on tax changes at the Budget, in the context of the overall public finances.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to extend the business rates relief scheme for the night-time economy sector; and what steps they are taking towards business rates reform for that sector.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
To deliver our manifesto pledge, from 2026/27, we intend to introduce permanently lower business rates multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000, which will include many properties used by the night-time economy sector. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support.
Ahead of the new multipliers coming into force, we recognise that businesses will need support in 2025/26. As such, we have extended the RHL business rates relief for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. Under the previous Government, RHL relief was due to end entirely in April 2025.
Eligibility for the new RHL multipliers is intended to broadly reflect the scope of the existing RHL relief scheme and will be set out in legislation later this year. Eligibility for the RHL relief scheme is set out in guidance published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and includes many night-time economy businesses.
Asked by: Lord Bailey of Paddington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to increase the cap on fixed penalty notices that councils can issue for fly-tipping.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
At present, we do not have plans to increase the cap on fixed penalty notices that councils can issue for fly-tipping. Councils can currently issue fixed penalty notices of up to £1000.
We have committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess they have created. This will build on the sanctions already available which also include seizing vehicles and prosecution action which can lead to a significant fine, a community sentence or even imprisonment.
We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers and are taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance. We are also conducting a review of their powers to seize and crush vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.