Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their most recent estimate of the number of unoccupied dwellings in England.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
According to the latest published statistics, excluding second homes, there are 719, 470 vacant dwellings in England. Statistics on vacant dwellings in England as reported for the purposes of council tax are published in the Department’s live table 615 which is accessible on gov.uk.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 10 April (HL6223), whether they will answer the question put, namely, whether they have commissioned advice from the Office for Environmental Protection about the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the noble Lady to the answer given to Question UIN HL6223 on 10 April 2025.
The department has not commissioned advice from the Office for Environmental Protection on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill as they are an independent body and it is for them to decide whether to advise on proposed changes.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on the River Deben Action Plan.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Publicly launched in May 2024 the "Recovering the Deben - From Source to Sea" action plan developed by The East Suffolk Catchment Partnership (ESCP) continues to secure action in the catchment. Since the plan’s launch, the East Suffolk Catchment Partnership has been working with landowners to develop natural flood management schemes in the upper catchment, with the Forestry Commission to improve woodland connectivity, and with a wide range of stakeholders to improve riparian habitats. In addition, the partners have come together to share monitoring and evidence and are developing a State of the Deben Report. A successful bid on behalf of the partnership by the Rivers Trust into the Water Restoration Fund marks a major milestone in supporting the action plan ambitions. With funding in place, the Rivers Trust is recruiting a Programme Manager to work with partners, stakeholders, and local communities to secure further improvements such as addressing fish passage, installing buffer strips alongside the watercourse throughout the catchment, the use of nutrient attenuation ponds, and increasing the understanding of catchment water quality impacts on the Deben Estuary, a Site of Special Scientific Interest in need of recovery.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many complaints the Independent Case Examiner has received in the last three years (1) in total and (2) regarding child maintenance; and of those, how many were found in favour of the complainant.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
ICE does not accept every case that it receives, for example, ICE cannot accept a case until it has exhausted DWP’s complaints process (premature referrals), nor can it accept those outside its jurisdiction.
ICE only considers complaints about maladministration or service failures and cannot deal with complaints about matters of law, that are, or have been, subject to legal proceedings, about how any of the businesses fulfil their responsibilities as an employer or any that involve the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman or the Northern Ireland Ombudsman.
Once a case has been accepted, if appropriate, ICE will attempt to broker a resolution with the customer before gathering all of the evidence relating to the case. Where resolution cannot be reached, evidence is collated, and an investigation is conducted. On the basis of findings made, the case may be upheld/partially upheld in favour of the customer or not upheld. The number of cases received, accepted, and upheld/partially upheld, is in the table below.
| 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
Total* Received | 4911 | 5824 | 7149 |
CMS Received | 1309 | 1519 | 1827 |
Total* Accepted | 1711 | 1861 | 2214 |
CMS Accepted | 785 | 731 | 981 |
Total* upheld/partially upheld | 584 | 765 | 893 |
CMS upheld/partially upheld | 311 | 474 | 459 |
*ICE reviews complaints made by customers of the Department for Work and Pensions (which includes the Child Maintenance Service), Northern Ireland Department for Communities – benefits, pensions and child maintenance only, contracted DWP services and Pension Protection Fund.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government which status of public body they expect the new Fair Pay Agency to have.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Through the Employment Rights Bill, the Government is creating Fair Pay Agreements in the social care sector, and the Fair Work Agency to upgrade enforcement of employment rights.
The Fair Work Agency will be an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade. This and further information on both the Fair Work Agency and Fair Pay Agreements is set out in the Employment Rights Bill factsheets available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-rights-bill-factsheets.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much the creation and opening of each community diagnostic centre cost, and how much it costs annually to operate each centre.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally in the format requested, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
NHS England publishes a monthly report on diagnostic activity for the 15 modalities that make up the Diagnostics Waiting Times and Activity collection. This includes details of activity undertaken in CDCs for those 15 modalities. This is published on the NHS.UK website, in an online only format. It is not, however, a complete record of all CDC activity.
NHS England also publishes a quarterly dataset of all CDC activity at a national level. This is also published on the NHS.UK website, in an online only format. The latest published CDC management information details that CDCs have delivered over 13.9 million additional tests since July 2021.
NHS England’s CDC programme has been supported by a capital budget of £1.48 billion across 2022/23 to 2024/25.
The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, committed to expanding existing CDCs, as well as building up to five new ones in 2025/26, to support the National Health Service to return to meeting the elective waiting time constitutional standard. The plan also commits to CDCs opening 12 hours per day, seven days a week, and delivering more same-day tests and consultations, with an expanded range of tests.
The 2025/25 capital guidance confirmed that £1.65 billion of capital funding will be allocated to support NHS performance across secondary and emergency care, across 2025/26 more broadly. This includes £450 million which has been provisionally allocated for diagnostics, which includes CDCs, partly to expand existing and build new CDCs. £20 million has also been allocated directly to relevant trusts via a separate processes for CDC pathway productivity.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many diagnostic tests have been undertaken by each community diagnostic centre on a weekly basis since each centre was opened.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally in the format requested, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
NHS England publishes a monthly report on diagnostic activity for the 15 modalities that make up the Diagnostics Waiting Times and Activity collection. This includes details of activity undertaken in CDCs for those 15 modalities. This is published on the NHS.UK website, in an online only format. It is not, however, a complete record of all CDC activity.
NHS England also publishes a quarterly dataset of all CDC activity at a national level. This is also published on the NHS.UK website, in an online only format. The latest published CDC management information details that CDCs have delivered over 13.9 million additional tests since July 2021.
NHS England’s CDC programme has been supported by a capital budget of £1.48 billion across 2022/23 to 2024/25.
The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, committed to expanding existing CDCs, as well as building up to five new ones in 2025/26, to support the National Health Service to return to meeting the elective waiting time constitutional standard. The plan also commits to CDCs opening 12 hours per day, seven days a week, and delivering more same-day tests and consultations, with an expanded range of tests.
The 2025/26 capital guidance confirmed that £1.65 billion of capital funding will be allocated to support NHS performance across secondary and emergency care, across 2025/26 more broadly. This includes £450 million which has been provisionally allocated for diagnostics, which includes CDCs, partly to expand existing and build new CDCs. £20 million has also been allocated directly to relevant trusts via a separate processes for CDC pathway productivity.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many responses were received for the Alternative Routes to Market for New Nuclear Projects consultation.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero received 82 responses from across the public realm, including industry and academia. The government will respond in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are aware of any plans the Office of Environmental Protection may have to publish advice regarding the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government welcomes continued collaboration with the Office for Environmental Protection as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill progresses. As an independent body, it is for the Office for Environmental Protection to decide whether to advise on proposed changes to environmental law within the Bill.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have commissioned advice from the Office for Environmental Protection about the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government welcomes continued collaboration with the Office for Environmental Protection as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill progresses. As an independent body, it is for the Office for Environmental Protection to decide whether to advise on proposed changes to environmental law within the Bill.