Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she is taking steps to improve grace periods for parking fines and transparency for the appeal and enforcement process.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

A 10-minute grace period became mandatory for all councils in England on 6 April 2015. It applies at local authority owned or operated car parks and at the end of paid-for and free on-street parking in England. The grace period only applies at the end of permitted paid-for or free parking to allow for accidental overstays beyond a driver's control. It does not apply at the start of a period of parking, nor in circumstances where the driver was not permitted to park (i.e. outside the hours of permitted operation of on-street parking).

A requirement for transparency on matters relating to civil parking enforcement is enshrined in the Secretary of State's statutory guidance for local authorities in England on civil enforcement of parking contraventions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure support is available for vulnerable people in poverty to have improved access to food banks.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Foodbanks are independent organisations and remain in control of who they provide support to and how people can access that support. However, our Work Coaches are adept at providing holistic support to customers, and use their knowledge of local provision to signpost vulnerable customers to the support they need, including Food Banks where appropriate.

From 1 April 2026, we are introducing a new Crisis and Resilience Fund. This is the first ever multi-year settlement for locally delivered crisis support. This longer-term funding approach aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities – working with the voluntary and community sector – as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis, to support our ambition to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.

Found: Alex Ballinger: It is an ODA question as well, but I am happy to come back to it later.

Found: Foreign Affairs Committee members present: Alex Ballinger.

Found: Foreign Affairs Committee members present: Alex Ballinger.

Found: Alex Ballinger will open the questioning. Alex Ballinger: Thank you and good afternoon.

Found: Foreign Affairs Committee members present: Alex Ballinger.