Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that Section 106 money is spent promptly.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 54059 on 6 June 2025.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2026 to Question 102105 on Network Rail: Assets, what estimate she has made of the level of expenditure required to redress the predicted Composite Sustainability Index (CSI) rail asset sustainability reduction of 2.6%.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The objectives and funding for GBR in the next funding period (running from April 2029 to March 2034) will be determined via the coming funding and objective-setting process.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Animal Welfare Strategy for England, what is the timeline for the publication of the evidence base on welfare issues affecting decapod crustaceans.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to an evidence-based and proportionate approach to setting welfare standards for decapod crustaceans. The Government set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy that it will develop this evidence base through research and continued stakeholder engagement. Research on how live decapods move from sea to plate is due to finish later this year and a project on the welfare of decapod crustaceans across the supply chain is included in the Animal Welfare Committee’s current work plan.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Animal Welfare Strategy for England, whether her Department plans to support voluntary efforts to move away from the use of fast-growing meat chicken breeds.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 16 March 2026 to the hon. Member for Stockport, PQ UIN 118907.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Animal Welfare Strategy for England, whether her Department plans to require that all chicken is sourced from higher welfare systems meeting the standards of the Better Chicken Commitment in Government procurement contracts.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy, public sector food procurement policies have the potential to drive more positive animal welfare outcomes. We will explore such opportunities as we develop our policy, including the potential to strengthen the animal welfare provisions across a range of products within the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF). Further, the National Procurement Policy Statement, published in February 2025, underscores the government's commitment to increasing the procurement of food that meets higher environmental standards and upholds ethical sourcing practises across public sector contracts.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Animal Welfare Strategy for England, when the guidance on the welfare of decapods at time of killing will be published; and whether killing methods beyond live boiling are to be included in the Strategy.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will publish guidance on which methods of killing decapods are compatible with the existing legal requirements on animal welfare at time of killing. This guidance is under development.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a single national reporting route for instances of fly-tipping.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Individuals can already report illegal waste activity anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online. Local authorities are often best placed to tackle local issues such as fly-tipping, and so any single national reporting route would need to pass reports on to the relevant local authority. Incidents can already be reported to the relevant local authority online. Individuals can get help on identifying the relevant local authority webpage at: https://www.gov.uk/report-flytipping.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve the provision of physical exercise for (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils; and whether her Department is working with School Sport Partnerships.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It is this government’s mission is to break down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child benefits from high-quality PE and school sports. The new PE and School Sport Partnerships, announced last June by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, will ensure that all children have equal access to high-quality PE by bringing together primary and secondary schools, local clubs, and national governing bodies to target funding and support where it is most needed.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the process for compensating general practitioners for the use of health facilities owned by local authorities.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices operate as independent businesses, providing National Health Services, and practices are eligible for reimbursement of certain costs. Terms depend on the ownership or occupation arrangements for the property, as set out in the Premises Costs Directions (PCDs) 2024.
The PCDs are directions to NHS England from my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in relation to reimbursements of certain costs incurred by General Medical Services contractors, relating to their practice premises, principally notional rent or rent reimbursement, and some day-to-day running costs. This applies to properties owned by local authorities.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, to list the (a) individuals and (b) organisations that her Department is consulting as part of its research to better understand the adoption process under the Highways Act 1980 and how it might be improved in the future.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ipsos UK has been commissioned by the Department for Transport to conduct research into the operation of sections 37 and 38 of the Highways Act 1980 and to assess whether the current road adoption system remains fit for purpose. As part of this work, Ipsos are engaging a range of organisations, including house builders of varying sizes, local highway and planning authorities, councillors, and residents.
Residents have been sampled from areas including Cambridge, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Northumberland, Barnsley, Cheshire East, Gloucestershire and Milton Keynes. Interviews have also been conducted with several local authorities including Warwickshire, Barnsley, Cambridge, Cheshire East, Leicestershire, Kent and Shropshire.
Ipsos UK was commissioned to deliver anonymous qualitative interviews. To honour the confidentiality promised to participants, Ipsos has not shared the detailed list of individual housebuilders with the Department, and therefore DfT does not hold this information.