Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason his Department calculates the maximum fair rent for regulated tenancies using the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rather than the Retail Prices Index (RPI).
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Regulated tenancies under the Rent Act 1977 are entitled to a ‘fair rent’ which is determined and registered by rent officers. The Rent Act (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999 limits increases in registered fair rents to the change in the Retail Price Index plus a fixed percentage uplift.
The government has no plans to review or amend the inflationary index or to change the basis for calculating maximum fair rents from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Prices Index.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department will consider amending The Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999 so that the formula to calculate the maximum fair rent for regulated tenancies uses the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rather than the Retail Prices Index (RPI).
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Regulated tenancies under the Rent Act 1977 are entitled to a ‘fair rent’ which is determined and registered by rent officers. The Rent Act (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999 limits increases in registered fair rents to the change in the Retail Price Index plus a fixed percentage uplift.
The government has no plans to review or amend the inflationary index or to change the basis for calculating maximum fair rents from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Prices Index.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to (a) review and (b) amend the maximum fair rent inflationary index set in the Rent Act 1977.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Regulated tenancies under the Rent Act 1977 are entitled to a ‘fair rent’ which is determined and registered by rent officers. The Rent Act (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999 limits increases in registered fair rents to the change in the Retail Price Index plus a fixed percentage uplift.
The government has no plans to review or amend the inflationary index or to change the basis for calculating maximum fair rents from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Prices Index.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the impact that mandating extended online consultation use at GP surgeries will have on the availability of face-to-face appointments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No formal assessment has been undertaken of the impact that mandating extended use of online consultations will have on the availability of face‑to‑face appointments.
Between November and December 2025, the number of online consultations fell by approximately 175,000, despite contract changes introduced in October 2025 to align online consultation hours with telephone and reception access. Over the same period, the proportion of appointments delivered face‑to‑face has remained stable. In December 2025, 61.5% of all appointments were conducted in person with a healthcare professional, a decrease of 2.5% compared with December 2024.
Practices already using online systems have seen significant improvements. One London general practice surgery reduced waits from 14 days to just three, with 95% of patients seen within a week.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what provision has been made to help increase the number of appointments available within NHS primary care services in response to increases in online consultation use at GP surgeries.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have invested £160 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to support the recruitment of over 2,000 individual general practitioners (GPs) into primary care networks across England, helping to increase appointment availability and improve care for thousands of patients. The new £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund will also create additional clinical space within over 1,000 practices across England. This investment will deliver more appointments and improve patient care.
Last year, we invested an additional £1.1 billion in GPs to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade.
As a result, we have successfully delivered an additional 6.8 million GP appointments for patients compared to the same period last year, meaning more patients are getting the support they need, when they need it. Between November and December 2025, the number of online consultations fell by approximately 175,000, despite contract changes introduced in October 2025 to align online consultation hours with telephone and reception access.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of (a) the new online consultation system for GP surgeries and (b) as part of that, urgent clinical queries being included on forms meant for non-urgent business on levels of patient safety.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices (GPs) are independent businesses contracted by the National Health Service to deliver essential services, and as part of these contracts they are required to provide modern telephony systems and online consultation tools. In the 2025 contract negotiations with the General Practitioners Committee England, agreement was reached to ensure online, telephone, and reception access is available throughout core hours. To support safe implementation, this was deferred to 1 October 2025, with support available from NHS England and the integrated care boards for practices that need help meeting the requirement. These changes build on several years of work to modernise GPs and improve access.
Online consultation systems already require practices to triage clinical need, so extending access to core hours does not change how urgent and non‑urgent queries are managed, it simply gives patients more choice in how they contact their practice and helps ensure urgent issues are identified quickly while non‑urgent requests are handled appropriately.
Practices already using online systems have seen significant improvements. One London GP surgery reduced waits from 14 days to just three, with 95% of patients seen within a week.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had discussions with the Environment Agency on it registering property owners along the tidal Thames as riparian owners where legal evidence of ownership does not exist.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency does not register landowners in London as riparian owners. A landowner’s responsibility for a tidal flood defence arises under the Metropolis Management (Thames River Prevention of Floods) Amendment Act 1879, which requires flood defences to be created and maintained to a defined height (relative to ordnance datum) in order to protect London from flooding and inundations caused by overflows from the River Thames.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Environment Agency is permitted to register property owners along the tidal Thames as riparian owners where legal evidence of ownership does not exist.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency does not register landowners in London as riparian owners. A landowner’s responsibility for a tidal flood defence arises under the Metropolis Management (Thames River Prevention of Floods) Amendment Act 1879, which requires flood defences to be created and maintained to a defined height (relative to ordnance datum) in order to protect London from flooding and inundations caused by overflows from the River Thames.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has been made of the risk of harm, including financial hardship, distress, or loss of income, which may arise from the Universal Credit migration process.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to ensuring that the transition to Universal Credit works as smoothly and safely as possible for all individuals, including for disabled people.
Customers moving from DWP legacy benefits or Housing Benefit continue to receive their legacy benefits for two weeks following their move to Universal Credit to smooth the transition from fortnightly to monthly payments. Customers who under Universal Credit are entitled to a lower amount of benefit will have their current cash award transitionally protected at the higher award.
To support customers to make a claim to Universal Credit, we have put in place additional support arrangements for customers that face additional challenges. This includes:
These measures are part of our broader commitment to equality and inclusion, ensuring that no one is disadvantaged in accessing the support they are entitled to.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what protections are in place for claimants with disabilities during the Universal Credit migration process.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to ensuring that the transition to Universal Credit works as smoothly and safely as possible for all individuals, including for disabled people.
Customers moving from DWP legacy benefits or Housing Benefit continue to receive their legacy benefits for two weeks following their move to Universal Credit to smooth the transition from fortnightly to monthly payments. Customers who under Universal Credit are entitled to a lower amount of benefit will have their current cash award transitionally protected at the higher award.
To support customers to make a claim to Universal Credit, we have put in place additional support arrangements for customers that face additional challenges. This includes:
These measures are part of our broader commitment to equality and inclusion, ensuring that no one is disadvantaged in accessing the support they are entitled to.