Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of its proposals on density around train stations on the provision of a) station parking and b) green space.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, the government consulted on a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, set out a number of proposals to support development in sustainable locations, including a “default yes” for suitable proposals that develop land around stations within existing settlements, and around ‘well-connected’ stations outside settlements, including on Green Belt land.
The consultation also included proposals relating to green space, and provisions to ensure that transport issues, such as parking, should be considered from the earliest stages of plan-making and development proposals, to support delivery of well-designed and sustainable places. Further, it included proposals to ensure that applications for development should address the needs of people with disabilities and reduced mobility in relation to all modes of transport.
We are currently analysing the responses received to these proposals and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy not to include train stations which do not have step free access in his planning policies on development around train stations.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, the government consulted on a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, set out a number of proposals to support development in sustainable locations, including a “default yes” for suitable proposals that develop land around stations within existing settlements, and around ‘well-connected’ stations outside settlements, including on Green Belt land.
The consultation also included proposals relating to green space, and provisions to ensure that transport issues, such as parking, should be considered from the earliest stages of plan-making and development proposals, to support delivery of well-designed and sustainable places. Further, it included proposals to ensure that applications for development should address the needs of people with disabilities and reduced mobility in relation to all modes of transport.
We are currently analysing the responses received to these proposals and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the average income of social housing tenants in England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The English Housing Survey (EHS), which can be found on gov.uk here, collects and publishes data on tenure trends.
In 2023-24 (the most recent data currently available), the average weekly income of social renters (household reference person and partner) was £442 in England. The relevant data can be found in Table FA1321 here.
In 2024-25, the average length of time social renters spent in their current home was 12.2 years. The relevant data can be found in the Annex Table 3.6 to the Headline Report here.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the average tenure of social housing tenants in England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The English Housing Survey (EHS), which can be found on gov.uk here, collects and publishes data on tenure trends.
In 2023-24 (the most recent data currently available), the average weekly income of social renters (household reference person and partner) was £442 in England. The relevant data can be found in Table FA1321 here.
In 2024-25, the average length of time social renters spent in their current home was 12.2 years. The relevant data can be found in the Annex Table 3.6 to the Headline Report here.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government intends for a) nationally-set housing targets or b) housing targets set out in Local Plans to be used for the calculation of five year land supply in circumstances where a Local Plan was prepared under national targets set prior to December 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Housing requirement figures identified in Local Plan policies should be used for calculating the 5-year housing land supply figure (5YHLS) where: the plan was adopted in the last 5 years, or has been reviewed within the last 5 years and found not to require updating. In other circumstances, 5YHLS will be measured against the area’s local housing need calculated using the standard method.
Further information on 5YHLS and the Housing Delivery Test can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of a) water and b) sewage capacity in areas with high housing targets.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 6660 answered by the Minister for Water and Flooding on 10 June 2026.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 a) Stotfold Garden Village, b) Tempsford and c) Milton Keynes scored differently for Objective 2 of the New Towns Programme methodology.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Building on the work of the independent New Towns Taskforce, my Department carried out its own assessment of potential locations for new towns.
The full methodology and outcome of this assessment can be found at Annex C of the New Town Draft Programme which was consulted on between 23 March and 19 May 2026. That Annex can be found on gov.uk here.
Table 1 in Annex C sets out the objectives, sub-criteria and guidance that was applied to the longlist of locations that were assessed. Table 2 sets out the reasons why longlist locations, including Stotfold Garden Village, did not meet the programme objectives.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to adopt Recommendation 20 of the report Backdoors to Britain, published by the honourable Member for Mid Bedfordshire on 4 March 2026.
Answered by Mike Tapp
The Government keeps the immigration system under review.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to adopt Recommendation 17 of the report by Hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire entitled Backdoors to Britain, published on 4 March 2026.
Answered by Mike Tapp
The Government keeps the immigration system under review.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the reduction in waiting lists since July 2024 has been as a result of patients receiving treatment.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department publishes data on Referral to Treatment waiting times. The majority of patients in this data set are considered as having received 'treatment'. A proportion of the removals from the waiting list which appear in this data set as unreported removals, a category which can occur for a variety of data quality and technical reasons, will have been removed for administrative reasons, for example, where a duplicate record was identified. The data is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/