Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help strengthen enforcement powers for councils to prevent unauthorised development on Green Belt land.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case.

The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review.

With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing immediate stop notices with penalties for breaches to help reduce cases of members of the travelling community developing on Green Belt land.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case.

The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review.

With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to prevent members of the travelling community from developing property on Green Belt land; and if she will take steps to strengthen the planning process in this area.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case.

The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review.

With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to provide increased (a) financial and (b) legal support for local authorities to help tackle unauthorised developments.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case.

The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review.

With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to take steps to help tackle the dismissal of High Court injunctions relating to the development of traveller sites.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

It is for the independent courts to determine the lawfulness of individual injunctions. Local authorities and the police have a range of powers available to manage unauthorised encampments.

Statutory guidance issued by the Home Office sets out how these powers should be applied, including the importance of considering welfare needs and ensuring that any enforcement action is lawful, necessary and proportionate.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Memorandum of Understanding between UK and OpenAI on AI opportunities, published on 21 July 2025, what steps his Department is taking to ensure safeguards are in place to protect public data when working alongside a commercial company.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The government is committed to transparency, security, and the responsible use of emerging technologies. The Memorandum of Understanding with OpenAI is voluntary and non-binding. It does not grant access to public data or commit the Government to any expenditure.

The UK has one of the most robust data protection regimes in the world, and all organisations are required to comply with our legislation to safeguard UK personal data.

The Information Commissioner’s Office retains powers to investigate and enforce action where necessary, and individuals maintain legal recourse if their data is misused.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions he has had with stakeholders on the risks artificial intelligence poses to children; and what steps he is taking to mitigate those risks.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government recognises the importance of this issue. We engage with a range of stakeholders on the impact of AI, including child safety experts.

As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we believe most AI systems should be regulated at the point of use, with our expert regulators best placed to do so. Alongside this, the strongest protections in the Online Safety Act are for children, requiring in-scope services to protect all users from illegal content and children from encountering harmful content, including where it is AI generated.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the process for (a) paying and (b) claiming reimbursement for childcare expenses on the finances of Universal Credit recipients.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The childcare costs element in Universal Credit is based on a customer’s actual costs and monthly reporting of paid out costs is simple to submit. Working parents can report their childcare costs either in the same assessment period they were paid, or by the end of the following assessment period.

Universal Credit customers who need help with their upfront childcare costs to move into work or increase their working hours may be eligible for support from the Flexible Support Fund. The Flexible Support Fund can be used to pay 100% of the upfront costs of up to one month of childcare. This is designed to ensure that any costs incurred in relation to childcare when starting work or increasing hours is not a barrier to taking up this work.

Customers who have received an upfront childcare award can make a Universal Credit childcare claim for up to 85% of their childcare costs thereafter. The Universal Credit childcare claim is paid to the customer through their Universal Credit award, which they can use to pay for the next month's costs, thereby easing customers into the Universal Credit childcare costs payment cycle.

Alternative help with upfront costs for eligible Universal Credit customers is available through Budgeting Advances.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with relevant stakeholders on potential changes to legislation that would help increase the number of companies that are able to donate surplus food to (a) food banks and (b) soup kitchens.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

No discussions have taken place with stakeholders on legislative changes to increase the number of companies able to donate food surplus.

Defra's Food and Drink Waste Hierarchy outlines how all businesses should deal with food surplus and waste, preventing food surplus where possible and redistributing any surplus should it arise. Following this hierarchy will help businesses to minimise the environmental impact of food and drink waste and maximise the value of food and drink surplus, for example by donating to food banks or soup kitchens.

Defra funds the UK Food and Drink Pact, a voluntary agreement with industry to tackle food waste, managed by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Through the Pact, we support the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, which helps businesses to identify and measure their surplus and waste and take steps to reduce it.

This Target Measure Act (TMA) approach enables food businesses to get more surplus to redistributors. Defra also engages a working group of supply chain and redistribution sector organisations to develop best practice and overcome barriers to redistribution.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the child poverty strategy will look beyond the 10-year timeframe.

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

The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.

Our focus is on bringing about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change, thereby reversing the trend that is seeing forecasts of child poverty continuing to increase. More details, including on the timeframes, will be set out in the strategy publication.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the implementation of the Online Safety Act on the level of risk that private bodies could harvest sensitive data on UK citizens who seek out VPN services.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Organisations that process personal data, which could include VPN providers, are subject to requirements of the data protection legislation. This includes obligations to process people’s data fairly and lawfully and to ensure that any data collected is held securely. Organisations that fail to comply may face enforcement action by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that elderly people have reliable access to dental care.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. This includes considering the needs of elderly populations. The ICB for the Tewkesbury constituency is Gloucestershire ICB.

We know that as people age, they tend to move to rural and coastal areas where the challenges in accessing NHS dentistry are exacerbated. We have introduced the Golden Hellos scheme which will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.

ICBs may commission specialised dental services including domiciliary care for elderly people living in care homes. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on oral health in care homes sets out several recommendations for care homes to help maintain and improve oral health and ensure timely access to dental treatment for their residents. The Government expects care homes to be following NICE guidance and recommendations in this area.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to expand dental services in rural areas.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist, particularly in more rural areas.

The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England.

ICBs are recruiting posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.

We are committed to reforming the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists. The Government’s ambition is to deliver fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of recent incidents involving known risk items being accessed by mental health patients with the knowledge of NHS staff.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

On 4 April 2025, NHS England published its ‘Staying Safe from Suicide: Best Practice Guidance for Safety Assessment, Formulation and Management'. This promotes a shift towards a more holistic, person-centred approach rather than relying on risk prediction, which is unreliable because suicidal thoughts can change quickly. Instead, it recommends using a method based on understanding each person’s situation and managing their safety.

The purpose of this guidance is to enable mental health practitioners to adopt best practice principles in working with people of all ages to stay safe from suicide. This guidance also has a section covering confidentiality and the law and refers to the consensus statement for information sharing and suicide prevention. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/staying-safe-from-suicide/

Work is also underway to make training available to all mental health practitioners to incorporate the principles of this guidance into their practice. This training was recently launched and is available via an e-learning module. This complements existing local training on suicide prevention, and a number of other national e-learning products that are already available.

The National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health has been commissioned through the NHS England Culture of Care programme to support every provider of National Health Service commissioned inpatient services to move to personalised safety planning in line with evidence.

In addition to this, the Health Services Safety Investigations Body’s (HSSIB) investigation into mental health inpatient settings identified important concerns and safety recommendations that can help us to improve mental health care, protect patients and the public and create a safe working environment for staff. We are in the process of formally responding to all the recommendations for the Department made within these reports. NHS England will be publishing guidance in response to the HSSIB’s recommendations defining the therapeutic relationship and guidance on responding to the use of non-anchored ligature points.

Improving equestrian road safety awareness

Flying Nightingales

National inquiry into child sexual exploitation

Council elections in areas pursuing devolution reform

Sale of caged hens’ eggs

Elon Musk at the Unite the Kingdom rally

Fly camping in the Lake District

Provision of trained Family Liaison Officers

Parkrun’s 21st anniversary

Global Lobular Breast Cancer Awareness Day 2025

Protect our hospices

Celebrating Organic September

Insect decline and pesticide reduction

Protection of the Climate Change Act

25th anniversary of the UN Women, Peace and Security agenda

Access to school and college transport for disabled young people

Renewable energy and coal

Flood Action Week 2025

Dyslexia Awareness Week

World Bee Day (No. 2)

Final delivery plan on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

Pavement parking consultation response

Children of Ukraine

Award of honorary posthumous England cap to Frank Soo

Gurkha pensions

Dame Annette Brooke

200th anniversary of the Church of St Martin of Tours, Epsom

Neurodivergent children at school

Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize awarded to Mines Advisory Group

Mental health care in Gaza

Found: Sarah Gibson Pippa Heylings Chris Hinchliff Martin Rhodes Blake Stephenson Alison Taylor Cameron Thomas

Found: Barry Gardiner; Annae Gelderd; Sarah Gibson; Pippa Heylings; Chris Hinchliff; Martin Rhodes; Cameron Thomas

Found: Stephenson (Conservative; Mid Bedfordshire) Alison Taylor (Labour; Paisley and Renfrewshire North) Cameron Thomas

Found: Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd; Pippa Heylings; Chris Hinchliff; Martin Rhodes; Alison Taylor; Cameron Thomas

Found: Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd; Pippa Heylings; Chris Hinchliff; Martin Rhodes; Alison Taylor; Cameron Thomas

Found: Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd; Pippa Heylings; Chris Hinchliff; Martin Rhodes; Alison Taylor; Cameron Thomas

Found: Jones Sarah Dyke Martin Wrigley Liz Jarvis John Milne Josh Babarinde Sarah Olney Pippa Heylings Cameron Thomas

Found: Forster Clive Jones Sarah Dyke Martin Wrigley Liz Jarvis John Milne Sarah Olney Pippa Heylings Cameron Thomas

Found: Babarinde Marie Goldman Andrew GeorgeMr Joshua Reynolds Gideon Amos Manuela Perteghella Alex Brewer Cameron Thomas

Submit Evidence (by 4 Nov 2025)

This Environmental Audit Committee inquiry will examine the Climate Change Committee's advice on the Seventh Carbon Budget. It will consider the assumptions and costs underpinning the CCC’s recommendations, explore the balance between emerging and established technologies, the policy choices facing Government, and the potential impacts on households, businesses and the wider economy. The inquiry will also look at how the Government should communicate choices and trade-offs, and how Parliament and the public can best scrutinise delivery plans and progress.