Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to increase funding for social housing in the next Spending Review in the context of levels of homelessness.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 30393 on 24 February 2025 for more detail on the steps we have already taken to increase social and affordable housebuilding.
We will set out details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for Social Rent.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help tackle unaffordable rent increases.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises that paying rent is likely to be a tenant’s biggest monthly expense. The Renters’ Rights Bill empowers private rented sector tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases, with all rent increases taking place via an existing statutory process.
Tenants who receive a rent increase that they feel is not representative of the market value will be able to challenge the increase at the First-tier Tribunal. This will prevent unscrupulous landlords using rent increases as a backdoor means of eviction, while ensuring rents can be increased to reflect market rates.
The Bill also prohibits rental bidding practices and landlords demanding large amounts of rent in advance.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
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 ensure that green spaces are adequately designed to (a) tackle climate challenges, (b) support water availability and (c) increase flood resilience.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December 2024 makes clear that the planning system should take full account of all climate impacts, including water scarcity and flood risk.
Planning should help to shape places in a way that minimises vulnerability and improves resilience to the effects of climate change though suitable adaptation measures, including through incorporating green infrastructure and sustainable drainage systems.
The government provides design guidance through the National Design Guide (NDG) and National Model Design Code (NDMC) which support the National Planning Policy Framework. The department intends to update this guidance in Spring 2025.
Natural England have also published The Green Infrastructure Framework and accompanying Design Guide in February 2023. This can be used to support local planning authorities and developers to design and create more nature-rich urban greenspaces.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will conduct a review of the statutory framework for biodiversity net gain; and if he will take steps with environmental horticulture experts to include cultivated plant diversity in its metrics.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is working with stakeholders, including the horticulture sector, to monitor the implementation of biodiversity net gain to make sure it is working as intended.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for reviewing the recommendations of the Animal Welfare Committee Opinion on the welfare implications of current and emergent feline breeding practices, published in December 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government welcomes the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the welfare implications of current and emergent feline breeding practices. We are carefully considering the Committee’s recommendations.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to continue funding for additional higher anaesthetic training places in 2025-26.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to training the staff we need, including anaesthetists, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.
We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the National Health Service in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.
We have launched the 10-Year Health Plan which will set out a bold agenda to reform and repair the NHS, and ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to build the transformed health service we will deliver over the next decade.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her planned timetable is for bringing forward measures to ban trophy hunting.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government committed to banning the import of hunting trophies in its Manifesto. We intend to deliver on this and are currently considering the most effective way to do so.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that the children of families of boaters without a permanent mooring have daily access to education without falling under enforcement of the Canal and River Trust and other navigation authorities.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Navigation authorities are responsible for operational matters on their waterways, and boaters using navigable waterways are required to comply with the terms of their licences for the benefit of all waterway users. The country’s largest navigation authority owning the majority of the canal network, the Canal and River Trust, has provided assurances that appropriate enforcement action on its waterways is only used as a last resort in response to persistent non-compliance, to ensure fairness to all boaters. Those with children who choose to live on a boat without a permanent mooring are responsible for ensuring they have access to education; the Trust provides reasonable adjustments for anyone who qualifies under the Equalities & Human Rights Act.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the causes of backlogs in Teachers' Pensions; and what steps she is taking to reduce such backlogs.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
A backlog in the provision of cash equivalent transfer values (CETVs) to members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme has been caused by two issues. Initially, an embargo was placed on the provision of CETVs by the public service pension schemes from March 2023 to July 2023. This was a result of the need for new factors to be calculated following a change to the Superannuation Contributions Adjusted for Past Experience (SCAPE) discount rate. Not all of those cases could be cleared by the scheme administrator before the Transitional Protection (McCloud) legislation took effect on 1 October 2023. For those members affected by Transitional Protection, further cross-scheme guidance was needed by the scheme administrator which created another significant period in which CETV cases could not be processed.
As of 20 November 2024, there are 1,952 CETV cases which have not been processed three months after the member applied.
The majority of these cases do not include scheme flexibilities and the scheme administrator currently estimates that such cases will all be cleared by the end of February 2025. The department is working with the scheme administrator to determine the likely timeframe for cases that involve flexibilities and the small cohort where guidance is being finalised. Consideration is being given to measures to reduce the timescales that members are waiting, including investigating the potential for any further automation of calculations, simplification of the CETV figures provided to the member and maximising the administrative resource available, for example through ongoing overtime.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he (a) is taking and (b) plans to take steps to (i) require broadband companies to share underground infrastructure and (ii) help reduce disruption to residents ahead of the full fibre rollout.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We want operators to use existing underground ducts and share infrastructure, wherever possible. There are requirements on operators to share apparatus and to use underground lines where practicable; and there are regulations in place to support this.
The Government also published the Street Works Toolkit, which contains practical guidance for telecoms companies and highway authorities who coordinate street works in their area on how to keep disruption to a minimum.
I recently met with broadband operators to ask them to share infrastructure wherever possible, and I have been clear I am prepared to regulate if providers do not take action.