Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to announce the future funding for drug and alcohol treatment provision as part of the Drugs Strategy in time for services to avoid commencing redundancy consultations; and if he will change future treatment funding announcement cycles to give local authorities more time to (a) plan and (b) commission such services.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government supports investment in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services, to ensure that those people with a substance use need get appropriate help and support. In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department has allocated local authorities a further £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. This is alongside £105 million made available by the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to improve employment and housing support.

My Rt. Hon. friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced updates to the fiscal framework, and earlier this year launched the Spending Review which has now settled the 2025/26 departmental budgets. She has also made it clear that the Government will conclude a multi-year Spending Review in spring 2025. In future, we anticipate that Spending Reviews will be set every two years to cover a three-year period, including a one-year overlap with the previous Spending Review, helping build in greater certainty and stability over public finances.

Now that the Autumn Budget has been completed, the Department is working to be able to announce future funding allocations for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery systems. We will communicate with the sector about this as soon as we are able to, as we recognise the importance of this information in maintaining delivery and planning for 2025/26.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to announce (a) whether Drug Strategy funding for drug and alcohol treatment providers will be renewed and at what levels and (b) the length of the funding cycle; and if he will take steps to ensure that local authorities have adequate notice of alcohol and drug treatment funding.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government supports investment in drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services, to ensure that those people with a substance use need get appropriate help and support. In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department has allocated local authorities a further £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. This is alongside £105 million made available by the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to improve employment and housing support.

My Rt. Hon. friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced updates to the fiscal framework, and earlier this year launched the Spending Review which has now settled the 2025/26 departmental budgets. She has also made it clear that the Government will conclude a multi-year Spending Review in spring 2025. In future, we anticipate that Spending Reviews will be set every two years to cover a three-year period, including a one-year overlap with the previous Spending Review, helping build in greater certainty and stability over public finances.

Now that the Autumn Budget has been completed, the Department is working to be able to announce future funding allocations for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery systems. We will communicate with the sector about this as soon as we are able to, as we recognise the importance of this information in maintaining delivery and planning for 2025/26.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to announce (a) allocations of public health grants to local authorities and (b) the length of the funding cycle; and if he will take steps to ensure that local authorities have adequate notice of public health grants.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We will publish local authority public health grant allocations for 2025/26 in due course, with the aim of giving local authorities as much notice as possible to plan.

We will aim to confirm future multi-year allocations later in 2025, following the next phase of the Spending Review in spring.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a right to buy for tenant farmers.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government recognises the importance of tenant farmers in contributing to a resilient and thriving farming sector. The Government has not made an assessment on the potential merits of introducing a right to buy for tenant farmers but is committed to ensuring agricultural tenancies are fair and collaborative.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of total cost to the Treasury of changes to alcohol duty rates in each year since 2013; and if she will make an estimate of the total cost of such changes in each year to 2030.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Since 2013, cuts and freezes to alcohol duty have cost the Exchequer £15 billion in total, in comparison to if the rates had increased annually in line with RPI as forecasted by the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR).

All changes to alcohol duty rates are announced at fiscal events and accompanied by Tax Information and Impact Notes containing policy costings, alongside other published documents.

The Autumn Budget 2024 policy costing for alcohol duty includes data until 2029. This can be found here: Alcohol Duty - GOV.UK

Further information regarding policy costings and alcohol duty receipt forecasts can be found using the OBR Economic and Fiscal Outlook: Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024 - Office for Budget Responsibility

Reform of electoral law

Christmas

Redundancies at TGI Fridays

Institutes of Technology

Prison maintenance insourcing

Transition to animal-free research and testing

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Cat Smith (Chair); James Asser; Bambos Charalambous; Sir Christopher

Found: President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons House of Commons, London, SW1A oAA Cat Smith

Found: Yours ever, Cat Smith MP Chair, Procedure Committee

Written questions (WPQs) allow MPs to ask for information on the work, policy and activities of Government departments, related bodies, and the administration of Parliament.

On 23 October 2024, the House agreed to reintroduce proxy voting arrangements for serious long-term illness and injury by making changes to Standing Order No. 39A. These arrangements mirror those that were in place at the end of the last Parliament. They are, however, time limited, and will expire at the end of the present Session of Parliament.  

In the July 2024 General Election, a record six independent candidates were elected to the House of Commons. In September 2024, five of those MPs informed the Speaker that they were forming an independent grouping in Parliament as a ‘technical group’, rather than a political party.  This letter has given rise to questions about the status of parliamentary groupings under House of Commons procedures, and the status of independent MPs as a whole.

Call lists, or speakers lists, exist in many legislatures around the world, and were employed in the House of Commons during the Covid-19 pandemic to regulate the flow of debates in virtual/hybrid proceedings. Call lists can be a helpful tool in giving Members an indication of when they will be called to speak in a debate, and thus to plan their days more effectively, and in enabling the chair of a debate to decide time limits. However, there are also concerns about their impact on the flow of the debate.

Reforms introduced following the publication of the 2009 Report of the Reform of the House of Commons Committee, Rebuilding the House (‘the Wright Report’, so named after the Chair of the Committee, Tony Wright MP) included the election by the whole House for positions such as some select committee chairs and the Deputy Speakers.