Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the next review of the content of the Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders survey is scheduled; and what process is available for stakeholders to propose new questions.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The content of the working lives of teachers and leaders (WLTL) survey is reviewed on an annual basis to ensure it captures the breadth of teachers and leaders’ experiences and characteristics, whilst balancing the need to maintain comparability between waves and manage the burden on respondents.
The next review of survey content will take place in summer 2027 following the completion of fieldwork for the next wave of the survey in spring 2027 and in advance of the 2028 survey.
The new WLTL study utilised several mechanisms to obtain feedback from stakeholders on content for spring 2027, including inviting some teachers and leaders to take part in exploratory qualitative discussions, inviting feedback via meetings with sector representatives, technical experts and union representatives.
Stakeholders can make proposals to include questions/subject areas, but decision to include is decided based on a range of factors including evidence need, survey space, methodological quality, respondent burden, sensitivity of information being collected and proportionality.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, (a) what assessment her department has done of the general health and wellbeing of workers in the logistics sector and (b) what she is doing to improve health and wellbeing.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport is working with industry and across government to support workforce health in the logistics sector. Specifically, the department has been raising awareness among the road freight sector of a driver health training module, approved by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, which forms part of the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence training. In addition, the Department of Health and Social Care is working with the road freight sector, through the Men’s Health Strategy, to increase uptake of NHS Health Checks by HGV drivers.
With industry, the Department for Transport and National Highways are investing in improvements to lorry parking facilities, including better welfare provision, additional capacity and enhanced security, which can contribute to the physical and mental wellbeing of drivers.
More widely, the government is working with employers through initiatives such as the Keep Britain Working programme to support workforce health and help people to remain in work, including non-financial support to Generation Logistics to encourage industry-led efforts to improve working conditions and employee wellbeing.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguards are used in the Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders survey to protect respondents' confidentiality when collecting information on mental and physical health conditions; and what response rates those questions receive.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The working lives of teachers and leaders (WLTL) survey is conducted by independent research contractors on behalf of the department, in strict accordance with the Market Research Society Code of Conduct. Any information provided by participants through the survey is handled securely and in line with the UK Data Protection Act and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The full privacy notice for the current WLTL survey is available at: https://www.workinglivesofteachers.com/privacy-policy/.
Participation in the WLTL survey is voluntary. For the majority of questions participants are asked to select an option, but those options include ‘don’t know’ and ‘prefer not to say’ where questions might be considered sensitive.
In the most recently published WLTL survey, 98% of participants responded to the question ‘Do you have any physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more?’ with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, and 2% responded ‘prefer not to say’. Further information, including details of the questionnaire, the full research report and data tables, is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-lives-of-teachers-and-leaders-wave-4.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill will enable housing-with-care operators to use tenure models aligned with international best practice.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 108467 on 3 February 2026.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
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 support tenant-led housing co-operatives.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The new National Planning Policy Framework that was published on 17 August 2026 strengthened support for community-led housing, providing greater clarity on how community-led exception sites should be supported and strengthening requirements for development to deliver an appropriate mix of tenures that meets the needs of different groups.
I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 129417 on 27 April 2026.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what steps is the Department taking to ensure that environmental regulation affecting UK manufacturing supports the objectives of the Government's industrial strategy.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to ensuring that environmental regulation supports both our environmental objectives and the competitiveness of UK manufacturing. We are reforming our regulatory system through our regulatory action plan to create a regulatory environment that is proportionate, predictable and supportive of investment and growth whilst maintaining essential protections for consumers and the environment.
Defra consulted on modernising environmental permitting for industry in August 2025. These reforms will support Britain’s re-industrialisation and the delivery of our Modern Industrial Strategy by modernising environmental regulation of industry to help get Britain building, deliver clean energy, and improve public health and the environment. The reforms will enable innovation through regulatory sandboxes for R&D trials, reduce the regulatory burden on many businesses and streamline outdated guidance to support investment, and support deployment of clean power through proportionate and risk-based regulation of new technologies.
Defra published the government response to its August 2025 consultation on modernising environmental permitting for industry, on 15 April 2026. Work with stakeholders on the reforms is now underway with further announcements on the detail of reforms and regulatory changes planned for 2027.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of borrowing flexibilities available to local development corporations for infrastructure delivery.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As the number of development corporations grows, it is sensible to consider whether the legislative framework should evolve too. We are listening carefully to local leaders and will consider any changes needed to support faster delivery. This includes the borrowing flexibilities available to local development corporations for infrastructure delivery. Locally-led development corporations must ensure that borrowing is prudent, affordable and sustainable, including that interest costs can be managed, under the oversight of the local authority.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the number of unprocessed initial asylum applications was as of 1 July 2024.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ and in the ‘Migration transparency data’.
Data on asylum claims awaiting an initial decision at the end of each quarter is published in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’.
Data on the number of asylum caseworking staff per month from 2020 onwards is published in table ASY_05(M) of the ‘Immigration and Protection data’.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
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 through the English Devolution Bill to define the statutory governance relationship between combined authorities and lower-tier district councils.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 does not prescribe a single model for combined authorities’ and combined county authorities’ relationship with district councils, nor does relevant predecessor legislation from 2023 (for combined county authorities) and 2009 (for combined authorities).
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is the only combined authority whose area includes two-tier local government.
District councils cannot be constituent members of a combined county authority but can serve as non-constituent members or on committees / advisory boards. These arrangements are for local agreement.
As local government reorganisation replaces two-tier areas with unitary councils, those councils will be able to become constituent members of their strategic authority.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the transition from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund on local authority economic development infrastructure.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund has now concluded. Through Rewiring the State, government is backing Strategic Authorities with new funding, new powers and fiscal devolution to drive economic growth in their places working hand-in-hand with local authorities.