Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether Government is entering into dialogue with trade unions so members can be consulted with regards to Defined Benefit surplus.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Government has consulted with trustees, member representative groups, trade unions and other stakeholders in developing the regulations that will allow well-funded defined benefit schemes to release surplus, subject to member safeguards. The Pension Schemes Act 2026 and draft regulations are clear on the requirements for member notification before release.
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, if she will take legislative steps against council tax on unfinished, unsold and unoccupied homes.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Council tax becomes payable on a new dwelling when the local authority determines that it has been substantially completed, or will be substantially completed within three months. It will issue a Completion Notice to confirm its decision.
Once a dwelling becomes liable for council tax, the normal council tax rules apply. Whether a property has been sold does not in itself affect its council tax status. Council tax is due on all properties, and if the property is unoccupied liability will fall to the owner. Council tax liability may be affected by a range of discounts, exemptions or premiums. Whether these apply will depend on the particular circumstances.
The Government has no plans to change these arrangements, and it is for councils to administer the council tax system. The Government remains committed to keeping all taxes and elements of the local government finance system under review.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to include data on the neurodivergent and disabled composition of the school workforce within the evidence base for the (a) SEND Improvement Plan and (b) forthcoming Schools White Paper.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan was published in March 2023 under the 2022/24 Sunak Conservative government.
Every Child Achieving and Thriving was published in February 2026. It set out the case for change across the school system and the evidence underpinning a comprehensive programme of reforms, including action to improve recruitment, retention and support for the school workforce.
The Schools White Paper and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) consultation document, published on 23 February 2026, set out our proposed changes to improve help and support for children and young people with SEND across the 0 to 25 years system. The SEND consultation ran for 12 weeks and closed on May 18. We will publish a response to the consultation in due course and bring forward legislation at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of neurodivergent staff representation and disclosure on outcomes for neurodivergent pupils in mainstream schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises the importance of enabling all pupils, including those who are neurodivergent, to thrive in mainstream schools. While no specific assessment has been made of how neurodivergent staff representation or disclosure affects outcomes for neurodivergent pupils, we remain committed to improving outcomes through high-quality teaching, effective special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support and inclusive school environments.
Our Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group has informed proposed SEND reforms, including National Inclusion Standards, an inclusion continuing professional development package backed by over £200 million and £3.7 billion to create more inclusive school environments.
Information about an individual's disability or neurodivergence is personal and schools must support their workforce in line with their legal obligations. Accredited ITT providers must comply with equality legislation and consider making anticipatory adjustments, including providing opportunities for teacher trainee applicants to identify any support they may require.
The School Workforce Census is regularly reviewed to ensure balance between managing burden and risks of data collection against the value of developing policy to support staff and pupils. The department has no current plans to collect neurodivergence data separately from disability data due to expected low coverage and privacy risks related to data collection.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to amend the School Workforce Census to capture neurodivergence as a category distinct from disability.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The School Workforce Census (SWC) records whether staff are reported as disabled, but not the nature of their disability. As neurodivergence is not identified separately, and disclosure is voluntary, the department cannot specifically identify or analyse data on neurodivergent staff in schools.
The census is reviewed regularly to ensure balance between managing burden and risks of data collection, especially related to protected characteristics, against the value of developing policy to support the school workforce. The department has no current plans to amend the SWC to collect neurodivergence as a category distinct from disability due to expected low coverage and privacy issues and risks related the data collection.
The department continues to develop its understanding of workforce diversity. Accredited Initial Teacher Training providers must comply with equality legislation and consider making anticipatory adjustments, including providing opportunities for teacher trainee applicants to identify any support they may require. The teacher retention programme, announced in the Schools White Paper, will also include a focus on encouraging inclusive cultures.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of the school workforce that is neurodivergent.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the school workforce, including the number of teachers in state-funded schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.
The department does not collect data centrally on whether school staff are neurodivergent.
Schools are asked to record whether staff self‑report a disability, which may include neurodivergent conditions where individuals choose to declare them. However, the disability data collected does not enable the department to identify or extract information specifically on neurodivergent staff.
In the November 2025 school workforce census, around 85% of teachers provided disability information. Where disability information was reported, around 3% of teachers were recorded as disabled. This is the most recent data available and has been available since 4 June 2025
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Value for Money Government Procurement framework in prioritising bids that include capital investment guarantees.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to achieving value for money across all public procurement. There is no single document titled the 'Value for Money Government Procurement framework’.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve data-sharing protocols between the Home Office and local authorities regarding individuals leaving asylum accommodation.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office continues to share information to support effective transitions from asylum accommodation. This includes the weekly Discontinuation Prediction Tool, which provides a real-time view of cases entering the discontinuation process and a four-week forward look at the likely volumes of individuals who may seek local authority assistance following a positive decision.
Under the government’s National Plan to End Homelessness strategy the Home Office has made a commitment to ensure all local authorities receive information from asylum accommodation providers for 100% of newly granted refugees at risk of homelessness. We are working closely with partners across the asylum accommodation system to achieve this commitment and improve the timely sharing of information. This will enable local authorities to commence a homelessness assessment which will be received within 2 days of an asylum discontinuation and within 14 days of family reunion visa issuance.
To support this commitment, the Home Office is working with asylum accommodation providers and reviewing its data-sharing arrangements to improve the quality and timeliness of information provided to local authorities, including more consistent and actionable information at the point asylum support is discontinued.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the average time taken for newly recognised refugees to secure accommodation following the issuance of a biometric residence permit.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
We continue to work closely with local authorities to improve housing outcomes for newly recognised refugees leaving asylum accommodation.
In March this year, the Home Office decided to set the notice period for all individuals granted leave exiting the asylum accommodation estate to 42 days, following an extensive 56-day pilot and evaluation. In reaching the decision, we considered a wide range of evidence, including key findings from the evaluation of the 56-day pilot. The full evaluation can be found on gov.uk: www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-initiatives-to-enhance-the-move-on-process/evaluation-of-the-initiatives-to-enhance-the-move-on-process.
It is important that individuals initiate plans to move on from asylum support as soon as they are served their asylum decision in order to maximise the time they have to make move on arrangements, regardless of when their eVisa (which replaced biometric residence permits in for newly recognised refugees leaving asylum accommodation in 2024) is issued. Support is available to all individuals through Migrant Help in order to do this, which includes advice on how to access Universal Credit, the labour market and where to get assistance with housing.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the VAT registration threshold on the net revenue growth of SMEs.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This means the majority of UK businesses are not in the VAT system at all.