Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the she is taking to help support the rescue and rehoming of mutilated animals.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the essential service that rescue and rehoming centres provide, often on a voluntary basis, to animals, including those that have suffered from mutilation.
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it is illegal to carry out a non-exempted mutilation such as the cropping of a dog’s ears in England and Wales unless specifically exempted for medical reasons. While these practices are illegal in the UK, we recognise that the current legislative framework can be abused by traders who import these dogs from abroad.
The Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Act 2025 Act will give the Government powers to prohibit dogs and cats being brought into Great Britain with non-exempted mutilations, such as docked tails and cropped ears.
Any appropriate exemptions to these prohibitions will be delivered via secondary legislation at a later date. In the meantime, the Government will continue to work with stakeholders including rescue organisations and consider their feedback.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has received written representations from major freeholders on the proposed Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill since 17 July 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has received representations from a range of external stakeholders regarding the government’s leasehold and commonhold reform agenda. These have included representations from freeholders and trade bodies representing them.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the recall of certain Boston Scientific CRT-P pacemakers on NHS services; and what steps are being taken to support affected patients and recover associated costs.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients have been affected by the recall of certain Boston Scientific CRT-P pacemakers (a) nationally and (b) within Somerset; what assessment has been made of the potential impact of this on NHS resources; and who is responsible for covering the costs of device replacement and associated care.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department will publish updated statutory guidance on social housing allocations.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As announced in our National Plan to End Homelessness which was published on 11 December last year and can be found on gov.uk here, we will work with stakeholders to review and update statutory guidance on social housing allocations to ensure that allocations reflect local need and effectively support vulnerable households.
We will publish updated statutory guidance in due course.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what monitoring his Department is carrying out to capture data on local authorities not exempting domestic abuse survivors from local connection tests for social housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has taken action to remove barriers for victims of domestic abuse to access social housing.
Regulations, which came into force on 10 July 2025, mean that victims of domestic abuse moving as a result of that abuse will no longer need to meet a local connection or residency test in order to access social housing.
We will monitor the impact of these regulations at local authority level through the Local Authority Housing Statistics. The next return will capture implementation as of 31 March 2026 and will be published later this year.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the exemption from local connection tests for social housing for domestic abuse survivors is enforced by local authorities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has taken action to remove barriers for victims of domestic abuse to access social housing.
Regulations, which came into force on 10 July 2025, mean that victims of domestic abuse moving as a result of that abuse will no longer need to meet a local connection or residency test in order to access social housing.
We will monitor the impact of these regulations at local authority level through the Local Authority Housing Statistics. The next return will capture implementation as of 31 March 2026 and will be published later this year.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department will publish the toolkit on homelessness prevention and support for survivors of domestic abuse; and what engagement his Department has held with the domestic abuse sector on developing that toolkit.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department will publish the toolkit on homelessness prevention and support for survivors of domestic abuse over the coming year.
The toolkit will draw on the Whole Housing Approach piloted by Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse and our evaluation of sanctuary schemes, which provide solutions for survivors who wish to remain in their homes, and provide guidance and best practice support on how to keep survivors safe in their homes wherever possible, and how to deliver trauma-informed homelessness support for victims of domestic abuse.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether any changes have been made to the draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill following representations from external stakeholders.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
No changes have been made to the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill since its publication on 27 January 2026.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will extend business rates exemptions to nurseries delivering Government-funded childcare places, comparable to the exemptions recently announced for pubs and to those that apply to schools and academies.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Business rates are a broad-based tax on the value of non-domestic properties, including nurseries. At the Budget, the Government announced a £4.3 billion support package announced at the Budget to support ratepayers across all sectors seeing bill increases. As a result of the Budget package, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases. This also means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
In recognition of the fact they are valued differently to some other sectors, and industry bodies have highlighted concerns with how costs are accounted for in this methodology, particularly during periods of high inflation, the Government is providing additional support to pubs.
More broadly, in 2026-27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements. We are investing over £1 billion more compared to 2025-26 to deliver a full year of the expanded entitlements and an above inflation increase to funding rates.