Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his plan for a Poultry Sector Growth Plan, what assessment he has made of the potential health risks of air pollution linked to ammonia emissions from poultry facilities.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ammonia from poultry farms contributes to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution concentrations across the country. The precise contribution is difficult to assess and will vary according to the prevailing weather conditions and other sources of PM2.5. Long term exposure to fine particulate matter is associated with a number of serious health conditions. Intensive poultry farms with a capacity of 40,000 poultry places or more require a permit under the Environmental Permitting Regulations, to control their emissions into the environment.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take legislative steps to make the Water Restoration Fund a long-term legal entity in the proposed Clean Water Bill.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The recipients of the Water Restoration Fund were announced in October 2025, with projects due to be completed by March 2028.
The most recent tranche of water company fines, as announced alongside the White Paper in January, is being allocated to catchment partnerships, the Water Environment Improvement Fund (WEIF) and Water and Abandoned Metal Mines (WAMM) Programme. Further details on future tranches of water company announced in due course.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of older private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit whose rent exceeds the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate; and what assessment he has made of the impact the extended freeze of LHA rates has had on these households.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the number of older private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit, and if it covers rent (after application of Local Housing Allowance, reductions and deductions), is available on Stat-Xplore via the Housing Benefit official statistics. The information can be found in the Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 dataset and is currently available to February 2026. https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/).
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed LHA rates and confirmed in his written ministerial statement on 26 November 2025 that rates would be maintained at their current levels for 2026/27.
Renters facing a shortfall in meeting their housing costs can apply for discretionary support through the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) Housing Payments from local authorities in England. In Wales and Scotland Discretionary Housing Payments apply.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she plans to publish the draft legislative steps she intends to take to reform of out-of-area taxi-licensing.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Ministers and officials are engaging with the sector and other stakeholders to consider the reforms necessary to modernise taxi and private hire vehicle legislation to make everyday journeys safer, fairer and easier; strengthening public safety, removing barriers for disabled passengers, and reflecting how people travel today. A draft Bill for parliamentary scrutiny will be brought forward during this parliamentary session.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Prime Minister's Joint Statement on the situation in the West Bank: 22 May 2026, if she will (a) urgently send British diplomats to visit the village of Khan al-Ahmar in the West Bank with other Heads of Mission and (b) make it her policy to sanction any UK company or company operating in the UK that submits a construction tender to build on illegally settled land in the West Bank.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 3 June British diplomats visited the community in Khan al-Ahmar. We continue to follow developments in the West Bank closely. On the wider issue of illegal settlements, I refer the Hon Member to the answers that the Foreign Secretary and I gave at Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Oral Questions on 21 April.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what comparative assessment he has made of homelessness assessment rates for (a) people aged 16-24 and (b) the general population since the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government publishes data on local authority homelessness assessments, including the age of main applicants owed a duty. You can find this in table A6 of the latest homelessness statistics, published here.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the ruling by the European Committee of Social Rights entitled ECSR Conclusions XXIII-1, published on 23 January 2026; and if he will end the ban on prison officers striking.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Prison officers work in difficult environments every day, with some of the most challenging people in society. The Government recognises that the work of prison officers is of critical importance in keeping the public safe.
Section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994) makes it unlawful for anyone to induce a prison officer to take (or continue to take) industrial action or to commit a breach of discipline. This applies to frontline operational prison staff from Band 3 prison officers to Band 11 governors in England and Wales. Industrial action in prisons, even if only partial, would create unsustainable and significant risks to safety and security. This would in turn impact on the courts, police and public safety. As the conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights are potentially relevant to ongoing legal proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights, it would not be appropriate for the Government to comment at this time.
HMPPS has a comprehensive engagement and consultation framework in place with the Prison Officer’s Association (POA), as well as dispute resolution processes, which ensures they have the full opportunity to raise any issues affecting their members. This has enabled collective agreement on a range of issues. HMPPS also has the ‘Whitley’ meeting structure in place for raising and escalating matters at both national and local levels and a collectively agreed National Disputes Resolution Procedure, introduced in 2011, which provides a direct route for the POA, including an escalation route to independent conciliation and arbitration, to seek resolution on issues which may impact on the existing terms and conditions of prison officers.
We are committed to ensuring the right of everyone who works in a prison to decent conditions and a fair reward for their hard work, and we believe we can do so without the need for legislative change.
We believe the work of the Prison Service Pay Review Body provides a robust, independent compensatory mechanism. Therefore, we have no plans to review the current legislation. We will continue to engage regularly with our recognised trade unions and welcome the constructive contribution they continue to make in ensuring that the views of staff are fully represented.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish data on homelessness presentations to local authorities by age group.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government publishes data on local authority homelessness assessments, including the age of main applicants owed a duty. You can find this in table A6 of the latest homelessness statistics, published here.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of funding allocations in enabling young people presenting as homeless to receive an assessment and support where required.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Housing authorities have a duty to assess all eligible applicants and must work with them to develop a personalised housing plan to prevent or relieve their homelessness.
The government is providing £3.6 billion funding for homelessness services from 2026/27 to 2028/29, including more than £2.2 billion for local authorities to prevent and address homelessness and rough sleeping through the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant. Councils can use this funding flexibly to meet the needs of people in their areas, including young people. You can find local authority level allocations on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring schools to provide easy access to free drinking water.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department takes the health and wellbeing of both pupils and staff very seriously. All schools need to be safe, well-maintained, and compliant with all relevant regulations. This is the responsibility of those running our schools, which includes local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary aided school bodies.
All schools must ensure their water supply meets the requirements of either the School Premises (England) Regulations 2012 or the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, for maintained schools and academies respectively.
These Regulations set strict requirements that schools must provide suitable drinking water facilities and that they are clearly labelled and readily accessible at all times when schools are in use. The Water Supply Regulations 2016 requires water to be wholesome at the point of consumption and the School Premises Regulations reinforces this requirement.