Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of empty properties in Chichester constituency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Statistics on empty properties in England are published annually and can be found on gov.uk. Data on vacant homes is not broken down by constituency.
Housing policy is a devolved matter, so information for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is held by the respective devolved administrations.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of empty properties there are in the UK.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Statistics on empty properties in England are published annually and can be found on gov.uk. Data on vacant homes is not broken down by constituency.
Housing policy is a devolved matter, so information for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is held by the respective devolved administrations.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will support the emerging wine and wine tourism industry in Chichester by reducing taxes on produce sold to visitors on site.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has no current plans to make changes to the alcohol duty system that was introduced in 2023 following extensive public consultation. The Government will progress its existing commitment to evaluate the impacts of the 2023 reforms and, as with all taxes, alcohol duty will be kept under review as part of the Budget process.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of whether current guidance provides sufficient detail to ensure consistent interpretation of Special Rules for End of Life eligibility criteria across clinical settings.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government undertook a comprehensive review of the Special Rules for End of Life in 2020. Following that review, legislation was amended in 2022 and 2023, with cross party support, to extend eligibility so that people who might have 12 months or less to live can access fast tracked support. This replaced the previous 6-month definition and is aligned with the approach used in current NHS practice for defining end of life.
Guidance was updated alongside these legislative changes to support consistent interpretation across clinical settings and to ensure clinicians are supported by a definition that reflects established NHS practice. Aligning the definition with the NHS helps provide greater clarity and confidence for clinicians when providing evidence, while recognising the inherent difficulty of providing precise prognostic estimates
Clinical evidence to support a claim under the Special Rules for End of Life is usually provided through the SR1 form (which can be found by searching for ‘Send an SR1 medical evidence form’ on GOV.UK). The SR1 is a short medical evidence form which can be completed by an approved clinician and provides clinical confirmation that a person is likely to have 12 months or less to live, which allows the Department to apply the Special Rules for End of Life
The Department keeps the operation of the Special Rules under review and is committed to continuous improvement. We work closely with clinicians and stakeholder organisations to gather feedback on guidance and processes. Current work is focused on reviewing and improving the SR1 digital portal to make it easier and quicker for clinicians to submit evidence, supporting timely and consistent decision making for people nearing the end of life.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the impact of the Steel Strategy on the wider UK steel supply chain, including downstream manufacturers and fabricators.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This Government recognises the distinct value of downstream users, including in the manufacturing supply chain, alongside the importance of maintaining a resilient domestic steel sector.
We continue to engage extensively with industry and other stakeholders as we move into the delivery phase of the steel strategy, following its publication on the 19 March. This includes work to implement the new trade measure on 1 July. The publication of any further information will be considered as this progresses.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to schools and local authorities on recognising and supporting pupils with a Pathological Demand Avoidance profile when developing an Education, Health and Care Plan.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
All children will benefit from a strengthened universal offer of high quality, inclusive teaching in every mainstream setting, with early identification of needs and evidence-based support as standard. On top of the universal offer, we propose that there will be three flexible layers of support for those that need it. These layers are Targeted, Targeted Plus and Specialist. These layers will be guided by the National Inclusion Standards, which will provide evidence-informed tools and strategies for identifying and supporting children’s needs, including for children with profiles of need such as Pathological Demand Avoidance. Children in early years settings, mainstream schools and colleges will benefit from access to education and support from health professionals without long waits for assessments.
Children will not need a statutory education, health and care (EHC) plan to receive Targeted or Targeted Plus support, as there will be a duty on schools and funding to provide it. Settings will have a statutory duty to record and monitor special educational needs and provision in an Individual Support Plan for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
For those with complex needs, we are developing new Specialist Provision Packages (SPPs), designed with independent experts and tested with parents, and intended to each include a description of the need profile it is designed to support. SPPs will underpin the right to the educational provision set out in an EHC plan, and we propose that only those children and young people who need an SPP will have an EHC plan in future.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that card payment processing fees do not disproportionately burden small and independent traders.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that the cost of accepting payments, including cards, is fair to all parties, and that our payment systems work for all.
There are a number of fees that can be placed on merchants, including interchange fees which are governed by the Interchange Fee Regulations 2015 (IFR). The IFR caps the fees that are paid by a merchant (or trader) to the card user’s bank. The caps are currently set at 0.2% for every transaction using a debit card, and 0.3% for credit card transactions.
The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), the UK’s economic regulator for payments, has recently concluded two market reviews into card fees to assess if increases in prices are fair and reflect a market that is operating well. The PSR is now considering its next steps, including remedies designed to increase the transparency of scheme and processing fees.
https://www.psr.org.uk/our-work/market-reviews/
The Government is also committed to ensuring that payment options remain affordable and accessible for small businesses, including through measures that promote competition and reduce unnecessary costs. The National Payments Vision, published in November 2024, sets out the Government’s ambitions for a trusted, world-leading payments ecosystem delivered on next generation technology, where consumers and businesses have a choice of payment methods to meet their needs.
This included the ambition for seamless account-to-account payments to be developed as a ubiquitous payment method – enabling consumers to pay digitally for goods and services in shops and online, without using a card. This would provide greater choice to consumers and merchants in how they make and receive payments, which in turn is likely to spur innovation and downward competitive pressure on the cost of payments.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is being taken to accelerate the Priority Service for employers and employees using the Certificate of Sponsorship Scheme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Priority Service decisions are typically made within five working days once payment is received, significantly faster than our current service level agreement for standard applications.
This expedites requests for additional undefined certificate of sponsorship (CoS) allocations and annual CoS allocation changes and we have already this year increased the availability of the priority service by 20% with a view to increasing further throughout the financial year.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the voices of the Iranian people are heard in decisions about Iran's future once military action subsides.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the statements made to the House by the Foreign Secretary on 13 January and 17 March, and my Urgent Question responses on 19 January and 3 February, in which we addressed the repression perpetrated by the Iranian regime, and the importance of the Iranian people having their voices heard.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what consultation his Department has had with local planning authorities on section 78c of the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department consulted on changes to policy in respect of 5-year housing land supply as part of the consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework that took place between 30 July and 24 September 2024. Paragraph 78c was introduced in the December 2024 National Planning Policy Framework update.
A government response, which can be found on gov.uk here, was published alongside the updated Framework. It made clear that there are many authorities whose local housing need figures will be substantially larger than their adopted or emerging local plan housing requirement figures, indicating a significant unmet demand for new homes in these areas. To help close the gap, we are introducing a new requirement that authorities with plans adopted under the old standard method must provide an extra year’s worth of homes in their 5-year housing pipeline.
As such, those authorities whose adopted plan annual housing requirement figure is 80% or less of their annual local housing need figure will be required to add a 20% buffer to their 5-year housing land supply from 1 July 2026. This window will give these authorities time to make provision for the new policy. As with other housing supply buffers, this will not be cumulative, so those authorities who are already required to add a 20% buffer due to scoring below 85% in the most recent housing delivery test will not be required to add an additional buffer should they meet these criteria.