Josh Newbury

IPSA's proposed budgets are scrutinised each year by the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Authority and approved by the House of Commons.

MPs' staffing budgets have increased by 63.3% between 2018-19 and 2024-25. In 2018-19, the London Staffing Budget was £164,460 and the non-London Saffing Budget was £153,620. In 2024-25, the London Staffing Budget was £268,550 and the non-London Saffing Budget was £250,820.

IPSA staffing expenditure has increased by 47.8% between 2018-19 and 2023-24 (the most recent year for which there is a full year expenditure) in response to MPs clearly expressed wish to see service standards significantly improved.

In our manifesto, we committed to reforming gender recognition law. We will remove indignities for trans people who deserve recognition and acceptance whilst retaining the need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

We will set out our next steps on this work in due course.

The Attorney General’s Office does not rent vehicles. Vehicles used by the department are owned by the Government.

Departments are allocated a combination of electric and hybrid vehicles which are owned by the Government Car Service based on operational and security requirements. However, details of the specific vehicles allocated to individual Ministers are not disclosed. Sharing this information, particularly when combined with other publicly available details, could compromise the security of Ministers and their transport arrangements.

For travel by civil servants, the Cabinet Office does not rent a fleet of vehicles. It does have a contract in place for the provision of hire vehicles. These are for short term vehicle hire and used for official travel. In 24/25 (the latest period where information is available), the Cabinet Office had 1,504 individual hires, covering 3,175 days of hire. Of these, 14 vehicles were fully electric, with a hire period of 29 days.

The Department has a contract with Enterprise for car hire. In the 2024/25 financial year there were 672 rentals, of which 4 were electric vehicle (EV) rentals (0.61%). All vehicle types were rented for 1672 days in total, of which 7 were EV rental days (0.42%).

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is responsible for monitoring effectiveness of the Groceries (Supply Chain Practices) Market Investigation Order 2009 in ensuring that businesses, including farmers, that supply groceries directly to designated retailers are treated lawfully and fairly. This includes the £1 billion threshold at which a retailer can be designated by the CMA.

The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) is currently funded by an annual levy on the 14 large retailers that are designated under the Code by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA assesses annually whether retailers which have a turnover exceeding £1bn of grocery sales in the UK should be designated under the Code. The £1bn threshold is set out in the Groceries (Supply Chain Practices) Market Investigation Order 2009 which is the responsibility of the CMA.

In FY24-25, DESNZ had 149 hires, including 6 electric vehicles. The data for FY25-26 to date is not yet available.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero was formed in February 2023, therefore there is no data for DESNZ prior to that date. Additionally, for FY23-24 the car hire contract used was still under DESNZ’s predecessor department, Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and all bookings were assigned to BEIS cost centres. It is not possible to determine which of these hires related to DESNZ.

The Green Gas Support Scheme (GGSS) provides tariff-support for biomethane produced via anaerobic digestion (AD) and injected into the gas grid. It is expected to contribute 10.7MTCO2e of carbon savings over its lifetime.

The GGSS requires that at least 50% of all biomethane, by energy content, is produced using waste feedstocks, which includes agricultural wastes.

The GGSS will close to new applicants on 31 March 2028. To follow this, the Government is developing a holistic policy framework to support the growth of the biomethane sector. The new framework includes consideration to the role of AD in treating agricultural wastes.

The Green Gas Support Scheme (GGSS) provides tariff-support for biomethane produced via anaerobic digestion (AD) and injected into the gas grid. It is expected to contribute 10.7MTCO2e of carbon savings over its lifetime.

The GGSS requires that at least 50% of all biomethane, by energy content, is produced using waste feedstocks. In England, we expect that food waste collected due to Simpler Recycling reforms will constitute a significant portion of AD feedstocks.

Food waste can also be used in AD Combined Heat and Power systems to produce electricity, with support provided through a number of the Department’s renewable electricity schemes.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 November to Question UIN 12551.

We are unable to provide the breakdown requested. However, information from the trustees shows that, as at October 2024, the number of pensioner and dependant members in Cannock Chase was 530.

The Department does not hold this information.

The Government is committed to supporting the uptake, development and evaluation of alternative methods to the use of animals in science and new approach methodologies. It is not yet possible to replace all animal use due to the complexity of biological systems and regulatory requirements for their use.

We recognise that any work to support the transition to new approach methodologies must be science-led and in lock step with partners, and so we are meeting with key stakeholders to pursue this work. We will make any announcements on our plans in due course.

For security reasons, specific details in relation to the use of official cars, including the make and model of vehicles, are not released.

Guidance relating to the use of official cars in the Government Car Service is set out in the Civil Service Management Code.

The Government recognises the potential of the UK esports industry and its impact on the economy, with major tournaments hosted across the UK this year, including in Manchester, Birmingham and London.

Kickstarting economic growth, and breaking down barriers to opportunity are two of this government's core missions. We are supporting the esports sector to grow, building on the success of our world-class creative industries. This includes support for the sector in looking at how to strengthen pathways into the esports workforce.

The Government has identified the creative industries, which includes video games and esports, as a growth-driving sector within the Industrial Strategy. My department will produce an ambitious and targeted Sector Plan for the creative industries to be published alongside the Spending Review in spring 2025.

We are fully committed to enabling our athletes to excel on the world stage. Decisions relating to training centres for elite athletes are a matter for the relevant martial arts governing bodies. We welcome sports working together to share expertise and resources where they feel there is mutual benefit for their sports and athletes.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is supporting this Government’s mission to extend opportunities for children and young people.

As part of this, DCMS will support the Department for Education led Curriculum and Assessment Review to develop a broader curriculum so that children and young people have access to creative education such as music, the arts and drama and the enormous range of benefits they bring to a child's development from improved language development to confidence building.

Arts Council England has supported the development of cultural partnerships in Cannock Chase to help grow audiences, opportunities and cultural infrastructure. This has included funding of £10,000 to launch a cultural compact in the borough, led by the local Cultural Education Partnership.

Our mining past has shaped the lives of people, communities and landscapes across the country. It is essential we record mining heritage, and crucially share it with future generations, in order not to forget its fundamental impact on our society, country and indeed the world. My department, working with our arm's length bodies and the heritage sector, promotes and safeguards our rich mining heritage in a variety of ways.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded more than £39 million to projects focused on the history of mining across the UK since 1999. This includes investing in internationally important heritage sites such as the Mining Institute in Newcastle, restoring landscapes impacted by mining, and funding grassroot community projects to collect oral histories of those involved in mining. In Cannock Chase Staffordshire, the Heritage Fund has invested more than £120,000 in projects focused on the area’s important coal mining history.

As the Government’s expert advisor on the historic environment, Historic England has also advised on and instigated a range of projects to record and preserve the history of mining. For example, the former mining village of Elsecar in South Yorkshire was one of the first places in England to be awarded Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) status by Historic England. Working with the community and the local authority, Historic England looked to document the tangible and intangible aspects of this area's rich mining heritage. Between 2016 and 2018, Historic England also funded The Chase Through Time project which explored the history and landscape of Cannock Chase, including its important mining and industrial heritage.

The National Coal Mining Museum in Wakefield receives funding via the Science Museum Group, an arm's length body of DCMS. The museum is a centre of mining heritage for England, preserving and promoting the history of mining heritage and the stories of the people and communities affected by mining across the country.

Through our designation and planning system we will continue to protect the mining heritage of national and international importance. This includes the Cornwall & West Devon Mining Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which spreads across 20,000 hectares in the South West. The region used to produce most of the world's copper, tin and arsenic, and the World Heritage Site looks to preserve aspects of this history for local communities and visitors.

Most funding for pupil referral units, and other alternative provision (AP), comes from local authorities’ high needs budgets, Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and AP to £11.9 billion. Of that total, Staffordshire County Council is being allocated over £143 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £10.4 million on this year’s DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 8.7% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.

Top-up funding is agreed locally, between the local authority and alternative providers themselves. The top-up funding should reflect the costs of additional support to meet the individual pupil or student’s needs. Top-up funding also reflects costs that relate to the facilities required to support a pupil or student’s education and training needs and can take into account expected place occupancy levels and other factors, which means they can vary from one local authority to another.

Local authorities are responsible for providing enough school places for their area. The department provides capital funding through the basic need grant to secure mainstream school places and through the high needs provision capital allocations to invest in places for children and young people with special education needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision (AP). In Cannock Chase constituency there are four special schools, one pupil referral unit (PRU), one Progress Centre and one independent AP provider.

Ensuring schools and other education settings have the resources and buildings they need is a key part of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. Responsibility for keeping education buildings safe and well-maintained lies with settings and their responsible bodies, such as local authorities and academy trusts. The department supports them by providing capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes and offering guidance and support.

The department has allocated £1.8 billion in condition funding for the 2024/25 financial year to improve the condition of schools, including PRUs. As part of the 2025/26 financial year budget, we are increasing capital funding to improve the condition of the estate to £2.1 billion, which is £300 million more than this year. The department expects to publish allocations in the spring, including for individual local authorities and other responsible bodies. Capital funding beyond 2025/26 will be set out following the spending review.

Local authorities are responsible for providing enough school places for their area. The department provides capital funding through the basic need grant to secure mainstream school places and through the high needs provision capital allocations to invest in places for children and young people with special education needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision (AP). In Cannock Chase constituency there are four special schools, one pupil referral unit (PRU), one Progress Centre and one independent AP provider.

Ensuring schools and other education settings have the resources and buildings they need is a key part of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. Responsibility for keeping education buildings safe and well-maintained lies with settings and their responsible bodies, such as local authorities and academy trusts. The department supports them by providing capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes and offering guidance and support.

The department has allocated £1.8 billion in condition funding for the 2024/25 financial year to improve the condition of schools, including PRUs. As part of the 2025/26 financial year budget, we are increasing capital funding to improve the condition of the estate to £2.1 billion, which is £300 million more than this year. The department expects to publish allocations in the spring, including for individual local authorities and other responsible bodies. Capital funding beyond 2025/26 will be set out following the spending review.

This government is committed to providing support for care leavers to ensure they have the practical and emotional support they need as they move towards independence.

Local authorities must provide assistance to care leavers near to the place they are receiving education, including outside their home authority. This assistance may take the form of either providing the young person with suitable accommodation, or by paying them enough to secure suitable accommodation themselves.

Care leavers must have pathway plans setting out what support they can expect from their local authority, including accommodation during term time, short vacations and summer vacation. If care leavers are unable to return to their former placements, they must be provided with alternative suitable accommodation. The requirement to assist with vacation accommodation lasts for as long as the young person continues on the course which has been agreed as part of their pathway plan.

Care leavers who enter higher education (HE) are entitled to a statutory bursary of £2,000 from their local authority and many universities offer additional support within their access and participation regimes. This may include additional financial support, pastoral support and 365 days per year housing whilst they are at university.

In addition, the Children's Commissioner for England has recently published a handbook for professionals working in HE on supporting care experienced students. The recommendations in the handbook come directly from care experienced young people and it includes practical proposals to improve their experience of HE.

The department continues to support access to higher level qualifications to break down barriers to opportunity and support economic growth.

The department continues to support learners who wish to progress from Level 3 to a higher level, whether that is to study at university, a higher level or degree apprenticeship, or a Level 4 or 5 classroom-based qualification, including Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs), which have been approved as providing the skills that employers need.

The introduction of HTQs at Level 5 is aimed at providing high quality, employer-led qualifications that meet the needs of local economies and improves the accessibility and flexibility of higher education. These qualifications are designed to be delivered by further education colleges and other providers and are flexible, offering full-time, part-time and online learning options. This allows breadth of access, meaning that individuals who do not live near a university may be able to access higher technical education through a college.

The department also continues to support the delivery of higher and degree apprenticeships, which allow individuals to earn while they learn and gain qualifications up to Level 6. This approach helps to ensure that training is closely aligned with industry needs.

Additionally, institutions like the Open University offer Validation Programmes enabling institutions without their own degree-awarding powers to offer validated higher education programmes. Such initiatives can help to ensure that high quality degrees are accessible to learners in areas that do not have a university.

The department is also setting up Skills England, a new body, to bring together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all regions, providing strategic oversight of the post-16 skills system aligned to the government’s Industrial Strategy.

The government will bring forward a comprehensive strategy for post-16 education to break down barriers to opportunity, support the development of a skilled workforce, and drive economic growth through our Industrial Strategy.

The Government is strongly committed to requiring standardised Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in new developments. These should be to designs that cope with changing climatic conditions as well as delivering wider water infrastructure benefits, offer reuse opportunities, reduce run off and help to improve water quality, amenity and biodiversity. It is also important to ensure appropriate adoption and maintenance arrangements are in place.

We believe that these outcomes can be achieved through either improving the current planning led approach using powers now available or commencing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. A final decision on the way forward will be made in the coming months.

We will review the planning system holistically and consider whether further changes are required to address SuDS when we consult on further planning reform, including national policy related to decision making, in 2025.

We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The use of cages and other close confinement systems for farmed animals is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully.

All agri-food products must comply with our import requirements in order to be placed on the UK market and we work with our trade partners to achieve that in the least trade restrictive way possible. This includes ensuring imported meat products have been slaughtered to animal welfare standards equivalent to our domestic standards. We have been clear that we will use our Trade Strategy to support economic growth and promote the highest standards of food production.

The Nature Restoration Fund will not supersede existing Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) obligations for new developments.

BNG is a requirement which applies to most new development across England, aiming to leave habitats in a measurably better state than they were beforehand by delivering a 10% net gain for biodiversity. It came into effect in February 2024. The 10% net gain can be delivered through on-site habitat enhancements, off-site through the new market for biodiversity units, or by purchasing statutory biodiversity credits from the government, as a last resort.

The Nature Restoration Fund will focus on enabling development in areas where that has stalled due to specific environmental obligations relating to impacts on protected sites and species in those areas. Developers would be able to discharge these obligations, such as those related to the Habitats Regulations, through a payment into a fund, where this can both streamline development and allow for more strategic and effective measures for nature protection.

BNG and the Nature Restoration Fund are intended to be complementary policies. We will ensure that developers receive a user-friendly experience and that BNG credit and the Nature Restoration Fund revenue is deployed in a joined-up manner to maximise environmental outcomes.

Current legislation already provides protection for farmed fish kept for the production of meat or other products whilst on farm. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to any protected animal, including fish, or to fail to provide for the welfare needs of a protected animal, for which that person is responsible. The Farm Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the welfare of farmed fish was also published in 2014.

The potential impact of land-based recirculating aquaculture systems on fish welfare is an issue we are considering.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.

The Government shares the public’s high regard for the UK’s environmental protections, food standards and animal welfare. We will promote robust standards nationally and internationally and will always consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage.

The Government recognises farmers’ concerns about imports produced using methods not permitted in the UK. We have been clear that we will use our Trade Strategy to support economic growth and promote the highest standards of food production.