Lee Anderson Portrait

Lee Anderson

Reform UK - Ashfield

5,508 (13.8%) majority - 2024 General Election

First elected: 12th December 2019


1 APPG Officer Position (as of 9 Sep 2025)
Sepsis
2 APPG Memberships
Listed Properties, Furniture Industry
4 Former APPG Officer Positions
Brazil, County, Eggs, Pigs and Poultry, Northern Ireland Economy
Home Affairs Committee
15th Mar 2022 - 14th May 2024
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill
17th Apr 2024 - 24th Apr 2024
Deputy Chair, Conservative Party
7th Feb 2023 - 16th Jan 2024
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill
19th Oct 2022 - 29th Nov 2022
Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill
26th Oct 2022 - 2nd Nov 2022
Public Order Bill
25th May 2022 - 21st Jun 2022
Women and Equalities Committee
8th Jun 2021 - 14th Dec 2021
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill
12th May 2021 - 24th Jun 2021
Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union
5th Oct 2020 - 16th Jan 2021


Division Voting information

During the current Parliament, Lee Anderson has voted in 207 divisions, and never against the majority of their Party.
View All Lee Anderson Division Votes

Debates during the 2024 Parliament

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

Sparring Partners
Yvette Cooper (Labour)
Foreign Secretary
(24 debate interactions)
Angela Rayner (Labour)
(10 debate interactions)
Michael Shanks (Labour)
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
(8 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Home Office
(34 debate contributions)
Department for Business and Trade
(17 debate contributions)
Department of Health and Social Care
(13 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
View all Lee Anderson's debates

Ashfield Petitions

e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.

If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.

If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).

Lee Anderson has not participated in any petition debates

Latest EDMs signed by Lee Anderson

4th June 2025
Lee Anderson signed this EDM on Tuesday 17th June 2025

Mauritius Treaty

Tabled by: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative - North West Essex)
That the Agreement, done at London and Port Louis on 22 May 2025, between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Republic of Mauritius concerning the Chagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia, should not be ratified.
107 signatures
(Most recent: 1 Jul 2025)
Signatures by party:
Conservative: 92
Reform UK: 5
Independent: 4
Democratic Unionist Party: 3
Traditional Unionist Voice: 1
Ulster Unionist Party: 1
Labour: 1
19th December 2019
Lee Anderson signed this EDM on Friday 20th December 2019

Big Ben chiming on the day of Brexit

Tabled by: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
That this House notes the ongoing refurbishment works on the Elizabeth Tower and the fact that during this period Big Ben currently only chimes for Remembrance Sunday and New Year's Eve; further notes that the United Kingdom will now leave the European Union at 11.00pm GMT on 31 January 2020; …
53 signatures
(Most recent: 7 Jan 2020)
Signatures by party:
Conservative: 42
Independent: 5
Democratic Unionist Party: 4
Labour: 1
Reform UK: 1
View All Lee Anderson's signed Early Day Motions

Commons initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Lee Anderson, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.

MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.



Latest 50 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
5 Other Department Questions
21st Jul 2025
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department are taking to help tackle ageism in society.

The UK has a strong history of protecting against direct and indirect discrimination. The Equality Act 2010 (The Act) has protections that enable people to challenge age discrimination across a range of fields, including the provision of services, employment and recruitment processes. Where age discrimination cannot be objectively justified and is unlawful, individuals can seek redress in the courts or, where relevant, at an employment tribunal.

21st Jul 2025
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle ageism in the workplace.

The UK has a strong history of protecting against direct and indirect discrimination. The Equality Act 2010 (The Act) has protections that enable people to challenge age discrimination across a range of fields, including the provision of services, employment and recruitment processes. Where age discrimination cannot be objectively justified and is unlawful, individuals can seek redress in the courts or, where relevant, at an employment tribunal.

13th Mar 2025
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether her Department is taking steps to help protect freedom of speech in the hospitality sector.

Free speech is a cornerstone of British values. The right to freedom of expression is a long-held fundamental right under Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

The Equality Act 2010 provides protection from discrimination protects people with a religion or philosophical belief from discrimination, as well as to those who lack a religion or belief. The definition of religion or religious or philosophical belief is in line with Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights which stipulates that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It is also compatible with Article 10 which covers the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authorities.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is Great Britain’s national equality and human rights body. The Commission safeguards and enforces the laws that protect people’s rights to fairness, dignity and respect.

27th Feb 2025
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she has received a request from Stonewall for additional government funding.

The Cabinet Office, including the Office for Equality and Opportunity, has received no requests for additional government funding from Stonewall.

Seema Malhotra
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
31st Oct 2024
To ask the Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, if the Commissioners will publish the legal costs of defending bishops against claims that they failed to act appropriately in safeguarding matters in each of the last five years.

The Church Commissioners have a discretion under the Episcopal Endowments and Stipends Measure 1943, assessed on a case by case basis, to pay the costs of a bishop’s office, including costs in connection with legal claims. Such claims include those which may allege that the office of a serving bishop is liable for the wrongdoing of a previous holder of the office or a person for whom in law the office of the bishop may be responsible.

Requests to the Church Commissioners for assistance with legal costs are subject to scrutiny by the First Church Estates Commissioner and the KC Commissioner, assisted by officers, to ensure that costs are reasonable in the circumstances.

It is not the practice of the Church Commissioners to disclose expenditure on the costs of legal proceedings of this kind (they are not required to do so under s.5 Episcopal Endowments and Stipends Measure 1943)

27th Mar 2025
To ask the Solicitor General, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets her Department has for staff recruitment.

The Attorney General’s Office does not have a set target for diversity, equality and inclusion (EDI) for staff recruitment or representation. The AGO welcomes applications from those of all backgrounds.

Lucy Rigby
Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
4th Jul 2025
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of people live in private rented accommodation in Ashfield constituency.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4th July is attached.

Georgia Gould
Minister of State (Education)
5th Jun 2025
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many young people he expects to (a) come to the UK from Europe and (b) go to Europe from the UK as a result of a youth experience scheme with the EU and UK.

We have agreed that we will work towards the establishment of a balanced youth experience scheme with the EU. We have agreed that any scheme will be capped as well as time-limited. We have also been clear that it should be in line with the UK’s existing schemes with countries like Australia and New Zealand. The exact parameters will be subject to negotiation, but any scheme will need to be in the UK’s national interests.

Nick Thomas-Symonds
Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
22nd May 2025
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many knife crimes were reported in Nottinghamshire in each of the last five years.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 22 May is attached.

Georgia Gould
Minister of State (Education)
27th Mar 2025
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets his Department has for staff recruitment.

The Cabinet Office has not set diversity, equality and inclusion targets for staff recruitment, but the Civil Service is committed to representing the diversity of the UK population.

Georgia Gould
Minister of State (Education)
4th Oct 2024
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department takes to ensure the acceptance of gifts and hospitality by civil servants comply with Civil Service guidance.

The Civil Service Code states that Civil Servants must not accept gifts or hospitality from anyone which might reasonably be seen to compromise their personal judgement or integrity. As under the previous government, the Department holds a comprehensive policy and guidance on accepting and giving gifts and hospitality. All Civil Servants are required to declare gifts and hospitality both given and received via a central register and obtain approvals.

The Gifts and Hospitality process is subject to audit in order to provide confidence that the department is fulfilling its obligation.

Georgia Gould
Minister of State (Education)
5th Sep 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will have discussions with retailers on the potential impact of trends in the level of business costs on (a) staffing levels and (b) lone working practices.

Staffing levels and business lone working policies are commercial matters for individual businesses to decide. An employer must identify the risks to lone workers and put control measures in place to protect them. It is for the employer to determine the best way to manage those risks taking account of the circumstances of their business and work activity. HSE provide guidance on lone working: Lone working: Protect those working alone - HSE.

The government is protecting the smallest businesses by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, more than half of employers see no change or gain overall from this package and employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.

Blair McDougall
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
1st Sep 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what purposes their Department has used artificial intelligence in the last year.

In the last year, the Department has expanded the use of artificial intelligence for a growing range of purposes within an AI governance framework consistent with the AI playbook for the UK Government. AI is being used to allow businesses to get tailored advice on export finance via business.gov.uk. A dedicated AI team has been exploring over 30 potential purposes such as conducting rapid evidence assessments and improving correspondence processes. In addition, the Department has made available approved AI tools and training to nearly 4,000 DBT officials around the globe, enabling them to benefit from AI in their own individual work.

Kate Dearden
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
29th Aug 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what information they hold on the number of workdays that were completed remotely in their Department in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.

On 24 October 2024 the Cabinet Office announced that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Senior managers will continue to be expected to be in the office more than 60% of the time. Due to space constraints the department has set the requirement of 40% for delegated grades.

The department does not hold comprehensive data on the number of workdays that were completed remotely. See Civil Service Headquarters occupancy data for published information covering departmental headquarters building occupancy.

The department introduced a process to record office attendance information from 4 August 2025. This data is not yet available.

29th Aug 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help support pubs.

The Government recognises the vital role pubs play in supporting local economies and fostering community cohesion, as well as the pressures they face.

That is why we established the Licensing Taskforce in April, bringing together representatives from the hospitality sector to help shape reforms. We published the Government’s response on 31 July, setting out a new National Licensing Policy Framework to simplify outdated rules and protect long-standing venues from noise complaints. These reforms form part of the recently announced Small Business Strategy, which aims to tackle late payments, boost access to finance, and remove red tape to enable small businesses, including pubs, grow and thrive.

Additionally, we’re creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high street and supports investment, including permanently lower rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties under £500,000 rateable value. We’ve also launched a Hospitality Support Scheme to co-fund projects aligned with DBT and Hospitality Sector Council priorities such as Pub is The Hub to encourage local investment.

Blair McDougall
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
21st Jul 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support post offices.

The Post Office provides critical services that are valued by communities across the UK and the Government is committed to strengthening the network.

We are backing that commitment with over £500 million of investment during this Parliament, including this financial year up to £136m to invest in new technology and replace Horizon.

Government recently published a Green Paper which seeks to open a dialogue on the Post Office, from the services it provides, how we modernise and strengthen the network, through to how we change the culture at the Post Office. We want to hear from everyone with a stake in the Post Office’s future.

11th Jul 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much their Department has spent on translating documents into languages other than (a) English and (b) other native UK languages in each year since 2023; and what these languages were.

The Department for Business and Trade does not routinely record the costs for translation of documents into other languages separately from other translation and interpretation costs. We can confirm the Department for Business and Trade spent £14,085.54 on translating documents into other languages from April 2023 - July 2025. Other expenses may be excluded from this as they are not recorded at this level of detail.

As the department for economic growth, we support businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country. DBT employs teams based in priority markets around the world and those teams often use local language skills to help UK businesses access opportunities to export their goods and services globally. Likewise, they will use local language skills to promote the UK to a global audience, and in particular to attract high value investment to the UK.

Language service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.

26th Jun 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure all wrongly (a) accused and (b) convicted sub-post masters are offered compensation.

As of 2 June 2025, £1.039 billion has been paid to over 7,300 claimants across the Horizon schemes. This represents a more than fourfold increase since July 2024, with more than 4,500 victims receiving compensation for the first time.

We continue to seek the views of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board to ensure fairness and consider ways we can speed up redress.

We are taking a variety of measures to increase the pace of the delivery of redress across our schemes. For example, we recently announced that we are reintroducing facilitated discussions in the GLO scheme – as requested by claimants’ lawyers. This should provide significant help in increasing further the pace at which compensation can be paid.

26th Jun 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure fair and timely compensation payments for wrongly (a) accused and (b) convicted sub-postmasters.

As of 2 June 2025, £1.039 billion has been paid to over 7,300 claimants across the Horizon schemes. This represents a more than fourfold increase since July 2024, with more than 4,500 victims receiving compensation for the first time.

We continue to seek the views of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board to ensure fairness and consider ways we can speed up redress.

We are taking a variety of measures to increase the pace of the delivery of redress across our schemes. For example, we recently announced that we are reintroducing facilitated discussions in the GLO scheme – as requested by claimants’ lawyers. This should provide significant help in increasing further the pace at which compensation can be paid.

4th Jun 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate on towns with large vehicle production industries.

The government does not hold data on how the Zero Emissions Vehicle Mandate has impacted on towns with large vehicle production industries specifically. However, we speak regularly to all the major UK automotive stakeholders to take the temperature of the sector and their concerns. The government is committed to ensuring the transition to zero emissions works for the industry. That is why we introduced significant changes to the Mandate in April 2025, allowing for greater flexibility in meeting ZEV targets and extending the sale of hybrid vehicles to 2035.

Sarah Jones
Minister of State (Home Office)
4th Jun 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to improve working conditions for people who work in distribution centres.

Government cares about working conditions and employment rights, that is why we are delivering the Employment Rights Bill. The Bill will deliver significant benefits, including better working conditions, more secure work, reducing inequalities and improving industrial relations. Stronger employment rights for workers will ensure a fairer and more equal labour market. For example, over 2 million people on zero or low hours contracts could benefit from the right to guaranteed hours, and the right to payment for shifts cancelled, moved or cut at short notice.

2nd Jun 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trade union access proposals on SMEs that employ less than 200 people.

The Government is committed to modernising industrial relations and as part of this we are moving away from a reliance on outdated, ad-hoc access arrangements by providing a formal right of access for trade unions in the Employment Rights Bill.

We will be consulting on specific details of the access framework before they are set out in secondary legislation. We encourage businesses and unions of all sizes to share their views. An impact assessment on the Bill was published last year.

17th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps is he taking to support the steel industry.

Steel is a top priority for this Government. As shown with the passing of the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act, this Government will not hesitate to take unprecedented steps to safeguard the future of steelmaking in the UK, protecting jobs, national security and supply chains.

We have completed the roll out of the British Industry Supercharger, which from this month means our steel industry will save an estimated £320mn – £410mn this year. This is on top of continuing the network charging compensation scheme.

We have taken action to make public procurement of UK-made steel easier and increased support for businesses to report unfair international trade practices. We have continued to develop the policy and approach for the steel strategy.

Sarah Jones
Minister of State (Home Office)
27th Mar 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets his Department has for staff recruitment.

Appointments to advertised vacancies in the Department for Business and Trade are made on the basis of fair recruitment open to all. The Department does not operate recruitment targets in relation to diversity, equality and inclusion. The Department does have an internally published Diversity and Inclusion plan that is focussed on embracing fairness for all.

24th Mar 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the total cost was of providing translation services in his Department in the last year.

We can confirm the Department for Business and Trade spent £53,491.37 on translation services from April 2024 – 25th March 2025.

As the department for economic growth, we support businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country. This figure includes providing translation services and also where the Department required translations or interpreters.

13th Mar 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to re-shore manufacturing.

Reshoring, alongside progressive key trade agreements, will be important of our national resilience, and we are determined to make the UK a prime location for globally competitive manufacturing.

The Industrial Strategy this spring will set out an ambitious long-term vision for UK manufacturing competitiveness and will detail how we intend to boost R&D, skills, and fast track adoption of new manufacturing technologies here in the UK.

Sarah Jones
Minister of State (Home Office)
12th Feb 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has commissioned a cost-benefit analysis on providing additional support to prevent the closure of key strategic steel plants.

Our commitment to the steel industry remains unwavering. On Sunday 16 February we published a consultation on our Plan for Steel. Along with work already ongoing across Government, this will provide a clear evidence base on the needs of the steel sector and its customers. This work will ensure the best use of our funding commitment of up to £2.5bn to deliver change and unlock private investment, ensuring a bright and sustainable future for UK steelmaking.

Sarah Jones
Minister of State (Home Office)
4th Dec 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that residents of Ashfield constituency are able to access essential postal services.

The Government provides an annual £50m Network Subsidy funding to support the delivery of a minimum number of Post Office branches and a geographical spread of these branches in line with published access criteria. This requires 99% of the UK population to be within three miles of their nearest Post Office outlet. The Government-set Access Criteria ensures that however the network changes, services remain within local reach of all citizens, including those living in the Ashfield constituency.

21st Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with the Post Office on maintaining local post office services.

The Secretary of State and I have met with the CEO and Chair of Post Office Limited to ensure that Post Office delivers for postmasters and its communities. We recently met with the Post Office Chair, Nigel Railton, and discussed his proposals for the future of the company before Mr Railton announced Post Office's Transformation Plan on 13th November. While Post Office has the freedom to make commercial decisions regarding the composition of its network, Government sets the parameters for the Post Office to operate in.

Government protects the branch network by setting minimum access criteria which require 99% of the UK population to be within three miles of their nearest Post Office outlet. The access criteria ensure that however the network changes, services remain within local reach of all citizens.

8th Nov 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to paragraph 5.141 of the Autumn Budget 2024, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the National Living Wage on the economy.

We will publish an Impact Assessment alongside the legislation that implements the increase to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage in April 2025.

31st Oct 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increasing the minimum wage on SMEs; and whether she plans to provide additional support to SMEs.

This Government remains committed to helping small businesses thrive and will be publishing our Small Business Strategy next year. This will set out our vision for all small businesses, from boosting scale-ups to growing the co-operative economy. It will address key policy areas such as creating thriving high streets, making it easier to access finance, opening overseas and domestic markets, building business capabilities, and providing a strong business environment.

We will publish an Impact Assessment alongside the legislation that implements the increase to the National Living Wage. We estimate that over 3 million workers will receive a pay rise due to the increase in the National Living Wage in April 2025.

24th Oct 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help support pubs in Ashfield constituency.

Pubs, including those in Ashfield, are at the heart of our communities and vital for economic growth. That is why the Government is creating a fairer business rate system by introducing permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses from 2026-27 and extending the current relief for 1 year at 40%.

The government is also reducing alcohol duty on qualifying draught products, representing an overall reduction in duty bills of over £85m a year.

We will transform the apprenticeship levy into a more flexible growth and skills levy to better support business and boost opportunity for people to work in Pubs.

Through the Hospitality Sector Council, we are addressing strategic issues for the sector related to high street regeneration, skills, sustainability, and productivity.

4th Oct 2024
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent progress has been made on negotiating new trade agreements.

Economic Growth is the first priority of this government. To deliver on this, one of our first steps after taking office was to announce that we were resuming Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council, India, Israel, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey. Having carefully reviewed our negotiation objectives we have now started talks with the first of these key partners. This is a first step towards getting businesses access to international markets, boosting jobs, and delivering growth. We are also committed to ensuring UK businesses can take full advantage of CPTPP when it enters into force in December.

Douglas Alexander
Secretary of State for Scotland
1st Sep 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, for what purposes their Department has used artificial intelligence in the last year.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has made use of artificial intelligence (AI) over the past year for a range of purposes including:

  • Support to general corporate and administrative activities. For example, creating meeting notes, drafting and summarising documents.
  • Information retrieval and presentation, including extracting data from multiple sources to produce straightforward guidance for common activities and develop tailored insights for policy planning and development.
  • Data analysis and decision support, for example, researching and analysing economic trends in green industries and markets.

AI is used in accordance with all relevant departmental and government guidelines, to ensure responsible and ethical use and data protection.

Michael Shanks
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
1st Sep 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what components of wind turbines are (a) supplied and (b) manufactured in the UK.

The Offshore Wind Regional Growth Prospectuses set out a range of current manufacturing and services capabilities in the UK, as well as growth opportunities, including in blade, foundation and cable manufacture; secondary steel components; cable installation; operations and maintenance activity; and environmental services. New facilities in development include cable manufacturing in Nigg and Blyth, and monopile construction in Teesside.

Data collected via the Onshore Wind Taskforce indicates that UK content in domestic onshore windfarms can be between 50 and 70 percent, with high shares of jobs and investment in development, operations and maintenance, civil engineering and electrical works.

Michael Shanks
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
1st Sep 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make it his policy to prioritise industrial rooftops over (a) arable farmland and (b) countryside fields for solar panel locations.

The Government incentivises industrial rooftop solar in various ways, including permitted development rights, favourable tax treatment, and the Smart Export Guarantee.

Solar is part of our strategy for improving the energy performance of buildings. It will play an important role, where appropriate, on newbuild non-domestic buildings in the Future Buildings Standard which is to be introduced later this year. The UK’s overall approach to Net Zero commercial buildings will be set out in the Warm Homes Plan later this year.

Achieving our ambitious clean power mission will require rapid deployment of rooftop and ground-mounted solar. However, planning guidance makes clear that, wherever possible, solar developers should utilise brownfield, industrial, contaminated, or previously developed land.

Michael Shanks
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
29th Aug 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what information they hold on the number of workdays that were completed remotely in their Department in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.

Hybrid working is an informal, discretionary, non-contractual arrangement that enables employees to work partly in the workplace and partly at home. Employees are expected to spend a minimum of 40% of their working hours in the office. Office attendance requirements are managed locally to ensure the minimum requirement is met, and no central data is held on this.

Michael Shanks
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
29th Aug 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what was his Departments total spend on international climate finance in each of the last 3 years.

DESNZ ICF supports global clean energy deployment, protects the world’s forests and leverages private investment at scale to help mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s total spend on International Climate Finance (ICF) over the last 3 years is:

DESNZ ICF spend

Financial Year

£394.9m

2024/25

£311.1m

2023/24

£350.2m

2022/23

Michael Shanks
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
21st Jul 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, which delegates the Government plans to take to the COP30 climate change summit.

The size and composition of the UK delegation is still being determined.

In keeping with previous years, the UNFCCC is expected to publish a provisional list of registered participants as COP30 begins, with a final list published a few weeks after COP concludes. This will list all UK delegates who attended COP30.

21st Jul 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many delegates the Government plans to take to the COP30 climate change summit.

The size and composition of the UK delegation is still being determined.

In keeping with previous years, the UNFCCC is expected to publish a provisional list of registered participants as COP30 begins, with a final list published a few weeks after COP concludes. This will list all UK delegates who attended COP30.

11th Jul 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much their Department has spent on translating documents into languages other than (a) English and (b) other native UK languages in each year since 2023; and what these languages were.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero does not record this data in a way in which we can determine what proportion of the spend on translation services was for translating documents into languages other than (a) English and (b) other native UK languages in each year since 2023; and what these languages were.

Michael Shanks
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
5th Jun 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many hectares of arable farmland have been reallocated to (a) solar panels and (b) wind turbines since July 2024; and how many he plans to reallocate in the next four years.

The Government does not hold the information requested.

Michael Shanks
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
2nd May 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make it his policy to support future applications for sustainable mining of coal.

The Government has committed to not granting new coal licences and has set out its policy position in a written statement on 14th November 2024 https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-11-14/hcws215.

Michael Shanks
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
23rd Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will remove net zero targets for key strategic industries.

Our targets are there to help us seize the economic opportunity of the century – and we are absolutely committed to them.

So, instead of leaving great British industries without a long-term plan for their future, we will help them become more secure and sustainable, creating and protecting hundreds of thousands of jobs across the UK.

Sarah Jones
Minister of State (Home Office)
17th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, regarding the report entitled Seventh Carbon Budget by the Committee on Climate Change, published on 26 February 2025, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cumulative capital expenditure required for (a) transmission grid upgrades, (b) distribution grid upgrades and (c) household insulation measures to 2050.

The actual costs of delivering the Seventh Carbon Budget will be determined by the choices that government makes. The costs and funding scenarios set out in the CCC’s Seventh Carbon Budget report are illustrative and do not represent government policy and Government is not bound to accept their recommendations.

In 2022, the Government published the Electricity Networks Strategic Framework which included an estimate of cumulative 2021-2050 load-related total expenditure for net zero of £100-120bn for onshore transmission and £70-90bn for distribution network.

The Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock into comfortable, low-carbon homes that are fit for the future. We will upgrade up to 5 million homes across the country by accelerating the installation of efficient new technologies like heat pumps, solar, batteries and insulation.

17th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made an estimate of the percentage reduction in heat demand that household insulation measures will deliver on existing housing stock.

The Department publishes annual estimates of the impact of installing insulation measures through government schemes on domestic gas consumption in England and Wales.

Miatta Fahnbulleh
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
27th Mar 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets his Department has for staff recruitment.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero values the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce. We internally monitor our departmental diversity data and seek to increase representation amongst under-represented groups, especially at more senior grades, with a focus on Women, Ethnic Minority and Disability. We do not set targets as part of our recruitment processes but ensure that our processes are fair and equitable.

Michael Shanks
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
24th Mar 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the total cost was of providing translation services in his Department in the last year.

This information is not held centrally.

Michael Shanks
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)