Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much was spent on benefit payments to foreign nationals in the 2024-2025 financial year.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) illegal waste dumping and (b) fly-tipping on rural communities.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
While no recent assessment has been made, we appreciate the difficulty that illegal waste dumping and fly-tipping poses to rural communities. We work with a wide range of parties through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group, which involves the Environment Agency (EA) and National Farmers Union, to promote and disseminate good practice, including how to prevent fly-tipping on private land.
We are making policy and regulatory reforms to close loopholes exploited by criminals - fundamentally reforming the waste carriers, brokers and dealers system, tightening waste permit exemptions and introducing digital waste tracking. We have increased EA’s budget for waste crime enforcement by over 50% this year to £15.6m enabling the EA to increase its frontline criminal enforcement resource in the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and area environmental crime teams by the equivalent of 43 full-time staff.
We encourage local authorities to make good use of their enforcement powers which include prosecution. On conviction, a cost order can be made by the court so that a landowner’s costs can be recovered from the perpetrator. We are also reviewing local authority powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the abolition of NHS England on the Neurology Transformation Programme.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s Neurology Transformation Programme will be concluding at the end of this financial year. By this time, we will have delivered all of the products, tools, and best practice guidance to support integrated care boards and local pathfinders to transform neurology services at a local level. Expert clinical advice and support will continue to be available during 2026/27 to support local transformation.
As we bring together the Department and NHS England to form a new joint centre, we will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for patients, including for people with neurological conditions, driving productivity up and getting waiting times down. By the end of the process, we estimate that these changes will save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested in frontline services.
We continue to take forward the Government’s ambitious reform agenda as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, which will deliver the three big shifts our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving neurological care for people in all parts of the country. More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all support people to manage their long-term conditions, including neurological conditions, closer to home.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of net zero policies on Scotland's oil and gas sector.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
I’m due to be in Aberdeen next week to meet a range of North Sea oil and gas operators.
The Government is clear that Scotland’s oil and gas industry will remain part of our energy system for decades to come.
We are also strengthening our energy security and making Scotland home to the green jobs of the future by investing in homegrown clean power through GB Energy.
GB Energy is already investing in Scottish renewables. This includes an investment of £200 million in solar and renewable energy projects on public buildings across the country, and in June, GB Energy also pledged £300 million of investment in offshore wind supply chains, as part of a £1 billion package in collaboration with industry and the Crown Estate.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether councillors and mayors will be able to sit on her Department's new social cohesion taskforce.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As set out in my response to UIN 78208, the Social Cohesion Taskforce is an internal Civil Service team comprised of civil servants. As part of our work, we have been engaging with a wide range of relevant stakeholders, including those with experience of delivering cohesion programmes within local government.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's policy is on Job Centres advertising vacancies relating to the implementation and administration of Sharia Law.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Find A Job is a free platform to help jobseekers find vacancies with employers from various sectors. Employers are verified as legitimate and all jobs they advertise must comply with our terms and conditions: https://findajob.dwp.gov.uk/terms-and-conditions-employer.html.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions the Government had with the US Government on the definition of Islamophobia.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government does not have an official definition of anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia and so it has not engaged with any foreign government on this. However, we have established a working group to advise government on a definition of anti-Muslim Hatred/Islamophobia, including on how to best understand, quantify and define prejudice, discrimination, and hate crime targeted against Muslims. Alongside drawing on their own expertise, the working group have engaged widely to ensure the definition accounts for the variety of backgrounds and experiences of communities across the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with (a) Brighton and Hove council, (b) Tower Hamlets council and (c) Birmingham City Council on the taking down of St George’s flags.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Prime Minister has been clear that he supports the flying of flags across the country. Flags should be an embodiment of bringing our country and our communities together. Decisions about whether flags should be removed are devolved to local authorities and it is for them to assess the impacts of removing or allowing flags to remain.
My Department engages with local authorities on a regular basis across numerous meetings. Where the subject has been raised we have been clear that everyone can make their own decisions, including local councils, on flying flags and that guidance exists to support them, such as ‘Flying flags: a plain English guide” - as set out in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2007 (as amended in 2012 and 2021) – which outlines the regulations related to the flying of flags in England.
It is important that the decisions taken by local authorities reflect the character and values of the communities they serve. Where symbols are used in ways that threaten public safety, it is right that action is taken to address this.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 20 of the Valuation Office Agency's document entitled Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, published on 17 July 2025, if she will set out the changes to the methodology for valuing (a) petrol filling stations and (b) public houses in the 2026 business rates revaluation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
There has been no change to the valuation methodology for pubs or petrol filling stations for the 2026 business rates revaluation.
Our approach to valuing pubs has been established in collaboration with industry experts from the British Beer & Pub Association, UK Hospitality, British Institute of Innkeeping and the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations. Our approach to valuing petrol stations has been established in collaboration with industry experts, including the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) and Fuels Industry UK.
The Rating Manual guidance will be updated on 1st April 2026 when the 2026 list takes effect.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2025 to Question 59605 on Neurological Diseases: Primary Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that GP practices do not replace traditional methods of access with online triage services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices are independent business that hold contracts with the National Health Service to perform essential services to the public. The GP contract is clear that patients should always have the option of telephoning or visiting their practice in person. Practice receptions should be open so that patients have a choice in access and so that patients who struggle to access telephone or online services are in no way disadvantaged.
As a part of this contract, we also require general practices to provide an online consultation tool as an option for patients to contact their general practice throughout core hours. We are clear that all online tools must always be provided in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, other channels for accessing a general practitioner.