Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made about the number of farmers with environmental agreements expiring before the end of February 2027, that may apply for the SFI26 Scheme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 (SFI26) Window 2 was open to all eligible farmers and land managers in England. Defra assessed that demand for Window 2 was likely to be strong because more than 20,000 existing Environmental Land Management revenue agreements were due to expire before the end of the financial year. To support these agreement holders, Defra introduced functionality allowing eligible applicants with soon-to-expire agreements to apply for SFI26 before their existing agreement ended. Around 12,500 applications were submitted before the available Window 2 budget was fully allocated, of which around 8,800 were from businesses with agreements due to expire on or before 28 February 2027.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of visitor levies on children's social mobility and the ability of low- to middle-income families to afford residential stays for their children as part of their child's participation in youth groups and school groups.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
It will be for Mayors and local leaders to decide whether to introduce a visitor levy, as they best understand which investments can support local economic development, including the visitor economy. This may include passing on receipts to local authorities.
Our approach balances local flexibility with simplicity and consistency for business.
Local decisions on the levy rate, any local exemptions and spending priorities will be informed by consultations, and will need to balance local priorities, affordability, and certainty for businesses. The precise impacts will depend on these local decisions.
These decisions will be made within a national framework which includes that levies must be set as a percentage rate, meaning low-cost stays stay low cost. Government will also work with Strategic Authorities as they develop their plans to drive further consistency and simplicity for business.
Our approach to caps is set out in the consultation response: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/overnight-visitor-levy-in-england.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 15 September 2026 to Question 26981 on Mental Health Services, whether issues surrounding (a) self-referral to new community mental health centres, (b) the need for additional mental health access points on existing patient pathways, and (c) multiple assessments across different mental health services will be referred to in her forthcoming mental health strategy.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I thank the Hon Member for his continued interest in the Government’s roll-out of new community-based mental health centres and mental health emergency departments. I do not have anything further to add at this time to the public statements that the Department has issued on this programme, and the previous answers I have provided to his questions, but as and when there are further updates to provide, I will ensure that Parliament is properly informed.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 15 September 2026 to Question 26981 on Mental Health Services, what recent discussions she has had with integrated care boards on whether staffing new mental health centres will be achieved through (a) new recruitment and (b) redeployment of NHS mental health services.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I thank the Hon Member for his continued interest in the Government’s roll-out of new community-based mental health centres and mental health emergency departments. I do not have anything further to add at this time to the public statements that the Department has issued on this programme, and the previous answers I have provided to his questions, but as and when there are further updates to provide, I will ensure that Parliament is properly informed.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to WPQ 26981 answered on 15 September 2026 about Mental Health Services, what steps she is taking to monitor the performance of Integrated Care Boards to deliver on the £343 million announced for community mental health centres and mental health emergency departments.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I thank the Hon Member for his continued interest in the Government’s roll-out of new community-based mental health centres and mental health emergency departments. I do not have anything further to add at this time to the public statements that the Department has issued on this programme, and the previous answers I have provided to his questions, but as and when there are further updates to provide, I will ensure that Parliament is properly informed.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 15 September 2026 to Question 26981 on Mental Health Services, if she will publish the (a) estimated additional staff and (b) professional groups that will staff the (i) community mental health centres and (ii) mental health emergency departments.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I thank the Hon Member for his continued interest in the Government’s roll-out of new community-based mental health centres and mental health emergency departments. I do not have anything further to add at this time to the public statements that the Department has issued on this programme, and the previous answers I have provided to his questions, but as and when there are further updates to provide, I will ensure that Parliament is properly informed.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to WPQ 26981 answered on 15 September 2026 about Mental Health Services, what recent conversations she had with Integrated Care Boards to assess the physical estate capacity to deliver the proposed 59 mental health emergency departments announced on 5 August 2026.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I thank the Hon Member for his continued interest in the Government’s roll-out of new community-based mental health centres and mental health emergency departments. I do not have anything further to add at this time to the public statements that the Department has issued on this programme, and the previous answers I have provided to his questions, but as and when there are further updates to provide, I will ensure that Parliament is properly informed.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 15 September 2026 to Question 26981 on Mental Health Services, if she will publish the criteria used to determine the location of the proposed mental health emergency departments.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I thank the Hon Member for his continued interest in the Government’s roll-out of new community-based mental health centres and mental health emergency departments. I do not have anything further to add at this time to the public statements that the Department has issued on this programme, and the previous answers I have provided to his questions, but as and when there are further updates to provide, I will ensure that Parliament is properly informed.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has had discussions with the Foreign Secretary on the compatibility of his statutory consent role for petroleum licences in the Falkland Islands with the Government's policy on new oil and gas exploration licences in UK waters.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State has regular discussions with Ministerial Colleagues on a number of issues.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times Council Leaders from non Mayoral authorities have had meetings with the [i] Prime Minister and [ii] Prime Minister's Officials at Number 10 North since July 2026.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Ministerial meetings with external organisations, including those held by the Prime Minister, are published on a quarterly basis on gov.uk.