Margaret Mullane

The Government has committed to implement a ‘Hillsborough Law’ which will place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities. The details of this Bill will be announced in due course.

The Government’s Warm Homes Plan will improve the existing housing stock by tackling fuel poverty and ensuring lower energy bills for decades to come. The Autumn 2024 Budget confirmed an initial £3.4 billion for heat decarbonisation and household energy over the next three years. This includes £1.8 billion to support fuel poverty schemes, with £1.29 billion of grant funding allocated to Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund in England to support social housing providers and tenants, with delivery starting in April 2025.

Local Authorities have a duty to identify contaminated land (including historic landfills) which are causing unacceptable risks to human health or the environment. Where requested, the Environment Agency (EA) supports Local Authorities in discharging these duties by providing information and advice.

The EA is responsible for requiring remediation to be carried out on Special Sites. These are contaminated land sites where it has the specialist skills to deal with contamination due to past activities or certain current land uses and specific types of water pollution.

The EA has inspected many historic landfills as potential special sites on behalf of Local Authorities.

60 sites (including 14 historic landfills) have been designated as Special Sites in England. Remediation is outstanding or ongoing on 19 sites where the EA is either working with those responsible or using discretionary powers to carry out works to reduce unacceptable risks to health and the environment. The list is published here: Contaminated Land Special Sites - data.gov.uk.

Operators (and landowners) of permitted or historic landfill sites are responsible for maintaining and managing their sites. Where they propose to remediate sites to enable redevelopment, the EA will advise on permitting requirements where remediation involves deposit, or treatment of waste. Where consulted, the EA will liaise with the relevant Planning Authority.

Published guidance is available on GOV.UK: Landfill operators: environmental permits - Deposit waste over existing waste at landfills (overtipping) - Guidance - GOV.UK.

As of October 2024, 60% of actively licensed London taxis were zero emission capable (ZEC). The Plug in Taxi Grant (PiTG) has been crucial in supporting taxi drivers to make this transition to ZEC vehicles and decarbonise our roads.

On 25 February 2025, the Government announced that the PITG will be extended into the 2025/26 financial year with a reduced rate of £4,000 per eligible vehicle. The Government does not currently intend to introduce an interest-free loan scheme for taxi drivers.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government and the Ministerial Taskforce is considering all children across the United Kingdom in developing a Child Poverty Strategy. The causes of child poverty are deep-rooted and complex and the Taskforce is exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.

The Taskforce recognises the distinct challenges of poverty faced by migrant children and the Child Poverty Unit is working closely with the Home Office on this important aspect of the work. Alongside this, officials planned specific discussions with experts from outside Government, as part of the wider evidence gathering the Taskforce is undertaking.

The Government is committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.

Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, builds on the investments already made with an ambitious vision for the future of diagnostic testing. This will include more straight-to-test pathways, increasing and expanding community diagnostic centres (CDCs), and better use of technology. With 170 CDCs due to be up and running by the end of March 2025, CDCs can take on more of the growing diagnostic demand within elective care. We will also deliver additional CDC capacity in 2025/26 by expanding a number of existing CDCs and building up to five new ones.

Alongside Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Gates Ventures, and the People’s Postcode Lottery, the National Institute for Health and Care Research is funding the Blood Biomarker Challenge which seeks to produce the clinical and economic data that could make the case for the use of a blood test in the NHS to support the diagnosis of dementia.

The Dementia Care Pathway: Full Implementation Guidance, commissioned by NHS England, outlines the dementia care pathway and associated benchmarks to support improvements in the delivery and quality of care and support, for people living with dementia and their families and carers. The guide showcases good-practice examples of services that have successfully reduced their waiting times. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/improving-care/nccmh/dementia/nccmh-dementia-care-pathway-full-implementation-guidance.pdf

The Government is committed to ensuring support is there for the most vulnerable people in our society. Certain products designed solely for use by a disabled person can qualify for a zero rate of VAT.

VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK’s third largest tax, forecast to raise £171 billion in 2024/25. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.

Another key consideration when assessing a new VAT relief is whether the cost saving is likely to be passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices. Evidence suggests that businesses only partially pass on any savings from lower VAT rates and so in some cases, reliefs do not represent good value for money.

We recognise the negative impact theft has on victims who rely on the tools of their trade to earn a living.

We are continuing to work with the police-led National Business Crime Centre and industry via the Combined Industries Theft Solutions forum to explore ways to tackle and prevent the theft of tools.

We are also working alongside the police and businesses to tackle these crimes and ensure perpetrators receive just punishment, including work to make tradespeople’s vans secure.

Following engagement with the Home Office and National Vehicle Crime Working Group, Thatcham Research agreed to add to their New Vehicle Security Assessment (NVSA), locks and alarms on the back of vans (previously NVSA only covers the cab area of vans) and a motion sensor on the load area of the van. This is supported by crime prevention advice developed by the Police Crime Prevention Initiatives: Secured by Design - Vans & Tool Theft.

A key part of making acquisitive crime less attractive to criminals is making stolen goods harder to sell on. That is why we are working closely with policing and academic leads to examine what more can be done to tackle the disposal markets for stolen goods and reduce the ability to profit from this criminality.

Building regulations apply equally to homes built using modern methods of construction as those built using traditional methods. Developers are responsible for complying with the functional requirements of the building regulations, which are set out in legislation and the Approved Documents.

We are working with the British Standards Institution to create a Publicly Available Specification for modern methods of construction new build residential properties, which will be published in due course.

Homelessness levels are far too high, and we are taking the first steps to get back on track to ending homelessness. As announced at the Budget, grant funding for homelessness services is increasing this year by £233 million compared to last year (2024/25). This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total funding to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26.

This Government has inherited record levels of temporary accommodation, and we recognise the pressure this has put on councils. The government regularly takes a wide range of evidence into account when determining the overall level of funding available for local government services, including expected temporary accommodation pressures in 202/26. The majority of funding provided through the Local Government Finance Settlement is un-ringfenced in recognition that local councils are best placed to understand the needs of their communities. The Government has confirmed there will be over £5 billion additional government grant funding available for local government services in 2025/26, over and above increases to council tax. Of this, over £2 billion is being made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025/26.

The Government is clear that, in the short-term, we must prioritise eliminating the worst forms of temporary accommodation such as families in Bed and Breakfast (B&B), other than in genuine emergencies. We have also launched Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots, backed by £8 million, to work with 20 local councils with the highest use of B&B accommodation for homeless families, including 11 London Boroughs. This will support LAs to move families into more suitable accommodation.

In addition, the £1.25 billion Local Authority Housing Fund will provide capital funding directly to English councils and is expected to around 7,700 homes by 2026. It will create a lasting asset for UK nationals by building a sustainable stock of affordable housing and better-quality temporary accommodation for local communities.

In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the UK government took significant steps to enhance fire safety in new residential buildings including increased provisions of sprinkler systems, and the ban on combustible materials in external walls.

Following engagement with the sector including fire and rescue services, developers and designers, the government proposed to introduce new guidance making provisions for a second staircases in new residential buildings exceeding 18 metres in height. This new guidance takes effect on 30 September 2026.

The current guidance, Approved Document B (Fire Safety), is already clear that residential buildings with a floor area of 900sqm should include a minimum of two firefighting stairs. For buildings below this threshold where a second stair is provided, the second staircases should be, as a minimum, a protected escape stair able to provide an effective means of egress for occupants.

The government acknowledge the concerns that exist about the quality of residential units created through permitted development rights, particularly office-to-residential conversions. We will continue to keep permitted development rights under review.

Regulators – local authorities, fire and rescue authorities and the Building Safety Regulator – have powers to compel landlords and other responsible persons to remediate their unsafe buildings. Where necessary, regulators have powers to prosecute those who are failing to fulfil their duties.

The Remediation Acceleration Plan (RAP) published this week (2 December) sets out key measures to fix buildings faster, identify remaining buildings still at risk and ensure that residents are supported through the remediation process. We are increasing funding to ensure that local regulators have the capacity to drive remediation where responsible parties fail to undertake the work quickly. A further £30 million investment in 25/26 will provide capacity for regulators to tackle hundreds of enforcement cases a year, targeting those failing to remediate their buildings.

The Government has published new guidance for regulators on the enforcement of remediation work. The guidance establishes key principles for remediation enforcement, such as the designation of a lead regulator at each building. This reduces ambiguity and allows regulators to work together and drive remediation effectively.

For landlords, the message is clear: time is running out to do the right thing. Those who fail to fix their buildings can expect swift and robust enforcement action from regulators with the full support of government behind them.