Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support local councils in enforcing the 90-day rule for short-term lets in London; and whether he plans to strengthen enforcement powers where breaches are identified.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Section 25 of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973, as amended by section 44 of the Deregulation Act 2015, allows properties in London, which are liable for council tax, to be let out on a short-term basis for a maximum of 90 nights per calendar year without this being considered a material change of use for which planning permission is required. If these criteria are not met planning permission is required.
The government remains committed to implementing the short-term lets registration scheme, which was legislated for in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, as soon as practicable to support sustainable tourism and local communities.
Responsibility for developing the scheme lies with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and it entered its user testing phase in October last year.
DCMS is assessing legislative vehicles to extend the scheme's legal powers, to support local authorities with enforcement of the 90-nights rule.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that employers correctly implement Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance in relation to the rights of transgender employees, including protections from discrimination, harassment and unfair treatment in the workplace.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is the independent equality regulator and ensures compliance with the Equality Act 2010. Their draft Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations (“the Code”) covers all nine protected characteristics and the steps the EHRC considers service providers should take into account when ascertaining how to comply with the law.
The approach as set out in the Code of Practice on Services reflects the Supreme Court Ruling in April 2025. The EHRC are considering how best to provide further guidance on employment and will provide updates in due course.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that Covid era Build Back Loan repayment programmes do not contribute to business closures and liquidations.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), is a fully delegated scheme. Under the Scheme’s rules and guidance, lenders are expected to pursue recovery activity in a proportionate way, treating borrowers fairly while providing value to the taxpayer.
To make sure that BBLS borrowers are treated fairly, “Pay As You Grow” was introduced, giving borrowers the flexibility to extend loan terms to ten years, make interest-only repayments for six-months, or request a six-month repayment holiday once during the term of the loan.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether changes to alcohol duty have increased revenue.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Budget 2025 the Chancellor announced that alcohol duty would be kept constant in real terms by uprating it in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) on 1 February 2026. The government does not expect this to increase revenue in excess of the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast, which assumes that alcohol duty will be uprated annually.
HMRC’s alcohol duty receipts bulletin can be found here:
Alcohol Bulletin commentary (February 2026 to April 2026) - GOV.UK
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has considered reducing taxation such as business rates for small businesses liable for Extended Producer Responsibility.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes it is right that the costs of dealing with household packaging waste are moved away from taxpayers and onto the businesses that place packaging on the market. The Government has designed the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme to be proportionate, with the smallest producers exempt and small producers subject only to light-touch requirements. The government engaged extensively with businesses over many years on the design of EPR and is continuing to do so through its implementation.
The Government has also extended Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) to support small businesses to grow and expand, by giving them an additional two years of SBRR when they open a second premise. Around a third of properties already pay no business rates as they receive 100 per cent SBRR, with an additional 85,000 benefiting from reduced bills as this relief tapers. SMEs in rural areas may also be eligible for Rural Rates Relief if they meet certain conditions.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will consider allowing the Housing Ombudsman to issue fines for maladministration by housing providers to recompense tenants, ensure implementation of recommendations and to cover some costs of ombudsman activities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Housing Ombudsman is an independent and impartial adjudicator, investigating and resolving individual complaints between social housing residents and their landlords.
To maintain that independence and fairness, it is not appropriate for the Ombudsman to take enforcement action against landlords.
Instead, where it identifies evidence of a failure at the landlord level, it can refer matters to the independent Regulator of Social Housing, which is responsible for setting standards that landlords are required to meet and assessing how far landlords are delivering the outcomes of those standards. The Regulator can take regulatory or enforcement action where necessary.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the administrative costs for outlets of running a VAT reduction for children’s food only; what comparative assessment she has made of this policy and reducing VAT on all food; and whether her Department has received representations from Hospitality UK on the proposal.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
From 25 June to 1 September the Government is introducing a temporary reduced rate of VAT on children's menu meals and family leisure activities
The relief for children’s meal is temporary and targeted to balance the policy's intention of supporting families with the cost-of-living and maintaining the Chancellor's commitment to stable public finances.
HMRC has published guidance for businesses to operationalise the measures, and the Government carefully considered the relative administrative burden before the announcement
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Hot takeaway food, and “eat-in” food, are subject to the standard 20 per cent rate of VAT. Most other food is zero rated, including most traditional bakery products, such as bread, biscuits and cakes. However, there are certain exceptions, including some confectionery items such as chocolate covered biscuits and flapjack bars, which are taxed at the standard rate
HM Treasury regularly engage with the hospitality industry and UK Hospitality, who have publicly welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of amending the 1996 Police Act to allow staff associations other than the Police Federation of England and Wales to represent police officers.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government wants to see a strong staff association that provides a strong voice for police officers and represents their interests effectively.
Recognising widely-reported concerns about the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), we expect to see clear plans and rapid, demonstrable improvement in the PFEW’s operation. In the absence of such improvements, this Government stands ready to bring forward reforms to ensure that the interests of rank-and-file officers are properly, effectively and robustly represented.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of simplifying the system of criminal record disclosure.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Government is committed to supporting people with convictions to overcome barriers to employment and move away from reoffending.
The criminal records disclosure regime plays an important role in striking a balance between the need to protect the public while enabling individuals to rebuild their lives. However, we recognise that the regime has evolved over a number of years and can be complex for individuals and employers to navigate, which is why we provide a disclosure checker and guidance online.
In recognition of Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of Criminal Courts recommendation on criminal records, the Deputy Prime Minister confirmed that the Government will consider opportunities to simplify the criminal records regime to ensure it is clear and proportionate, particularly in relation to childhood offences.
As part of the youth justice system reform and delivery plan, published in May, we committed to set out a targeted, proportionate package of potential reforms for the childhood criminal records regime by the end of the year.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to respond to the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is grateful to Sir Brian and his panel of expert advisers for their Independent Review of the Criminal Courts. Sir Brian’s Review makes 180 recommendations aiming to reform the Criminal Justice System and drive improvements to efficiency.
Part 1 of Sir Brian’s report sets out a blueprint for pragmatic structural reform in our criminal courts. The Courts and Tribunals Bill is the first step to putting that blueprint into law. This Bill will enable much-needed reform of the criminal courts.
Part 2 of Sir Brian’s report makes 135 recommendations to improve the efficiency of the criminal courts. The report is thorough and I welcome his ambition to see real improvements to the system.
We are carefully considering the remaining recommendations from parts 1 and 2 of Sir Brian’s review, many of those require cross criminal justice system coordination with other agencies and Departments. We will set out a full response in the summer.