Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that police forces receive adequate resources to tackle crime effectively.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The 2026–27 final police funding settlement provides up to £21.0 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an increase of up to £1.3 billion compared with the 2025–26 settlement, representing a 6.7% cash increase and a 4.4% real terms increase.

Police forces will have up to £18.4 billion in 2026-27. This is an increase in funding to forces by up to £796 million, equating to a 4.5% cash increase and 2.3% real terms increase.

The Chancellor set out at the Spending Review that there will be a real terms increase in funding over the next three years. Despite the importance of living within the fiscal constraints, this government is prioritising funding for policing.

£200 million was made available in 2025-26 to support the delivery of 3,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel this year. We are on track to deliver that 3,000 by the end of March - and remain determined to reach 13,000 additional neighbourhood officers by the end of the Parliament.

The 2026-27 settlement ringfences £363 million of total funding to incentivise forces to grow neighbourhood policing teams, which includes an additional £50 million following feedback from the provisional settlement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the funding settlement for Essex Police.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The 2026–27 final police funding settlement provides up to £21.0 billion for the policing system in England and Wales.

Total funding to police forces will be up to £18.4 billion, an increase of up to £796 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.5% cash increase and a 2.3% real terms increase in funding.

Essex Police will receive up to £455.2 million in 2026-27. This is an increase of up to £21.1 million, equating to a 4.9% cash increase.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help tackle the crime of fly tipping in Epping Forest.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Local councils are responsible for tackling fly-tipping in their area and have a range of enforcement powers to help them do so. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000 and prosecution action. The Government is taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to effectively exercise their existing powers. We are also reviewing council powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could better help them use this tool.

Defra chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping.

In our manifesto we committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.

The Environment Agency regulates large scale fly-tips that meet the criteria of being over 20 tonnes, consist of hazardous material, or are linked to organised crime. Within the Epping Forest constituency, there are not currently any reports of large-scale fly-tips that meet these criteria. It is worth noting that there are two illegal waste sites where active clearing is currently taking place under the guidance of the Environment Agency.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had discussions with businesses that have withdrawn from the Better Chicken Commitment on the sourcing of chickens that ensures the highest animal welfare standards.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Department continues to engage with key stakeholders as part of the development of our overarching approach to animal welfare. As set out in the animal welfare strategy, the government remains committed to supporting a move away from the use of fast-growing breeds of meat chickens.

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 of the potential impact of the recent withdrawal of companies from the Better Chicken Commitment on the welfare of farmed chickens.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As set out in the animal welfare strategy, the Government remains committed to supporting a move away from the use of fast-growing breeds of meat chickens. We welcome the fact that those supermarkets who made Better Chicken Commitment pledges have fulfilled them, but it is disappointing to hear of the decision of various restaurant groups to withdraw their commitments to improve animal welfare in this way.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will set out a timeline for when and how Places of Worship can apply for the Places of Worship Renewal Fund.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Further details regarding the timeline, eligibility criteria and application process for the new Places of Worship Renewal Fund will be published in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) the number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in Epping Forest; and what steps he is taking to ensure respiratory health is prioritised nationally, including through the introduction of a Modern Service Framework for respiratory care.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is the potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for Essex can be found at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/Respiratory#page/1/gid/1/pat/15/ati/502/are/E10000012/iid/40701/age/163/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1

Excise