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 support animal rescue and rehoming centres.

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

As set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy, Defra will launch a consultation on licensing domestic rescue and rehoming organisations. The consultation will include a consideration of the potential impacts on the sector.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what she is taking to help support the enforcement of legislation on the compulsory microchipping of (a) cats and (b) dogs.

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

Local authorities and the police have powers to enforce breaches of the Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023.

It will be for each local authority and police force to determine on a case-by-case basis whether enforcement action is proportionate.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact o changes to the Listed Places of Worship Scheme on the number of places of worship in England and Wales.

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

The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme is a £23m scheme that gives grants covering VAT on eligible works. We estimate that changes to the Scheme this year, including the introduction of a 25k cap on claims, affected around 6% of claims as most claims are under £5,000. The Department has not made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to the scheme on the number of places of worship in England and Wales. However, the Department has commissioned an evaluation of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme which will be published soon.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help address safety risks from the abandonment of e-bikes on pavements.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

We understand that e-bikes parked obstructively on pavements are not just an inconvenience but a real safety risk, particularly for vulnerable pavement users.

That is why the licensing regime for shared cycle schemes which we are bringing forward through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill will create a legal requirement for shared e-cycle schemes to be licensed by local leaders and will include minimum standard conditions to ensure a national baseline of safety. This will provide local leaders with greater powers to combat street clutter and misuse of shared vehicles.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support pupils with SEND in Epping Forest.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

On 16 January, the government announced a £200 million investment over the course of this Parliament to upskill staff in every school, college and nursery, ensuring a skilled workforce for generations to come. This builds on the landmark £3 billion investment to create more specialist places and ensure more children and young people can thrive at a setting close to home.

We are also determined to deliver reform that stands the test of time and rebuilds the confidence of families, which is why we are currently engaging a wide range of people and organisations, including parents and young people, in every region of the country to inform development of our proposals and ensure that lived experience and partnership are at the heart of our solutions.

We will set out our proposals for reform in the upcoming Schools White Paper, and we will consult widely on these proposals and continue to work with a wide range of partners to refine them and deliver them.

Essex is currently undergoing a local area special educational needs and disabilities inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, the results of which will be published in due course.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of providing further funding for its planned National Biosecurity Centre to meet the required level of funding specified in the National Audit Office's Improving the UK’s science capability for managing animal diseases Report in 2022.

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

Defra received the funding it requested in the current Spending Review to 2029-30 for the next stage of the National Biosecurity Centre, Weybridge Programme. Programme delivery is on track and in line with Government Project Delivery Functional Standards. Further funding in future Spending Reviews will be requested to secure operational delivery of the new facility by 2034.

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.