Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Boost to mental health services from thousands of extra staff, published on 27 June 2025, how the recruitment of 6,700 mental health staff in the most recent year compares with the number recruited in each of the previous five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on the National Health Service Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) workforce in England. This includes data on the NHS mental health workforce employed by NHS provider trusts and integrated care boards.
Within the NHS Monthly Workforce Statistics series, data on the mental health workforce is included in the file titled “Preliminary – NHS HCHS Workforce Statistics, Trusts and core organisations – data tables, September 2025”. The file is available at the following link:
Tab 21 within the file contains information on the mental health workforce broken down by staff groups, NHS England region, and care setting or specialty, including a monthly time series from January 2024 onwards and earlier annual figures for each September.
Further data on the mental health workforce is included in the file titled “HCHS Mental Health Workforce in NHS Trusts and core orgs June 2025”. The file is available at the following link:
This file provides quarterly FTE data from 30 September 2009 to 30 June 2025.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to routine tissue freezing for brain cancer patients in a) Epping Forest and b) England for even access to advanced treatments, diagnostics and research.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of UK weather patterns on crop production in 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We publish annual harvest estimates. Provisional estimates of cereal and oilseed rape production covering the 2025 harvest in England were published on 9 October 2025: Cereal and oilseed rape production - GOV.UK.
Initial good weather meant that the 2025 harvest progressed quickly, with many growers finishing ahead of a typical year. However, in September, wet weather hindered the ability to harvest remaining crops towards the end of the season, resulting in a mixed picture across the country with considerable variability in yield between regions.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has had discussions with the National Fire Chiefs Council on the potential risk of wildfires crossing into urban areas.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) works closely with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) on the full range of wildfire risks to strengthen preparedness and improve response, including potential impacts on urban areas. We also continue to work closely with partners across government, including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and wider stakeholders, to identify policy options for addressing wildfire risk at the national level.
Since 2024, the Government has funded a National Resilience Wildfire Advisor to assess what additional wildfire national capabilities might be needed to increase resilience to wildfire risk and to ensure coordination of approaches across the sector.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help stop wildfires setting homes on fire.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) works closely with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), fire and rescue services and local resilience partners to strengthen preparedness and improve response to wildfires. Since 2024, the Government has funded a National Resilience Wildfire Advisor to assess what additional wildfire national capabilities might be needed to increase resilience to wildfire risk and to ensure coordination of approaches across the sector.
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that the planning system should take full account of the full range of potential climate change impacts, and that it should shape places in ways that improve resilience and minimise vulnerability. Such impacts can include wildfires. It requires local plan policies to support appropriate measures to ensure the resilience of communities and infrastructure to climate change impacts, such as providing space for physical protection measures.
The National Design Guide and National Model Design Code emphasise the importance of design in response to environmental change and challenges. It provides guidance for well-designed places that address climate change mitigation and resilience. The department intends to publish updates to the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code in due course, and we are considering the inclusion of further guidance on wildfire risk.
We continue to work closely with partners across government, including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the fire sector, and with wider stakeholders to identify policy options for addressing wildfire risk at the national level.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 with Cabinet colleagues of the effectiveness of the ban on disposable vapes on the outbreak of fires.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Selling single-use vapes has been banned since 1st June 2025 due to the harm that they cause to the environment, with over 5 million of these products being thrown away each week in 2023. This will help to prevent the environmental harms caused by vapes, including the risk of fires. We will continue to monitor the impact and remain engaged with industry to ensure that they have the desired positive environmental impact and will not hesitate to act further to tackle the environmental impact of vapes if needed.