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 ensure that local authorities are implementing the changes introduced in November 2024 to exempt all veterans from local connection requirements when applying for social housing; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of compliance by councils in the West Midlands.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Allocation of Housing (Qualification Criteria for Armed Forces) (England) (Amendment) Regulations, which came into force in December 2024, mean that local authorities are no longer allowed to apply local connection tests to veterans of the Regular Armed Forces, regardless of when they last served.

Statutory guidance was updated on 18 December 2024 to reflect this change. The Department also notified local authorities when the regulations had been laid and came into force.

My Department will be monitoring the impact at local authority level through the Local Authority Housing Statistics, which will be published later in the year.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2025 to Question 69586 on Food Supply, which (a) supermarkets and (b) food producers he has met with to discuss mitigating the risk of shortages to key food supplies in the last 12 months.

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

Over the last 12 months, the Secretary of State has attended a range of events across the year with both supermarkets and food producers to discuss risks to food security and explore measures to mitigate potential shortages.

Minister of State also chairs a regular session with the food and farming trade bodies which includes British Retail Consortium, Food and Drink Federation, National Farmers' Union, and UK Hospitality - where the issues of food security and resilience are regularly discussed.

In addition, Defra officials continue to engage with stakeholders across the food supply chain to focus on specific challenges. Recent meetings with supermarkets have focused on cyber and energy resilience.