Nigel Huddleston

No such assessment has been made.

Maintaining security of energy supplies is a key priority and critical energy operators are required to meet a minimum standard of cyber security and resilience, through the Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018. The Department works continually with Ofgem and the National Cyber Security Centre to ensure that these regulations continue to capture all the most critical operators of energy generation systems.

CrossCountry provides train services between Worcestershire Parkway and Birmingham. Officials discussed the operator’s proposal to temporarily withdraw some services to ensure a more reliable timetable can be delivered. The Department agreed to the operator’s proposed timetable changes as it delivered benefits for the majority of passengers. CrossCountry were unable to add a Worcestershire Parkway call on another morning train but two alternative trains from Worcestershire Parkway are both scheduled to arrive at Birmingham before 0900.

The Chancellor presented to Parliament today an assessment of the state of our spending inheritance. The Chancellor confirmed the Budget will be held on the 30th October, alongside a full and independent forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

The process for access talks is set out in the Cabinet Manual. Access talks are initiated with permission from the Prime Minister of the day and are confidential.

It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place between Cabinet ministers and officials is not shared publicly.

As the Chancellor laid before the House in her speech, the government has established a new Office of Value for Money, with an immediate focus on identifying areas where we can reduce, stop, or improve the value of spending. The chair of the office will report directly to the Chancellor and Chief Secretary to the Treasury who will be appointed in due course.

The office will not be established in statute but will sit within HM Treasury.

Existing departmental resources will be reprioritised to fulfil the needs of the office where possible.

It is the responsibility of police, prisons, and the probation service to work collaboratively in order to assess and respond to the threat from Serious and Organised Crime in prison.

Serious and organised crime is a major threat to the national security and prosperity of the UK and organised crime groups continue to diversify their tactics, exploiting technology and online platforms.

The Government is committed to tackling serious and organised crime in all its forms and ensuring police have the capabilities they need protect communities from harm.

We are delivering the Safer Streets mission to create a safer, fairer country for all and have increased funding for policing by more than half a billion pounds next year, including over £260million for the core grant and additional funding for neighbourhood policing.

The New Homes Accelerator works with Homes England and relevant local partners to unblock and accelerate the delivery of large-scale housing developments that have for various reasons become delayed, or which are not progressing as quickly as they could be.

The Accelerator has already announced 10 sites with capacity to deliver over 35,000 homes that will benefit from government support, including Worcestershire Parkway.

In October last year, I met with you to discuss supporting infrastructure at Worcestershire Parkway.

MHCLG officials and Homes England continue to engage with the relevant local authorities for each of the announced New Homes Accelerator sites, including Worcestershire Parkway.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 39567 on 27 March 2025 in relation to The Gardens Trust.

In respect of Sport England, available data from 2022/23 and 2023/24 show that they responded to 1,145 and 1,168 applications respectively across England. The government does not hold data on response times or the nature of the responses from statutory consultees broken down by individual local planning authorities.

Statutory consultees do not have a veto on planning applications and therefore cannot pass or refuse an application. It is for the local planning authorities to determine planning applications.

As set out in the Written Minister Statement made on 10 March 2025, the government intend to consult this Spring on the impacts of removing a limited number of statutory consultees, including Sport England and the Gardens Trust. Even if ultimately removed as statutory consultees, both organisations will still be able to submit views on individual planning applications.

We are working hard to deter, detect and disrupt the illegal use of drones to deliver contraband into prisons. We conduct vulnerability assessments across the estate to identify risks, and to develop and implement plans to manage and mitigate them. HM Prison & Probation Service uses targeted countermeasures such as improvements to windows, netting and grills to stop drones delivering contraband such as drugs, mobile phones and weapons.

We work across government, including with the Ministry of Defence, to examine options to mitigate the threat of drones to prisons. We are also engaging with international counterparts to develop our learning, support our strategy and share best practice. Due to operational sensitivities, we are not able to discuss in detail the tactics used by HMPPS to disrupt drones, including technologies used, however our response must be specific to a prison setting and tailored to individual prisons.