Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Oral Statement by the Prime Minister of 25 February 2025 on Defence and Security, Official Report, column 631, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the reduction in overseas development aid on local development service providers.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
To fund a necessary increase in defence spending, the government has taken the decision in the current fiscal and economic circumstances to reduce our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget.
The impacts of reductions are being worked through, informed by equality impact assessments. Inevitably, reducing our ODA spend means that for some countries and themes there will be less to spend.
However, we are committed to transforming how we work in partnership with countries and organisations on development, reflecting the changing needs of our partners through four essential shifts. This includes moving from international intervention to local provision, working through local partners and civil society to deliver sustainable, locally-led solutions.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has provided to (a) local healthcare trusts and (b) ICBs on the specification for Neighbourhood Health Centres.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has set out its vision for Neighbourhood Health Centres in the 10-Year Health Plan, co-locating National Health Service, local authority and voluntary sector services and bring historically hospital-based services into the community. These should be part of a broader offer that is defined locally to meet the local population needs holistically, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
NHS England’s health building notes give best practice guidance on the design and planning of new healthcare buildings and on the adaption or extension of existing facilities, including for primary and community care services. These are available to both NHS trusts and integrated care boards, and are available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/estates/health-building-notes/
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department is taking steps to give Community Land Trusts improved access to Registered Provider status.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Community Land Trusts and other community-based organisations can already apply to become registered providers of social housing. The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) sets registration criteria with respect to an applicant’s financial situation, constitution, or other arrangements for its management. Applicants who meet these criteria, regardless of the specific model of the provider, must be registered by law.
Being a registered provider brings significant responsibilities. RSH’s registration criteria are designed to ensure that, once registered, social landlords are capable of meeting ongoing regulatory requirements to provide safe, well-maintained homes through organisations that are well governed and financially viable.
The Regulator uses an outcomes-based approach to regulation; this also applies to the registrations process. This means that applicants have flexibility in how they demonstrate that they meet the criteria, allowing applicants with a range of business structures to have an approach that suits their needs.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote the separation of clean water from (a) sewage systems and (b) natural surface water drainage ponds in new housing developments.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is strongly committed to improving the implementation of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) and we are looking at what additional steps might be taken to support this. Better delivery of SuDS may be achieved by continuing to improve the current planning policy-based approach and looking at ways of improving the approach to adoption and maintenance, rather than commencing schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. A final decision on this matter will be made in the coming months.
In June this year, the Government introduced new national standards, making clear that SuDS should be designed to cope with changing climatic conditions as well as delivering wider water infrastructure benefits in the form of flood prevention and storm overflow reduction, offering reuse opportunities, reducing run off, and helping to improve water quality, amenity, and biodiversity.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to allocate fines to housebuilders from the Competition and Markets Authority to support the community land trust sector.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Seven housebuilders have agreed to pay a total of £100 million to affordable housing programmes across all four nations of the UK following a CMA investigation in response to concerns that they exchanged details about sales including pricing, number of property viewings and incentives offered to buyers.
The CMA is currently undertaking a consultation on how the money may be used. That consultation closes 24 July. Decisions on how the money is allocated will be made after the responses to the consultation have been analysed.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to increase the personal allowance in 2028-29.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to keeping taxes for working people as low as possible while ensuring fiscal responsibility. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure (a) that victims of violent crime are promptly contacted by police and (b) that statements are taken without delay; and what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of police resourcing and funding to support timely investigations.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling violent crime and boosting public confidence in policing. Those are central ambitions within our Safer Streets mission.
In 2025-26 total funding to police forces will be up to £17.6 billion, an increase of up to £1.2 billion compared to the 2024-25 police funding settlement. This equates to a 7.1% cash increase, and 4.6% real terms increase in funding.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she is taking steps to expand the definition of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests to include (a) being in receipt of an employment offer and (b) being a candidate for employment in an ongoing employment process.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Section 28 of the Localism Act 2011 (‘the Act’) requires a local authority to make provisions in its member code of conduct not just for the registration of pecuniary interests but also for other interests; this may include employment offers.
Under the Act, local authorities are required to have member code of conduct provisions that conform to the Nolan Principles and promote and maintain high standards of conduct. The Local Government Association has produced guidance on gov.uk a model code of conduct, recommending that they include provisions that members must not use their position improperly to the advantage or disadvantage of themselves or anyone else.
It is currently for local authorities to decide their code of conduct in line with lawful requirements. We consulted on a mandatory gov.uk minimum code of conduct for local authorities in England and will respond to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has assessed the potential merits of allowing the Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund to be used for the acquisition of sustainable refrigerated light commercial goods vehicle transport.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund will invest £360 million over the next 12 years to support the next generation of fishermen and breathe new life into our coastal communities. We will work with the industry to target investment where it matters most, for example considering investment in new technology and equipment to modernise our fishing fleet. We will provide more detail on this in due course. In the meantime, England’s Fisheries and Seafood Scheme is open for applications and provides grant funding for electric and hybrid refrigerated vehicles.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps with local authorities to that ensure travel distance is taken into account when (a) calculating school catchment zones and (b) offering school places.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Admission arrangements are set and applied locally by a school’s admission authority, which for academies is the academy trust and for maintained schools is either the governing body or the local authority.
Admission authorities must determine the criteria that they will use to allocate places if a school receives more applications than it has places available. These must be fair, clear and transparent, and comply with the statutory School Admissions Code.
Admission authorities are already able to prioritise applications on the basis of distance to the school, including through the use of designated catchment areas. In setting such criterion, admission authorities must ensure they are reasonable and clearly defined, including making clear how distance from the child’s home to the school will be measured.
Where a school is not oversubscribed, every applicant must be offered a place.