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 expand leaseholder right of first refusal.

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

The government is committed to implementing measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 to make enfranchisement cheaper and easier.

The Act sets the method for calculating the price of a statutory lease extension or freehold acquisition, known as the valuation process. It removes the requirement for marriage value to be paid, caps the treatment of ground rents in the valuation calculation at 0.1% of the freehold value, and allows government to prescribe the rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium.

Valuation rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium will be set by the Secretary of State in secondary legislation. We will consult on valuation rates and commence the relevant provisions as soon as possible.

As per my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), primary legislation will be required to rectify a small number of specific flaws in the 2024 Act before the Act’s enfranchisement provisions are commenced.

Once brought into force, these measures, together with the already implemented removal of the two-year qualifying rule for enfranchisement, will mean leaseholders will be able to buy their freehold at any time, at a fair price.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the Holiday Activities and Food Programme from returns submitted by local authorities following the end of each holiday period.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

For the holiday, activities and food (HAF) programme, the department collects data from local authorities after each delivery period, to support performance monitoring, inform policy development and support evaluation.

Data collection includes the number of children attending HAF provision, broken down by characteristics such as free school meal (FSM) eligibility, as well as the number of places available and how well providers meet the HAF framework of standards.

Since 2022, the HAF programme has provided 20.4 million HAF days to children and young people in this country, providing nutritious meals and enriching activities during school holidays, benefitting their health, wellbeing and readiness to learn. Over the three most recent winter, Easter and summer delivery periods, almost five million HAF days were provided. Over summer 2025, local authorities reported that over 624,000 children and young people attended the programme, of whom more than 513,000 were funded directly through HAF and over 434,000 were receiving benefits-related FSMs.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the provision of data on employee health benefits to SME decision makers on levels of employee ill health.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is working with the Department for Work and Pensions and Department of Health and Social Care on the Keep Britain Working Vanguard Phase, focused on tackling health-related economic inactivity and promoting healthy and inclusive workplaces. We are partnering with employers of all sectors and sizes, including SMEs, alongside employee health benefit providers, to test and identify what interventions are most effective in preventing and managing employee ill health. This will include exploring what support SMEs need to make informed decisions about accessing suitable health benefit provision.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the role of Legal Aid in enabling consumers to hold water companies to account for overcharging and environmental damage.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The scope of legal aid is set out under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, and applicants are subject to relevant means and merits tests. Legal aid is available in relation to injunctions for nuisance arising from prescribed types of pollution of the environment, and for public law challenges, such as judicial reviews of decisions concerning water regulation. This would cover challenges that would benefit the environment. Proceedings related to private consumer law are generally not in scope.

Where an issue falls outside the scope of legal aid, individuals can apply for Exceptional Case Funding (ECF), which will be granted where they can show that without legal aid, there is a risk that their human rights may be breached. ECF applications are considered by the Legal Aid Agency on an individual basis.

Found: 2025 at 3.00 pm Members present: Steve Barclay (in the Chair) Luke Akehurst Irene Campbell Paul Davies

Found: Community Council • St Davids City Council At regional and national level, engagement has included: • Paul Davies