Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on considering potential changes to national planning policy to enable joint Housing Delivery Test scoring in areas with aligned spatial strategies across multiple local planning authorities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what timetable he has set for concluding his Department’s consideration of potential changes to the Housing Delivery Test methodology in relation to Greater Cambridge.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of applying the Housing Delivery Test on a joint basis across Greater Cambridge.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Housing Delivery Test outcomes on the operation of the five-year housing land supply and the application of the presumption in favour of sustainable development in Greater Cambridge.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reason the (a) Housing Delivery Test is calculated separately for Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council and (b) five-year housing land supply is assessed jointly for Greater Cambridge.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Housing Delivery Test outcomes on the delivery of strategic housing sites in Greater Cambridge, including Northstowe and Waterbeach.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the correspondence sent to her on 16 March.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential benefit of encouraging the use of (a) smart energy tariffs and (b) consumer-led flexibility to lower bills for households and businesses.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Consumer Led Flexibility (CLF) can play a key role in lowering household and business electricity bills. CLF, including that facilitated through the uptake of smart tariffs, gives those who choose to participate greater control over their energy usage, and the opportunity to save money.
The Clean Flexibility Roadmap includes a chapter on CLF with 42 actions to support it which are being delivered. It also set out on pages 8-9 typical electricity bill savings for those participating in it based on prices current at the time.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what his timeline is for rolling out the trial for discounted energy bills in areas of high wind generation.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The trial will launch this winter and we anticipate that it will run until Spring 2028. Measures will be brought forward when parliamentary time allows to enable the government to make enduring changes based on the results of the trial.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
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 of the effectiveness of Environmental Land Management schemes in supporting nature-friendly farming and species recovery.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Environmental Land Management schemes have seen high levels of uptake by the farming sector with 50,000 farm businesses and over half of all agricultural land involved in schemes. Detailed uptake of each action in schemes is published here Agri-environment scheme uptake data - GOV.UK.
We have a large-scale monitoring programme that is assessing the impact of schemes on a range of indicators and environmental outcomes at the appropriate timescales for these types of biological responses. This report summarises some of the latest monitoring and evaluation of government agri-environment schemes: Agri-Environment Evidence Annual Report 2024-2025: A summary of recently published project reports - NERR165.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the Department for Work and Pension and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government about data sharing to offer targeted support for vulnerable households with heating oil.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State has regular discussions with ministerial colleagues on a number of issues.
DESNZ officials worked closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and His Majesty’s Treasury ahead of the recent announcement of £50m for low-income families, who heat their homes with oil to help tackle surging prices. This funding will be available to the Northern Ireland Executive, Wales, and Scotland.
In England, funding will be distributed by local authorities via the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF), which comes into effect from 1 April.
In addition, DESNZ is working closely with other Government Departments on the National Data Library (NDL) energy bill support ‘kickstarter’ project to test how public sector data can be better joined up to improve access to government programmes.
The Kickstarter project will pave the way for better targeted help, ensuring those who are struggling to pay their bills get the support they need