Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the tax revenue from ensuring compliance with rules on eligibility of short-term lets for business rates.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Before a short-term let can be assessed as a self-catering accommodation (short-term let) for business rates purposes it must have been available to let for at least 140 days in the past year and demonstrate at least 70 days of actual letting activity in the last year.
It is for local authorities to bill and collect business rates. The government does not make an estimate of the number of short-term lets who choose not to be assessed for business rates or do not meet these criteria. However, the government does collect data on the number of short-term lets assessed for business rates. The latest available data from March 2025 shows that there are 65,380 short-term lets assessed for business rates in England.
Where a property does not meet these criteria, it will usually be considered domestic, and liable for council tax in the same way as any other domestic property.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to resolve ongoing issues with accessing the legal aid portal.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This is an unprecedented event involving sophisticated organised crime. Every effort is being made to restore systems following the criminal attack on our services. The Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) digital services have been taken offline to negate the threat and prevent further exposure of legal aid providers and users. We will not reopen the system until the appropriate steps have been taken to enable us to do so. We have been able to return some to internal use, enabling an improved ability to support criminal legal aid applications and payments.
The Government are committed to ensuring that operational delivery of legal aid continues. We have put in place contingency plans to ensure that those most in need of legal support can continue to access the help that they need and that those providing vital legal services can be confident they will continue to receive payments whilst systems are offline.
Emergency legislation came into force on 27 June enabling the LAA to implement enhanced business continuity arrangements, including increased delegation of decision making to legal aid providers. These enhanced measures are designed to support legal aid providers and prevent a significant case backlog while contingency measures are in place.
The recent data breach is the result of serious criminal activity, but it was enabled by the fragility of the LAA’s IT systems as a result of the long years of underinvestment under the last Conservative Government. By contrast, since taking power this Government has prioritised work to reverse the damage of over a decade of under-investment. That includes the allocation of over £20 million in extra funding this year to stabilise and transform the Legal Aid Agency digital services. This investment will make the system more robust and resilient in the face of similar cyber-attacks in future.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what oversight his Department provides for investments in heat network infrastructure.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero provides capital funding for heat networks via the Green Heat Network Fund and the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme. The Department is represented on the Investment Committees for these schemes. Successful applicants must sign funding agreements with the Department which require them to provide regular monitoring and reporting updates on their projects as a condition of funding. These are the subject of regular meetings between the respective scheme delivery partners and DESNZ officials.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 Westminster City Council on upgrades to the Pimlico District Heating Undertaking.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Pimlico District Heating Undertaking has been subject to departmental review.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department has not conducted any such review.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to a residence-based inheritance tax system on the numbers of UK residents with permanent homes outside of the UK.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
A supplementary forecast information release around the costings of reforms to the non-domicile regime, including the move to residence-based inheritance tax system, was published by the Office for Budget Responsibility in January 2025. This costing outlines the certified impact of ending the non-domiciled tax status on revenues to the Exchequer and the underlying behavioural assumptions.
https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/Non-doms-supplementary-release-Jan-2025.pdf
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans go give additional powers to policing forces to deal with allegations of (a) trespassing and (b) modern slavery and human trafficking, in the context of the commencement of the abolition of the Vagrancy Act 1824.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is repealing the outdated Vagrancy Act and introducing new offences which deal with specific risks.
Repealing the Vagrancy Act 1824 will leave a gap for the police to tackle organised begging and trespassing, which police have highlighted as a particular concern.We have therefore introduced, in the Crime and Policing Bill, a new offence of facilitating begging for gain and a new criminal offence of trespassing with intent to commit a criminal offence.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in India on protecting minority rights.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government takes all allegations of human rights violations very seriously. The UK Government has a broad, deep and respectful partnership with the Government of India. This includes sharing perspectives on human rights and minority issues and finding common ground, including at Ministerial level. In 2024, I held a roundtable with stakeholders to discuss Freedom of Religion in India.
Our High Commission in New Delhi and our network across India monitor human rights across the country. This includes raising issues of concern where we have them.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Indian counterpart on violations of human rights in India.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government takes all allegations of human rights violations very seriously. The UK Government has a broad, deep and respectful partnership with the Government of India. This includes sharing perspectives on human rights and minority issues and finding common ground, including at Ministerial level. In 2024, I held a roundtable with stakeholders to discuss Freedom of Religion in India.
Our High Commission in New Delhi and our network across India monitor human rights across the country. This includes raising issues of concern where we have them.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the amount of revenue lost through tax avoidance in relation to illegal subletting of homes as short-term lets in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates the size of the tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. The tax gap statistics and details of the estimate methodologies are published annually and are available at: Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK.
The latest estimate of the tax gap arising from ‘moonlighters’ in the hidden economy is £0.9 billion for tax year 2022 to 2023. This figure includes an estimate of around £350 million from individuals in employment who have not paid tax on lettings. The lettings tax gap figure is not separately published due to methodological uncertainties and provides only a broad indicator of the tax gap.
HMRC does not separately estimate the tax gap due to tax avoidance in relation to illegal subletting of homes as short-term lets.