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 guidance her Department has issued on the apportionment of cladding remediation costs between occupants of shared ownership properties and full owner occupiers where properties of both tenures exist within the same building.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The responsibility for undertaking cladding remediation and, in the majority of cases, paying for the works will rest with the landlord of the building. This is correct for both shared ownership and for owner occupiers.
Where a responsible developer cannot be identified, traced, or held responsible, leaseholders can benefit from the funding available for cladding repairs on residential buildings over 11 metres in height in England. The Building Safety Fund still provides funding for some buildings over 18m in height in the Greater London Area.
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 support her Department is providing to occupants of shared ownership properties with cladding remediation costs.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The responsibility for undertaking cladding remediation and, in the majority of cases, paying for the works will rest with the landlord of the building. This is correct for both shared ownership and for owner occupiers.
Where a responsible developer cannot be identified, traced, or held responsible, leaseholders can benefit from the funding available for cladding repairs on residential buildings over 11 metres in height in England. The Building Safety Fund still provides funding for some buildings over 18m in height in the Greater London Area.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of by-laws in the Royal Parks on the operations of policing services.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Royal Parks are Crown Land managed on behalf of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by The Royal Parks Charity (TRP). The current principal regulations relating to the parks are The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997. These help balance the needs of all park users and support the maintenance and conservation of the parks’ natural and built environments.
The operation of policing services in the Royal Parks and enforcement of by-laws and regulations, was undertaken by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), through a dedicated Parks Operational Command Unit (OCU). As part of wider changes to MPS operations, an option to close the OCU is being considered. TRP are working directly with the MPS to understand any implications arising from the potential closure of the OCU, on the enforcement of by-laws within the Royal Parks.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve paediatric continence services for disabled children.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. This involves ensuring that children receive the appropriate care and support whenever they need it.
NHS England published Excellence in Continence Care on 23 July 2018, bringing together evidence-based resources and research for guidance for commissioners, providers, and health and social care staff. This guidance covers both urinary and bowel, also known as faecal, incontinence, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/excellence-in-continence-care/
In 2023, NHS England published the guidance, National clinical constipation pathway for primary care for children, for clinicians for the prevention and management of constipation in children and young people. This work involved developing the national constipation pathway alongside ERIC, The Children’s Bowel and Bladder Charity, with the final guidance available at the following link:
To make children’s services better, we are changing the National Health Service through our 10-Year Health Plan to make it fit for the future. The plan will be published in June.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 reduce pollution from plastic cigarette butts.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Cigarette butts are the most littered item according to a survey commissioned by Defra. Littered filters are not just an eyesore, they can also release toxins into the environment. The best way to reduce cigarette litter is to reduce smoking rates and we continue to support all measures that do so. We will however continue to monitor the available evidence on the prevalence of littered cigarette filters.
Dropping litter, including cigarette butts, is a crime and councils can issue fixed penalty notices of up to £500. An effective and proportionate local enforcement strategy can deter people from littering.
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 support his Department is providing to small businesses with high energy costs.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy with less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.
Non-domestic consumers with contracts agreed at higher prices may benefit from approaches such as ‘blend and extend’ contracts where the original, higher, unit rate is ‘blended’ with a new lower rate, spreading the cost over the course of a longer contract.
Since 19 December 2024, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 50 employees have also been able to access free support to resolve issues with their energy supplier through the Energy Ombudsman. This means that 99% of British businesses can now access this service with outcomes ranging up to £20,000 in financial awards.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of changes which need to be made to the NHS Dental contracting framework.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to National Health Service dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system, so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.
We are continuing to meet with the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients.
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 she plans to (a) lower the threshold for right to manage applications and (b) increase the maximum proportion of commercial property permissible for right to manage applications to occur.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has commenced the Right to Manage measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. They came into effect on 3 March 2025.
These changes implement the Law Commission recommendation to increase the non-residential floorspace limit from 25 to 50 per cent for Right to Manage claims. This means that more leaseholders in mixed-use buildings will qualify for the right to manage, gaining control over the management of their building. Further changes mean that leaseholders making right to manage claims will no longer have to pay their freeholder’s process costs for that claim.
Over the course of this Parliament, the government will enact remaining Law Commission recommendations relating to the Right to Manage. We do not plan to lower the participation requirement or further increase the non-residential limit for the Right to Manage at this time but will continue to evaluate how the Right to Manage operates following the recent changes.
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 support she is providing to housing associations, in the context of costs associated with the Building Safety Act 2022.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Social landlords, including Housing Associations, can apply to the Building Safety Fund and the Cladding Safety Scheme where the cost of remediating a building would threaten the financial viability of the landlord or to cover costs which - without the protections of the Building Safety Act - could have been passed on to leaseholders and shared owners. As of November 2024, social landlords had been allocated £568 million by government remediation schemes. From April 2025, we will increase funding for social landlords applying for government remediation funding so that remedial works can start sooner. We are working with the sector to develop a long-term social housing remediation strategy.
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 she has made an estimate of costs for housing associations related to the remediation of aluminium composite material cladding.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In 2018, government estimated that the cost of removing and replacing unsafe ACM cladding on 18m+ social residential buildings would be approximately £400 million. As of March 2025, 144 high rise buildings had entered the Social Sector ACM Fund. To date, government schemes approved allocation of c.£297 million towards remediating those buildings, including c.£101 million for buildings owned by Housing Associations.