Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 February 2026 to Question 112231, whether his Department holds data on (a) the number of fires involving road vehicles of all types attended by Fire and Rescue Services in England each year and (b) fires involving electric vehicles as a distinct category.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG collects data on incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) in England through the Fire and Rescue Data Analysis Platform (FaRDaP), and previously through the Incident Recording System (IRS). This includes information on primary fires, fire-related fatalities, and non-fatal casualties in road vehicles.
Data on the number of fires involving road vehicles of all types attended by FRSs in England is published in the Department’s fire statistics data tables, available on gov.uk here. In particular, table FIRE 0302 ‘Primary fires, fatalities and non-fatal casualties in road vehicles by motive and vehicle type, England’ presents the number of primary fires for each recorded type of road vehicle per year.
However, the data currently collected by FRSs does not identify whether a vehicle involved in a fire was an electric vehicle. The Department is therefore not able to provide data on fires involving electric vehicles as a distinct category.
Work is ongoing to update the data FaRDAP will collect covering both the questions and answer categories to capture lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles, and more.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
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 has provided guidance to local planning authorities on whether recreational routes associated with major residential developments should accommodate all non-motorised users, including horse riders and people with restricted mobility.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out that planning policies and decisions should protect and enhance public rights of way and access, including taking opportunities to provide better facilities for users, for example by adding links to existing rights of way networks including National Trails.
The NPPF is also clear that applications for development should address the needs of people with disabilities and reduced mobility in relation to all modes of transport.
Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, the government consulted on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, included proposals relating to promoting sustainable transport.
We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the level of disputes over charges regarding private parking operators belonging to accredited trade associations since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department holds baseline information on private parking appeals, provided through stakeholder engagement.
The government also has a new strategy to enable the regular collection of data regarding the private parking industry, as outlined in the 2025 Code of Practice Consultation, once the revised Code has been published.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 February 2026 to Question 111868 on Fire and Rescue Services: Databases, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring fire and rescue services to record whether such fires involve lithium-ion batteries or electric vehicles; and whether his Department plans to make such reporting mandatory under the Fire and Rescue Data Platform Version 2.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As part of the development of Version 2 of the Fire and Rescue Data Platform (FaRDaP), we will be adding new reference data to allow fire and rescue services to record and report on when an incident involves lithium‑ion batteries or electric vehicles. This will include identifying whether the source of ignition was a battery and, where relevant, whether that battery was on charge at the time of the incident. These additions will ensure such information is collected and reported consistently across services.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has considered the effectiveness of household fuseboards in reducing fire risk.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Part P of the Building Regulations 2010 covers electrical safety in dwellings and is intended to protect people from fire or injury. In England, installation of new household circuits, addition or alteration of circuits in specified locations and replacement of a consumer unit or fuse board are notifiable electrical works and must comply with Building Regulations Part P. In existing buildings, fire risk assessments under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 require responsible persons to demonstrate how they are managing fire safety in their buildings, which may include risk arising from electrical equipment.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 20 November 2025 to Question 91458 on Roads: Local Government, whether his Department holds that data.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department collects data about local authorities’ expenditure and income relating to all services through the General Fund Revenue Outturn data collection. This includes data on traffic management and road safety but with the exception of congestion charging, this is not broken down into the requested categories. The information for the financial year 2024 to 2025 can be found within the RO2 tables on lines 51 to 58.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has issued guidance to councils on higher parking fees for heavier vehicles.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
No such guidance has been issued. Local authorities are best placed to determine requirements for their own area.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information their Department holds on (a) the proportion of tyres procured that were re-tread tyres for (i) Department-operated and (ii) commercially contracted heavy vehicle fleets, including lorries, buses and refuse vehicles and (b) the volume of tyres procured for those fleets that were single-use imported tyres in the last 12 months; and whether such information is held centrally or by individual contractors.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not own or have commercially contracted heavy vehicles. It has not procured any tyres of any type for that class of vehicle within the past 12 months.
The Motor Vehicle Tyres (Safety) Regulations 1994, set out requirements for re-treaded tyres, as well as brand new tyres. Consumers can be confident in the safety of any tyre that complies with these requirements.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 108300, when the rollout of the Fire and Rescue Data Analysis Platform (FaRDAP) will be completed; and from what date Fire and Rescue Services will be required to record whether fires involve lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Fire and Rescue Data Platform (FaRDaP) Version 1 was successfully rolled out to 48 Fire and Rescue Services in England, Scotland and Wales by 14 November 2025. At present, Fire and Rescue Services are not required to record whether fires involve lithium-ion batteries or electric vehicles in national incident data, and no date has been set for when such recording will become mandatory. However, work is underway on FaRDaP Version 2 to update the data collected, including the development of categories to capture incidents involving lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles (including e-bikes and e-scooters).
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2026 to Question 108300, how many fires involving road vehicles of all types were recorded by Fire and Rescue Services in England in each of the last 15 years.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG collects data on incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) in England through the Fire & Rescue Data Platform (FaRDaP), and previously through the Incident Recording System (IRS). This includes information on primary fires, fire-related fatalities, and non-fatal casualties in road vehicles. Data covering the year ending March 2025 is published here: Fire statistics data tables - GOV.UK, see FIRE 0302 ‘Primary fires, fatalities and non-fatal casualties in road vehicles by motive and vehicle type, England’. These tables present the number of primary fires for each recorded type of road vehicle per year.
Data is also available on the number of accidents involving fire and rescue authority vehicles, by fire and rescue authority, in the FIRE1402 data table.
Incident level data for road vehicle fires can be found here: Fire statistics incident level datasets - GOV.UK, see ‘Road vehicle fires dataset’ for the raw data, and ‘Road vehicles fire dataset guidance’ for guidance on the dataset.