Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in relation to changes to bring pensions pots into estates for Inheritance Tax purposes, whether the letter of wishes provided by a pension beneficiary or a will are intended to take precedence in the event that they differ.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Most unused pension funds and death benefits payable from a pension will form part of a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. This removes distortions from changes that have been made to pensions tax policy over the last decade, which have led to pensions being openly used and marketed as a tax planning vehicle to transfer wealth, rather than as a way to fund retirement.
The government has taken steps to ensure that these changes strike a fair balance between beneficiaries of a deceased person’s pension benefits and beneficiaries of their wider estate. At Budget 2025, the government announced changes to help ensure that benefits payable from the deceased’s wider estate are not delayed unnecessarily if inheritance tax is also due on pension benefits. Personal representatives will be able to fund any inheritance tax attributable to the pension by directing pension scheme administrators to withhold 50% of taxable benefits for up to 15 months from the date of death. Personal representatives can then continue to distribute assets from the wider estate as normal.
To ensure that the process of calculating, reporting and paying inheritance tax does not take longer than necessary, the government will introduce regulations setting out deadlines for the parties involved to exchange information.
Most UK pensions schemes are discretionary, which means that the pension scheme trustees or manager have the final say on how death benefits are paid. They must exercise this power reasonably and in accordance with the scheme’s rules.
Members can complete an "expression of wish" or nomination form to indicate their preferred beneficiaries for death benefits. While trustees typically follow these wishes, they are not legally bound to do so. This flexibility allows them to consider other evidence, such as family circumstances at the time of death or wishes expressed in a will.
Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the inclusion of unused pension funds in estates for Inheritance Tax purposes will not increase the time taken to process legacies to charities and families.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Most unused pension funds and death benefits payable from a pension will form part of a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. This removes distortions from changes that have been made to pensions tax policy over the last decade, which have led to pensions being openly used and marketed as a tax planning vehicle to transfer wealth, rather than as a way to fund retirement.
The government has taken steps to ensure that these changes strike a fair balance between beneficiaries of a deceased person’s pension benefits and beneficiaries of their wider estate. At Budget 2025, the government announced changes to help ensure that benefits payable from the deceased’s wider estate are not delayed unnecessarily if inheritance tax is also due on pension benefits. Personal representatives will be able to fund any inheritance tax attributable to the pension by directing pension scheme administrators to withhold 50% of taxable benefits for up to 15 months from the date of death. Personal representatives can then continue to distribute assets from the wider estate as normal.
To ensure that the process of calculating, reporting and paying inheritance tax does not take longer than necessary, the government will introduce regulations setting out deadlines for the parties involved to exchange information.
Most UK pensions schemes are discretionary, which means that the pension scheme trustees or manager have the final say on how death benefits are paid. They must exercise this power reasonably and in accordance with the scheme’s rules.
Members can complete an "expression of wish" or nomination form to indicate their preferred beneficiaries for death benefits. While trustees typically follow these wishes, they are not legally bound to do so. This flexibility allows them to consider other evidence, such as family circumstances at the time of death or wishes expressed in a will.
Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her department has made of the potential benefits of allowing direct gifting of pensions funds to charity during a pension holder’s lifetime, in the content of the recommendations in the Final report of the Social Impact Investment Advisory Group.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
This is a complex area of pensions tax policy, and any reform would require detailed assessment of its implications for the pension tax system, its administration, consumer protection, and long-term retirement outcomes. The Treasury regularly engages with departments, including HMRC, to ensure complete assessments are made.
While no decisions have been taken at this stage, we will continue to keep these recommendations under review. At present however, members can complete an "expression of wish" or nomination form to indicate their preferred beneficiaries for death benefits. While trustees typically follow these wishes, they are not legally bound to do so. This flexibility allows them to consider other evidence, such as family circumstances at the time of death or wishes expressed in a will.
Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to reduce the level of exposure to children of diesel emissions from buses operating near schools.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government shares the concern about the impact diesel bus emissions have on air quality, and ultimately to children's health.
The NO2 programme has provided £576m to support local authorities (LAs) to improve air quality in areas of nitrogen oxide exceedances. This funding is for LAs to scope and develop measures; implement, monitor and evaluate their measures; and provide mitigation funding for local people and businesses affected by their measures. Clean Air Zones have also been implemented in places where the local evidence shows they are the quickest route to reduce nitrogen dioxide pollution.
The most effective way to reduce bus emissions and improve air quality is to achieve an all zero emission bus (ZEB) fleet. As of March 2025, 12.4% of the bus fleet across England was zero emission, however we need to make further progress in accelerating bus decarbonisation.
We legislated in the Bus Services Act 2025 to ultimately prevent bus operators from using new non-ZEBs on local bus routes in England. This measure will provide confidence to the sector and stimulate the investment needed to deliver a fully zero emission fleet alongside the improved air quality benefits.
Separately, in April we announced £38m to deliver an additional 319 ZEBs through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas programme. Furthermore, the recent announcement of £15.6 billion over five years, to improve local transport in some of our largest city regions, allows local leaders to play a more active role in the delivery of local bus services and allocate some funding toward decarbonising their local fleets. Our smaller cities, towns and rural areas will also receive £2.3 billion from the Local Transport Grant.
Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered the potential merits of reviewing the current approach to mental capacity assessments, particularly in relation to addiction and conditions which may involve fluctuating capacity, such as short-term dementia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 18 October 2025, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced the intention to launch a public consultation on the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) in 2026. The consultation will cover a revised Code of Practice and will incorporate changes in case law, legislation, and good practice in the application of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).
The LPS as introduced by the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 aims to deliver streamlined processes and assessments for authorising deprivations of liberty, including for individuals with fluctuating capacity. This consultation will seek the views of those affected, and people involved in their care and welfare. The responses from this consultation will be used to inform a final MCA Code of Practice which will be laid in Parliament.
Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to tackle repeated retrospective planning applications designed to delay enforcement action on projects which have already had permission rejected.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, local planning authorities have various powers to decline to determine planning applications. These include the power to decline to determine a retrospective planning application where an enforcement notice has already been issued (section 70C) and the power to decline to determine repeat planning applications (section 70A).
It is for local planning authorities to decide when and how they use these powers.
Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle (a) the blackout challenge and (b) other physically harmful trends on social media.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Online Safety Act, services need to put in place protections for all users from content which is illegal. There are additional protections for children from harmful content, including content that encourages or promotes dangerous stunts or challenges, serious violence or injury, and content encouraging ingestion, inhalation or exposure to harmful substances.
Ofcom’s guidance states that asphyxiation challenges like the ''blackout challenge’’ are examples of dangerous stunt and challenge content. Therefore, services likely to be accessed by children are required to protect children from this content by taking measures such as filtering out harmful content from children's algorithmic feeds.
Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many homes his Department manages; and how many such homes are (a) single units, (b) family units and (c) HMOs.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) currently manages some 133,000 permanent and temporary Single living Accommodation bedspaces and 47,059 Service Family Accommodation properties across the UK.
The Department does not manage any Houses of multiple occupation (HMO).
Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on the potential trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council and the potential merits of requiring imported chicken meat to meet the United Kingdom's animal welfare standards.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK has been in negotiations for a modern and ambitious free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council since June 2022. Throughout these negotiations, we have proactively engaged with a diverse range of stakeholders across sectors and regions, to inform negotiation decisions.
The Government has made a clear manifesto commitment to promote the highest standards when it comes to food production.
GCC states are not significant exporters of poultry. Currently the GCC is unable to export poultry to the UK due to sanitary and phytosanitary requirements. These requirements will not change as part of a free trade agreement.
Asked by: Sam Carling (Labour - North West Cambridgeshire)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, how many rites of deliverances have been carried under Church of England deliverance ministry guidance in each of the last 10 years; and how many of these were children.
Answered by Marsha De Cordova
This is not a matter for the National Church Institutions and no data or records on numbers or type of deliverance ministry cases are held centrally.
The House of Bishops determines Guidelines for Deliverance Ministry and oversees resources and training for this ministry, but how deliverance ministry teams operate within dioceses is the responsibility of each individual diocesan bishop.
The Church of England has published the following information on its website about best practice in this area, regarding safeguarding, which includes children, vulnerable adults or where an individual is thought to be suffering from a mental disorder.
https://www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding/safeguarding-e-manual/safeguarding-children-young-people-and-vulnerable-adults/section-41-deliverance-ministry