Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
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 support affordable housing delivery in rural areas.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is currently consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework, that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making.
The consultation includes proposals to strengthen support for rural exception sites, which deliver affordable housing to meet local needs in rural areas, and to make it easier for authorities to require affordable housing on smaller sites in rural areas.
The consultation will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.
I otherwise refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 101017 on 6 January 2026 and to the Written Ministerial Statements made on 2 July 2025 (HCWS771) and 28 January (HCWS1283).
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
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 support communities impacted by flooding in South Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Government support for communities affected by flooding is assessed on a case-by-case basis depending on the scale and nature of the impact on the affected area.
In the first instance, local authorities are expected to have well-established contingency arrangements in place and therefore be able to support their local communities from within their existing budgets.
The Flood Recovery Framework (the Framework) is typically deployed following severe weather incidents with significant flood impacts across multiple local authority areas.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on the delivery of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee in South Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee set out commitments for police forces to implement, by July 2025, and by the end of Parliament. Forces are now delivering on the Guarantee across England and Wales to ensure consistent and high-quality neighbourhood policing, including in South Shropshire.
West Mercia Police now have named, contactable neighbourhood officers, dedicated to addressing local issues. The force guarantees a 72-hour response to neighbourhood queries, provides regular engagement opportunities including beat meetings, maintains up to date online information on neighbourhood policing teams, and has a designated anti-social behaviour lead. These measures ensure a consistent, visible and responsive neighbourhood policing across the area.
Based on their £3,108,283 allocation from the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, West Mercia Police are projected to grow by 51 FTE NHP officers in 2025-26. As at 30 September 2025, West Mercia Police have grown by 36 (FTE) Neighbourhood Policing officers.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to promote police visibility in rural areas.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee has named, contactable officers dedicated to addressing local issues in every neighbourhood, including rural areas.
Forces are ensuring neighbourhood policing teams spend the majority of their time within the areas they serve, delivering visible patrols across communities and engaging directly with residents and businesses.
In addition, forces are increasing targeted patrols in local hotspots, based on demand and intelligence, to provide enhanced visibility and reassurance. This is supported by the commitment to deliver 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel by the end of this Parliament, strengthening visible policing across England and Wales, including rural areas.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to support British SMEs in public procurement.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This Government is determined to ensure the £400 billion of public money spent on public procurement annually delivers economic growth and supports British businesses, especially SMEs.
Since coming into office, this Government has published a new, more ambitious, National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) setting out our vision for public procurement. The NPPS requires contracting authorities to consider ways to increase procurement spend with SMEs and Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprises (VCSEs).
We have also introduced changes allowing local councils to reserve over one billion pounds worth of lower value contracts to suppliers based locally or within the UK which has recently become law, a step strongly supported by SMEs.
We will set out further reforms, including the response to the recent public procurement consultation, in due course.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many family hubs there are in a) urban and b) rural areas.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
At present, there are 675 Family Hubs in 88 local authorities funded by the department. Of these, based on the Office of National Statistics classification of Rural and Urban, 627 are based in urban areas and 48 are based in rural areas.
The department has set a clear ambition for 70% of hubs to be in the 30% most disadvantaged areas. From April we will be rolling out hubs nationally, meaning they will be in every local authority.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help ensure that farmers are not adversely impacted by imports.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is backing British farmers to create a productive, profitable and sustainable future for farming. As set out in the UK’s Trade Strategy, the Government will not lower food standards and will continue to promote the highest standards of food production.
The Government recognises concerns about methods of production which are not permitted in the UK. While production methods vary in line with different climates, diseases and other contextual reasons, the Government will always consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage and any impact that may have. Where necessary, we will be prepared to use the full range of powers at our disposal to protect our most sensitive sectors.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress her Department has made on a Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement with the EU.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is currently negotiating a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier, cutting costs and removing trade barriers for British producers and retailers. While those negotiations are ongoing, Defra cannot comment further on the SPS agreement.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of reducing business rates on hospitality venues that use local food chains.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.
At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties.
To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. Government support also means that most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
The Government is also introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £1 billion per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
More broadly, later this year, the Government will bring forward a new High Streets Strategy to reinvigorate our communities. The Government will work with businesses and representative bodies to pull this Strategy together.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to promote access to grassroots sports in rural areas.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensure everyone, regardless of where they live, should have access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
That is why we provide the majority of support for grassroots sports through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. They invest in over 90 Place Partnerships in various locations across the country, including in rural areas, to promote sport and physical activity.
In addition, on 27 January, the Government announced that £85 million of the £400 million package for grassroots sport facilities will be invested in during 2026/27, funding the continuation of the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme. This funding is designed to increase participation opportunities and benefit the areas most in need, with 50% investment going to the 30% most deprived areas in the UK.