Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding is available to increase options for active travel involving schools in South Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On 10 December, the Department announced over £626 million of funding to support active travel across England, including walking and cycling to schools. Of this funding, Shropshire Unitary Authority, of which South Shropshire is a part, has been allocated £2,004,847 over 2026/27 to 2029/30.
In addition, Active Travel England provided £191,121 to support Bikeability cycle training in Shropshire over 2024/25, with a similar level expected for 2025/26. The Bikeability programme delivers a range of cycle training activities aimed at giving school children the skills and confidence to cycle on the road. Future funding for Bikeability will be announced in early 2026.
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, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the cost of extending Energy Performance Certificate regulations to short-term holiday lets on the finances of owners of those properties.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We expect that the impact of extending Energy Performance of Buildings regulations to short-term holiday lets on the finances of owners of those properties will be minimal. We published an impact assessment alongside our consultation on reforms, accessible here: Reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings regime: impact assessment, in which we modelled the cost of obtaining a domestic EPC at £70, which are valid for 10 years. We are keeping the impacts of the proposals under review, and will publish a government response shortly.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the prevalence of the use of non-disclosure agreements during corporate restructuring in safety-critical sectors.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is unable to assess the prevalence of the use of non-disclosure agreements across the economy, including in specific sectors, as they are private contractual agreements and data on their use is not collected.
While NDAs can lawfully be used to require one or more parties to keep certain information confidential (for example, trade secrets), there are a range of legal limitations on their use. For example, NDAs cannot prevent someone from making a whistleblowing disclosure (known formally as a “protected disclosure”) or a disclosure required by law.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to restore the academy conversion support grant.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has no plans to restore the academy conversion support grant. Voluntary conversion is a choice for schools and trusts to make.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of of green levies on utility bills.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The key to bringing down energy bills in the long term is clean power. With gas prices still significantly higher than historic levels, our exposure to international fossil fuel markets is still the main driver of high energy bills.
Taken together, the actions announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Chancellor at the Budget take an average £150 of costs off people’s energy bills and deliver on funding more of the investment we need in our energy system through public expenditure rather than levies. £7 billion worth of the historic Renewables Obligation levy has been moved into public expenditure and the ECO scheme has been scrapped. The government is delivering the biggest public investment in home energy efficiency ever, increasing the settlement we received at the Spending Review.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to promote limestone insulation as an energy efficiency measure.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government does not promote one measure over another, instead energy efficiency measures installed under current Government energy efficiency schemes must be compliant with PAS 2035/2030 to ensure installations are done to the highest quality and the risk of unintended consequences, such as condensation or damp, are minimised.
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, if she will increase the level of support available for the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme is due to end March 2026, and decisions on the future of the programme will be made as part of departmental business planning.
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 improve the sustainability of local authority leisure centres.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities.
The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level with funding levels set as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve, investing in sport and physical activity with a place-based approach, to meet the needs of individual communities.
In June, we committed another £400 million to transform sports facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated.
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 he is taking to support conservation projects in churches at risk.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department supports the conservation of historic places of worship, including those at risk, through several channels.
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme was extended for a further year in January 2025 to March 2026, with a £23 million budget. This scheme helps religious organisations reclaim the VAT costs of eligible repairs and renovations, which supports the conservation of these vital heritage and community assets.
In exceptional circumstances, listed places of worship may be eligible for Heritage at Risk funding provided by Historic England. In addition, the Department funded the £15 million Heritage At Risk Capital Fund in the 2025/26 financial year. Out of 37 projects awarded funding through this capital fund, 4 were places of worship, receiving a total of £1,387,842 for their conservation projects.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what action is being taken to increase scam awareness in rural communities.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Whilst it is vital we continue to target the criminals behind fraud and make it harder for them to operate, we want to increase awareness across all communities to help people.
We are working with City of London Police (CoLP) to support their coordination of the Fraud Protect Network. The network is made up of local, regional and national law enforcement officers and is designed to reduce the threat of fraud and revictimisation by providing consistent protect messaging and safeguarding advice to the public, including those in rural communities.
Additionally, the Government has continued to fund the national ‘Stop! Think Fraud’ awareness campaign to equip the public with useful protective behaviours against fraud. The campaign, and supporting website, make it easier for the public to recognise fraud and take steps to protect themselves, their family and friends.