Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 ensure that private developers of buildings used by the public meet the same accessibility standards as public bodies.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Regulations and the statutory guidance accompanying them (Approved Documents) apply to all new building work, or where existing buildings are undergoing a material redesign or refurbishment, and are intended to protect people’s safety, health and welfare. The Building Regulations (Part M) require reasonable provision for people to gain access to and use a building and its facilities.
For existing buildings, used by the public, the Equality Act 2010 places an anticipatory duty on service providers for reasonable adjustments to improve access to their premises so that nobody is placed at a substantial disadvantage.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral answer of 26 November 2025, Official Report, House of Lords, Column 1331, on West Midlands Police: Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans, if she will place all (a) correspondence, (b) minutes and (c) documents held by her Department on policing matches involving teams from Israel from 7 November 2024 in the Library.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
To ensure independent and transparent scrutiny, the Home Secretary has commissioned His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) to inspect how police forces in England and Wales provide risk assessment advice to local Safety Advisory Groups and other bodies responsible for licensing high-profile public events.
HMICFRS has been asked to provide an initial response on the intelligence relied upon by West Midlands Police when assessing risk for the Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv match by 31 December. The Home Office has provided all requested material to HMICFRS and will continue to cooperate fully.
The Home Affairs Select Committee held an evidence session on 1 December to examine the decision-making process and intelligence assessments underpinning the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters. The Policing Minister and a senior Home Office official gave evidence to the Committee, as did the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands. Correspondence and evidence submitted to the Committee are routinely published on its official website, ensuring full transparency.
The Home Office did not hold any discussions with West Midlands Police regarding potential counter-terror threats towards or from Maccabi Tel Aviv players or supporters prior to 6 November 2025.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral answer of 26 November 2025, Official Report, House of Lords, Column 1331, on West Midlands Police: Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans, if she will publish West Midlands Police’s (a) intelligence materials and (b) its analysis that led to the decision to ban the Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
To ensure independent and transparent scrutiny, the Home Secretary has commissioned His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) to inspect how police forces in England and Wales provide risk assessment advice to local Safety Advisory Groups and other bodies responsible for licensing high-profile public events.
HMICFRS has been asked to provide an initial response on the intelligence relied upon by West Midlands Police when assessing risk for the Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv match by 31 December. The Home Office has provided all requested material to HMICFRS and will continue to cooperate fully.
The Home Affairs Select Committee held an evidence session on 1 December to examine the decision-making process and intelligence assessments underpinning the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters. The Policing Minister and a senior Home Office official gave evidence to the Committee, as did the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands. Correspondence and evidence submitted to the Committee are routinely published on its official website, ensuring full transparency.
The Home Office did not hold any discussions with West Midlands Police regarding potential counter-terror threats towards or from Maccabi Tel Aviv players or supporters prior to 6 November 2025.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many allegations of group-based child sexual exploitation were (a) not pursued or (b) discontinued by (i) police or (ii) prosecutors over the last ten years.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government does not currently hold information on the number of allegations of group-based child sexual exploitation that were not pursued or were discontinued by police or prosecutors in the last decade.
We are taking action to review relevant closed cases under the oversight of the new National Police Operation, Operation Beaconport. For the first time, it brings together police forces, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the Child Sexual Exploitation Policing Taskforce, the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme and the National Crime Agency to ensure more perpetrators face justice.
Operation Beaconport has already identified over 1,200 cases from police forces across England and Wales that were closed with ‘No Further Action’, and of these, over 200 cases have been prioritised for initial review due to allegations of rape. This was the result of a first tranche of data collected following the Home Secretary’s ask in January. The Operation’s second tranche data request, which is much wider in scope to identify all relevant closed cases, is progressing.
On 10 December, the Home Office-funded Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce published data on cases of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse cases that are recorded by the police: Group-Based-Child-Sexual-Abuse-and-Exploitation-Data-12-months-of-data-from-January-December-2024-December-2025.pdf
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an estimate of the average cost per elector of elections for a) Police and Crime Commissioners and b) Mayors.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) publishes detailed reports on the cost of running Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections, including the average cost per elector. These reports are available on gov.uk here.
It is intended that a report on the cost of the 2021 PCC elections will be published in due course. The cost of the 2024 PCC election is subject to future publication once all the costs relating to that poll have been finalised and settled.
For combined authority mayoral and local authority mayoral elections, costs are met by the relevant local authorities. MHCLG does not hold any data on the cost of these elections.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to (a) ensure that online platforms are held accountable under the Online Safety Act 2023 for hosting content that promotes the torture of animals and (b) reassure farming communities that animal welfare standards are protected online.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government takes animal welfare very seriously. Under the Online Safety Act 2023, platforms must remove illegal content swiftly, including material promoting or facilitating animal torture, which is a designated priority offence. Services must also implement systems and processes to protect children from harmful depictions of animal cruelty, even where it is not illegal. Ofcom, as the independent regulator, enforces these duties and can issue fines of up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the net zero targets for the Department and its arm’s-length bodies are; and what guidance has been issued on adopting net zero targets earlier than 2050.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Net Zero target in the Climate Change Act 2008, is a target for the whole of the UK, not individual departments or arms-length bodies.
Greening Government Commitments are the central framework setting out the actions UK government departments and their agencies will take to reduce their impacts on the environment, including setting targets to reduce emissions, during the framework period.
Defra are reviewing the Greening Government Commitments to ensure that they remain aligned with government priorities.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government has conducted any assessment of risks posed by foreign-state or foreign-network mobilisation of postal-voting blocks among overseas nationals eligible to vote in UK local elections.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to upholding and strengthening UK democracy by protecting against foreign interference, improving political transparency, adding tougher checks for donations and closing loopholes by reinforcing electoral legislation against foreign interference.
Our election reforms will deliver a robust and proportionate response to known risks, protecting the integrity of our system and reinforcing public trust in democracy. This is set out in our Elections Strategy, published in July.
The Joint Election Security and Preparedness unit coordinates work to protect UK elections and referendums, from threats including foreign interference.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to introduce reforms to Energy Performance Certificates, in the context of the development and implementation of the Home Energy Model.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government consulted on reforms to EPCs to provide consumers with more useful information on the energy performance of buildings, and so that they better support our key objectives of achieving Clean Power by 2030 and accelerating to Net Zero.
We are analysing the feedback received to the consultation, and will publish a government response in due course.
The Home Energy Model (HEM) will replace the current Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) as the methodology underpinning domestic EPCs. The government expects to introduce HEM and reformed domestic EPCs in 2026.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will extend funding for BTEC Extended Diplomas until the full rollout of V Levels to prevent a gap in post-16 qualification options.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is currently consulting with the sector on the introduction of V Levels, including transitional arrangements to achieve the qualifications landscape set out in the Post-16 Skills White Paper. We will confirm the expected implementation timetable in due course.
The first V Level subjects are planned for teaching in 2027, with further batches of qualifications planned between then and by the 2030/31 academic year.