Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to (a) review and (b) adjust the national funding formula to reflect additional (i) staffing, (ii) maintenance, (iii) transport and (iv) other costs for small rural schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The 2025/26 schools national funding formula (NFF) uses the same factors as the 2024/25 NFF. This continuity from the previous year minimises disruption to local authorities and schools.
The government is undertaking a review of the schools NFF to consider potential changes for 2026/27 and future years, recognising the importance of a fair funding system that directs funding where it is needed. The department will consider the operation of the ‘sparsity’ factor, which targets revenue funding for small and rural schools, as part of that review.
Funding for capital expenditure sits outside of the NFF. The department expects responsible bodies, such as local authorities, multi-academy trusts, and dioceses, to ensure that their schools are well maintained. In addition to the schools NFF, responsible bodies, such as local authorities and academy trusts, have access to capital funding each year to improve the condition of their buildings through either a school condition allocation or the Condition Improvement Fund. Schools are also directly allocated devolved formula capital funding which allows schools to invest in small-scale capital projects. Capital funding to improve the condition of the school estate is increasing to £2.1 billion for the2025/26 financial year, up from £1.8 billion in the 2024/25 financial year.
Funding for pupils’ home to school transport is also outside of the schools NFF, which is funded through the local government finance settlement, administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s allocations to local authorities.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Committees and Local Government on requiring all new community buildings to have storage space for outdoor clothing and equipment.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England (ATE) is an executive agency of the Department and a statutory planning consultee for new housing developments comprising at least 150 homes or 5 hectares in site size. In discharging this function, ATE makes recommendations to improve infrastructure and measures that will support active travel journeys.
Where there are no locally set standards for cycle parking, ATE’s planning team recommends that the standards in Table 11-1 of LTN 1/20: Cycle Infrastructure Design are applied to new dwellings. This seeks the provision of one secure and ideally covered cycle storage space per bedroom.
Criterion 9 of ATE’s planning application assessment toolkit – which helps to gather evidence and assess the active travel merits of new developments – promotes the provision of high-quality facilities including showers, lockers, changing rooms and drying areas for cyclists in non-residential settings.
It is for the relevant local planning authority’s enforcement team to address instances where a developer does not comply with active travel provisions secured through a planning application.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she is taking steps to implement a (a) long term and (b) devolved approach to funding for (i) local and (ii) regional transport services in the West Midlands.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The department is working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to implement an “Integrated Settlement” for the West Midlands Combined Authority from April 2025. This will give the Mayor and Combined Authority a consolidated budget across local transport, housing, regeneration, local growth, skills, buildings retrofit, and employment support, with much greater freedom and funding flexibility to drive forward the local economy and deliver growth.
The department is also looking to simplify the current funding arrangements for all other Local Transport Authorities so that they can spend funding according to their local priorities and avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy. Multi-year funding will be confirmed at the upcoming spending review.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether there are any requirements for civil servants to book a desk in advance in order to attend the office in person in each of (a) their Department's office workplaces and (b) the arm’s length bodies of their Department.
Answered by Mike Kane
There is no requirement for civil servants to book a desk in advance in order to attend a Department for Transport workplace, including the executive agencies (Active Travel England, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Vehicle Certification Agency). A desk booking application is available for staff attending the DfT offices in Birmingham, Hastings, Leeds, London and Swansea, as well as some of the workplaces operated by agencies and Arms Length Bodies, but employees are not required to use them. Touch-down desks and other working spaces are available for staff who attend these locations without booking a desk.
The Arms Length Bodies sponsored by DfT do not employ civil servants and DfT places no requirement on their staff to book desks to attend workplaces.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to end fossil fuel (a) extraction, (b) exports and (c) imports.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government will consult on the implementation of its commitment to not issue new oil and gas licences to explore new fields in due course. It does not intend to revoke existing licences.
The Government has announced it will introduce new legislation to restrict the future licensing of new coal mines in Great Britain. The last coal fired power station closed in October 2024.
The Government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan paves the way to decarbonising the wider economy by 2050 as it pursues the electrification of heat in buildings, transport, and industry.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2024 to Question 9280 on Department for Transport: Buildings, how many desks were occupied in her Department’s headquarter office in the most recent four weeks for which figures are available; and how many staff assigned to that workplace attended the office in person on average in the same period.
Answered by Mike Kane
For the 4-week period from 7 October 2024 to 1 November 2024 a total of 21,710 desks were occupied in our London office against a maximum available desk capacity of 25,220.
In that same 4-week period 3,201 different Department for Transport staff attended our London office. It is not possible to determine how many staff assigned to our London building attended.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of desks were occupied in each of her Department’s offices in the most recent four weeks for which figures are available; and how many staff attended each office in person in the same period.
Answered by Mike Kane
The Department for Transport is a federated organisation comprising a central department and 5 executive agencies. The information, where recorded, is contained in the attached document. Data is not recorded for Active Travel England, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and the Vehicle Certification Agency.
Asked by: Lord Udny-Lister (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the most recent headquarters occupancy data for each Government department across each week in the last month for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The latest headquarters occupancy data for each Government department is available publicly on gov.uk, and is set out below. The publication of this data was suspended in line with pre-election guidance for the duration of the Pre-Election Period.
Departmental HQ | Building | w/c 6th May | w/c 13th May | w/c 20th May |
Cabinet Office | 70 Whitehall | 85% | 93% | 90% |
Department for Business and Trade | Old Admiralty Building | 76% | 84% | 78% |
Department for Culture, Media and Sport | 100 Parliament Street | 61% | 63% | 66% |
Department for Education | Sanctuary Buildings | 69% | 78% | 80% |
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero | 3-8 Whitehall Place/55 Whitehall | 82% | 100% | 100% |
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 2 Marsham Street | 58% | 82% | 81% |
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | 2 Marsham Street | 71% | 78% | 73% |
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology | 1 Victoria Street | no data | no data | no data |
Department for Transport | Great Minster House | 85% | 89% | 82% |
Department for Work and Pensions | Caxton House | 58% | 69% | 66% |
Department of Health and Social Care | 39 Victoria Street | 68% | 67% | 72% |
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office | King Charles Street | 67% | 74% | 71% |
HM Revenue and Customs | 100 Parliament Street | 53% | 66% | 60% |
HM Treasury | 1 Horse Guards | 63% | 66% | 63% |
Home Office | 2 Marsham Street | 78% | 88% | 86% |
Ministry of Defence | MOD Main Building | 81% | 91% | 87% |
Ministry of Justice | 102 Petty France | 66% | 85% | 78% |
Northern Ireland Office | 1 HG/Erskine House | 66% | 71% | 69% |
Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland | Dover House | 53% | 81% | 71% |
Office of the Secretary of State for Wales | Gwydyr House | 53% | 56% | 66% |
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will take steps to require local highway authorities to remove (a) racist and (b) other offensive graffiti from structures adjacent to the public highway without the authority of the owner.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Local highway authorities are responsible for maintaining the highway. This includes the removal of graffiti from publicly owned highway assets, such as bridges, traffic signs, and street furniture, as well as council-owned and other public buildings. The Department has no plans to extend this requirement to privately owned structures adjacent to the highway.
However, we do expect private owners of structures to act to remove offensive graffiti. If graffiti or flyposting is on private property, councils can issue a Defacement Removal Notice to the property owner, which requires them to remove the graffiti within 28 days.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to measure the air quality of (a) hospitals and (b) hospital car parks.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The policy around outdoor air quality measurement is led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This data is publicly available and used by National Health Service trusts, and NHS England. NHS England has set out a range of measures to reduce trusts’ impact on outdoor air quality, as part of its commitment to achieve Net Zero for direct NHS emissions by 2040. Specific actions are set out in its Net Zero Travel and Transport Strategy, Net Zero Estates Delivery Plan, and Clinical Waste Strategy, which are available respectively at the following links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/net-zero-travel-and-transport-strategy/
https://www.jpaget.nhs.uk/media/588250/Estates-Net-Zero-Carbon-Delivery-Plan.pdf
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-clinical-waste-strategy/
The NHS’s guidance on indoor air quality is set out in the NHS technical memorandum 03-01: Specialised ventilation for healthcare premises, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/specialised-ventilation-for-healthcare-buildings/