Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
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 support Natural England in their responsibilities in wildfire prevention, including in agreeing land management plans.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the lead Government department for wildfire. Defra works closely with MHCLG and supports Natural England (NE) to deliver its responsibilities.
This includes the recently published Environmental Improvement Plan commitment that by 2030 NE will conduct research on increasing the natural resilience of habitats to wildfires, such as through re-wetting or restoring hydrological function, including case studies of success. An initial scoping review will be reported on in the annual progress report in 2027. This will develop our understanding of actions we can take to naturally reduce the risk of wildfires.
Alongside this, Defra supports NE in:
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
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 make an assessment of the potential impact of farmers and gamekeepers on fighting wildfires.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) are the lead Department for wildfire. I refer you to their response of 21 November 2025 to PQ UIN 90164.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's press release entitled Levy on overnight trips will help mayors invest in local growth, published on 25 November 2025, whether VAT will be levied (a) before and (b) after the addition of the overnight visitor levy to the core hotel bill.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The design of the visitor levy is subject to consultation and decisions from Mayors about whether to introduce a levy and how it is implemented locally.
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, how many staff in their Department have been on mental health leave for six months or more; and for what reason.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Information on sickness absence, including data by Department and sickness reason (such as Mental Ill-Health), is published in the Civil Service sickness absence reports available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence. The next release is expected soon.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's press release entitled Levy on overnight trips will help mayors invest in local growth of 25 November 2025, what assessment she has made of the cumulative impact of (a) VAT, (b) corporation tax, (c) National Insurance for employers, (d) business rates and (e) the overnight visitor levy on (i) the economic viability of the British hospitality sector and (ii) the cost of a domestic family holiday.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The impacts of visitor levies will largely be determined by local decisions.
Mayors will need to decide whether to implement a levy, and, if so, consult on specific proposals. Giving this power to local leaders who best understand their region enables them to tailor it to growing their local region.
Individuals and organisations will have the opportunity to engage with Mayors on these decisions throughout the consultation period and beyond.
The precise design and scope of the power for Mayors to introduce a visitor levy is still under development and the Government welcomes engagement from the hospitality sector through the consultation process.
On business rates, many hospitality businesses have seen their independent valuations go up since the pandemic. For properties seeing bills go up our support package will cap most increases at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest. We've also reduced tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties to rebalance the system for good.
On employer National insurance contributions, in the Government published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) which set out the impact of the Autumn Budget 2024 changes. The Government decided to protect the smallest businesses from these changes by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, and more than half of all employers will either gain or will see no change.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking with the Department of Health and Social Care to reduce the number of people discharged from NHS care into homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In January 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health and Social Care published Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, guidance to help staff plan safe discharges and prevent homelessness after NHS care.
We will look closely at the issue of people being discharged from NHS care into homelessness in our cross-government Homelessness Strategy.
Asked by: Emily Darlington (Labour - Milton Keynes Central)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking with the Department of Health and Social Care to reduce the number of people discharged from NHS care into homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In January 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health and Social Care published Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, guidance to help staff plan safe discharges and prevent homelessness after NHS care.
We will look closely at the issue of people being discharged from NHS care into homelessness in our cross-government Homelessness Strategy.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North 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 his Department is taking with the Department of Health and Social Care to reduce the number of people discharged from NHS care into homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In January 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health and Social Care published Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, guidance to help staff plan safe discharges and prevent homelessness after NHS care.
We will look closely at the issue of people being discharged from NHS care into homelessness in our cross-government Homelessness Strategy.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what action is being taken to support SEND transport costs in South Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Central government funding for home-to-school travel is provided through the Local Government Finance Settlement which is administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Settlement for the 2025/26 financial year makes available over £69 billion for local government, a 6.8% cash terms increase in Core Spending Power on 2024/25.
To put local government on the road to financial sustainability, the government recently consulted on funding reforms, including a bespoke relative needs formula for home-to-school transport. The consultation response was published here on 20 November:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-fair-funding-review-20.
Challenges in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system are creating pressure on home-to-school travel. We have committed to reform the SEND system to enable more children to thrive in local mainstream settings. These reforms will be set out in a Schools White Paper early in the new year.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Question 347 to 349 of Foreign Affairs Committee, Oral evidence: Work of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, HC 385, 3 November 2025, if he will place (a) a readout and (b) the minutes of the discussions between the Permanent Under-Secretary and the Chinese Government on the proposed Chinese Embassy in London in the Library.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The planning application has been called in by the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) who will make this decision independently in a quasi-judicial capacity. Consistent with long-standing policy, the Government does not routinely publish details of meetings between officials and external organisations.