Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 with cabinet colleagues to improve the a) safety and b) provision of playgrounds for young people in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities work locally to support adults and children to lead more active lives through access to nature, parks, and play spaces. We are investing in local government. The Spending Review 2025 provides over £5 billion of new grant funding over the next three years for local services that communities rely on. This includes £3.4 billion of new grant funding which will be delivered through the Settlement for 2026-27 to 2028-29.
Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework. That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, included proposals relating to the provision of play space. The government has recently published a draft update to national design guidance, which emphasises that development proposals should maximise the potential for play in the layout, form and appearance of development. In terms of safety, owners and operators of playgrounds are required to comply with existing legal requirements as applicable.
Government also owns the Green Flag Award scheme, which helps to increase access to quality green spaces and parks; sets the standard for those spaces to meet the needs of the communities they serve and has helped to transform thousands of spaces across the country. This includes many parks across Newcastle-under-Lyme, such as Bathpool Park, Brampton Park and Lyme Valley Park.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether companies on the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme register are required to publish an estimated value of their contract and work.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The FIRS public register ensures that, for the first time, we have transparency about foreign state-directed political influence activities. The aim of this register is to better inform the public as to the scale and extent of foreign influence in UK political affairs and our democratic processes.
There is full guidance online that sets out what needs to be registered, and what of the information provided at registration will be published on the register https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-influence-registration-scheme-registration-and-public-register
The value of the contract and/or work being undertaken will not appear on the public register. However, information that will be published includes the nature and form of the arrangement being registered, the name of the foreign power in the arrangement, a description of the types of activities to be carried out and the purpose and sought outcome of those activities.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
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 ensure that Ofwat's successor regulator has sufficient powers to place a failing water company into Special Administration on grounds of environmental non-compliance, as well as insolvency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in the Water White Paper, we will create a powerful new regulator, bringing together the relevant functions from the existing regulators (of Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency and Natural England) into one new body. The new regulator will be able to deliver better services for customers, joined-up regulation and a cleaner environment for nature and the public.
The bar for the Special Administration Regime is high. As per existing legislative requirements, evidence is needed that a company is insolvent or they are in such serious breach of their principal statutory duties or an enforcement order that it is inappropriate for the company to retain its licence.
As set out in the White Paper, to ensure the regulator can act decisively should the high bar for Special Administration be met, we will ensure companies have appropriate contingency Special Administration Regime (SAR) plans, setting out how they would ensure that any special administrator, once appointed, would be able to maintain delivery of critical services and facilitate restructuring or sale if SAR is triggered.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2026 to Question 110396 on Strategic Migration Partnership: Finance, for what reason her Department does not currently publish funding levels to Strategic Migration Partnerships.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not publish the amounts due to the sensitive nature of the grant scheme.
Previous years funding can be found here Government Grants Data and Statistics Government grants data and statistics - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Environmental Land Management schemes in supporting nature-friendly farming and species recovery.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Environmental Land Management schemes have seen high levels of uptake by the farming sector with 50,000 farm businesses and over half of all agricultural land involved in schemes. Detailed uptake of each action in schemes is published here Agri-environment scheme uptake data - GOV.UK.
We have a large-scale monitoring programme that is assessing the impact of schemes on a range of indicators and environmental outcomes at the appropriate timescales for these types of biological responses. This report summarises some of the latest monitoring and evaluation of government agri-environment schemes: Agri-Environment Evidence Annual Report 2024-2025: A summary of recently published project reports - NERR165.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average staffing complement is for a ministerial private office within their Department; what grades those staff are appointed at; what the typical remuneration and contracted working hours are for those posts; and what the staff turnover rate is.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The size and set-up of each ministerial private office can vary significantly, as they are often determined by the specific requirements and nature of the workload involved at any given time. This flexibility ensures that each office is best equipped to meet its unique responsibilities and demands.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
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 protect domestic agriculture from climate‑related risks including flooding, heat stress and soil degradation.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is targeting public money where it delivers most value, supporting farmers and land managers to help restore nature and boost farm productivity, which in turn protects food security and builds resilience to climate change.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive offer for 2026 will be more focussed, more transparent and fairer, so as many farmers as possible can benefit from agreements.
Defra’s Capital Grants offer, opening later this year, will offer funding for a wide range of items, including natural flood management measures.
Landscape Recovery projects awarded development funding in rounds one and two continue to progress towards the delivery phase. Three projects are now in their implementation phase. This includes Evenlode Project, which will allow the river to reconnect with its floodplain, reducing flooding and improving habitats for wildlife.
Defra has increased the Internal Drainage Board (IDB) Fund to £91m, benefitting over 400,000 hectares of farmland and over 200,000 properties.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
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 controlled‑environment agriculture, regenerative farming and other sustainable methods.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has allocated a record £11.8bn to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. Defra is targeting public money where it delivers most value, supporting farmers and land managers to help restore nature and boost farm productivity. Support includes the Sustainable Farming Incentive offer for 2026, which will be more focussed, more transparent and fairer, so that as many farmers as possible can benefit from agreements. It will open in two windows, the initial window from June 2026 being for small farms and farms without existing Environmental Land Management revenue agreements.
Defra will reopen the Capital Grants offer in July. This new round will make £225 million available to farmers to buy equipment or services that help them make farming and environmental improvements across England.
Defra has also announced £120 million will be available in farming grants for 2026 to boost productivity and innovation across the agricultural sector.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications of the Land Use Framework for balancing infrastructure development with environmental targets.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Framework’s focus on more informed decision making, including spatial targeting, shows how we can meet our homes and infrastructure goals while supporting nature recovery.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the average time spent by businesses with turnover below £250,000 on VAT compliance, including preparing returns and maintaining records.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does not estimate the administrative cost to businesses with a turnover below £250,000 for processing and submitting VAT returns, as the cost can vary between businesses, regardless of their turnover. Administrative costs are largely dependent on their individual business processes and the nature and complexity of their record keeping.