Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press release entitled Tougher rules on political interference to keep UK elections secure, published on 12 February 2026, in which local authorities election pilots will take place in May 2026; and what type of pilot will take place in each.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government committed in its manifesto to encourage greater participation in democracy. To support this, the Government is exploring ways to make voting in person more efficient, more convenient, and better aligned with the expectations of today’s electors.
Orders designating the pilots for May 2026 have been signed and shared with participating local authorities and the Electoral Commission. I refer the Rt. Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made yesterday, which details participating local authorities and nature of each pilot.
No flexible voting pilots are due to be held in local authority areas where elections due to run in May 2026 were previously postponed.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether election pilots will be held in the local authorities which had local elections cancelled, but which are being reinstated.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government committed in its manifesto to encourage greater participation in democracy. To support this, the Government is exploring ways to make voting in person more efficient, more convenient, and better aligned with the expectations of today’s electors.
Orders designating the pilots for May 2026 have been signed and shared with participating local authorities and the Electoral Commission. I refer the Rt. Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made yesterday, which details participating local authorities and nature of each pilot.
No flexible voting pilots are due to be held in local authority areas where elections due to run in May 2026 were previously postponed.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 109196, how many people have been convicted of common assault and battery; and how many of these people did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by year of conviction and number of previous occasions the offender has been convicted for a violence against the person offence, and where that offence was common assault or battery, where the number of occasions was 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9+ previous convictions.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The data requested is provided in the attached excel table. The table includes data covering the period 2020 – 2024 on the number of offenders who were convicted of common assault and battery offences who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence; separated by the number of previous occasions the offender had been convicted for a violence against the person offence where that offence was common assault and battery.
Previous convictions are already a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will hold discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on how people using the Youth Guarantee Trailblazers scheme in England can find employment in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Skills and employment support policies are fully transferred to the Northern Ireland Executive, and the nature and scope of support for young people is a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive to determine. Senior officials from the DWP and Northern Ireland Executive are already working together to share learning and best practices whilst ensuring effective integration of reserved and devolved provision.
In England, the eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers are testing approaches to identify and deliver localised support to young people who are or at risk of not being in employment, education or training. This includes strengthening local coordination through local leadership and outreach with partners including third sector organisations, employers and colleges to better connect young people with education, employment and training opportunities.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the Youth Guarantee Trailblazers, the Department for Work and Pensions has commissioned an evaluation, which is expected to build evidence on the effectiveness of the initiative. This will focus on improving employment outcomes, reducing economic inactivity, enhancing health and well-being, increasing participation in education and training, and strengthening systems integration. We expect to publish interim findings during the next two years and will develop the value for money assessment once longer term impacts have developed.
We will continue to work with the Northern Ireland Executive on the important issue of youth unemployment across the UK.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to (a) expand and (b) refine the categories of sexual offences used in police recorded crime data for monitoring (i) the nature of offences committed and (ii) trends in sexual offences data in England and Wales.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The police recorded crime collection is primarily an offence-based series in which crimes are recorded by the police in England and Wales based on the criminal offence that has been committed.
To respond to user needs, sub-categories have been created such as providing a breakdown of the age and sex of victims of rape, and qualifiers to indicate if the crime was related to child sexual abuse or exploitation or was committed online. These provide more insight on the nature of such offences and the Home Office continually reviews the presentation of its official statistics to ensure they meet user needs.
In the recently published VAWG Strategy the government committed to improving the quality and availability of data which will include data collected by the police on sexual offences.
Data on sexual offences recorded by the police in England and Wales are published by the Office for National Statistics and trends from 2002/03 can be found in table A5a here:
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
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 place in the Library Defra-held correspondence and assessments supporting the evidential basis that NEER155 underwent rigorous peer review.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The redactions made to Natural England’s response to EIR2026/00223, were applied because the material contained third-party personal data, which is exempt from disclosure under the Environmental Information Regulations. In addition, some material was outside the scope of the requestor’s EIR enquiry and was removed on that basis.
The Department does not consider it necessary to place the requested documents in the Library.
The NEER155 evidence review was carried out by Natural England, the Government’s statutory adviser on nature. As the statutory adviser responsible for the review, the tasks associated with carrying out that review including the peer review element were matters for Natural England. NEER155 built on Natural England’s 2013 review (NEER004) by incorporating 102 new studies on the effects of burning on peatlands. The external peer reviewers for NEER155 were leading peatland experts at major universities and other expert institutions.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
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 adequacy of the peer review for the Natural England Evidence Review with reference NEER155.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The redactions made to Natural England’s response to EIR2026/00223, were applied because the material contained third-party personal data, which is exempt from disclosure under the Environmental Information Regulations. In addition, some material was outside the scope of the requestor’s EIR enquiry and was removed on that basis.
The Department does not consider it necessary to place the requested documents in the Library.
The NEER155 evidence review was carried out by Natural England, the Government’s statutory adviser on nature. As the statutory adviser responsible for the review, the tasks associated with carrying out that review including the peer review element were matters for Natural England. NEER155 built on Natural England’s 2013 review (NEER004) by incorporating 102 new studies on the effects of burning on peatlands. The external peer reviewers for NEER155 were leading peatland experts at major universities and other expert institutions.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason two pages were redacted in Natural England’s response to EIR2026/00223 on its report on managed burning.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The redactions made to Natural England’s response to EIR2026/00223, were applied because the material contained third-party personal data, which is exempt from disclosure under the Environmental Information Regulations. In addition, some material was outside the scope of the requestor’s EIR enquiry and was removed on that basis.
The Department does not consider it necessary to place the requested documents in the Library.
The NEER155 evidence review was carried out by Natural England, the Government’s statutory adviser on nature. As the statutory adviser responsible for the review, the tasks associated with carrying out that review including the peer review element were matters for Natural England. NEER155 built on Natural England’s 2013 review (NEER004) by incorporating 102 new studies on the effects of burning on peatlands. The external peer reviewers for NEER155 were leading peatland experts at major universities and other expert institutions.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Department has made of how current planning policy frameworks influence the advisory and regulatory role of Natural England in relation to large housing allocations affecting protected habitats.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra’s Regulatory Landscape Review, led by Dan Corry, was published in April 2025. As part of our work to implement its recommendations, we will soon publish Strategic Policy Statements for Natural England and the Environment Agency. These will set out expectations for their contribution towards our growth mission, particularly around reaching our ambitious homebuilding targets and fast-tracking major infrastructure projects.
The Corry review and the 2025 Post-Implementation Review of the Habitats Regulations both concluded that improvements could be made to the functioning of the Habitats Regulations. We are working with stakeholders to improve guidance on Habitats Regulations Assessments, including clarifying the respective roles of Natural England as a statutory consultee and planning authorities as decision makers on planning applications.
Natural England is a statutory consultee on planning applications and offers advice and guidance to planning authorities, but planning authorities are ultimately responsible for planning decisions, including imposing planning conditions where necessary to make development acceptable. The National Planning Policy Framework reinforces statutory protections, including by setting out how planning conditions should be used.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2026 to Question 105915 on Katie Martin, for what reason she is unpaid; and how many and what proportion of (a) female and (b) male advisers to her Department are unpaid.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Katie Martin is a Business Adviser to the Chancellor, appointed as a Direct Ministerial Appointment.
Direct Ministerial Appointments are generally unpaid, reflecting their part-time, advisory nature. HM Treasury currently has nine unpaid Direct Ministerial Appointments: three are held by women and six by men (37.5% and 62.5% respectively). HM Treasury also has two paid Direct Ministerial Appointments, one held by a woman and one held by a man.