Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the need to introduce a legal requirement to consider access to hospital helipads in any planning application in the vicinity of a hospital.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is currently consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making.
The proposed new Framework gives substantial weight to the benefits of providing new or improved public service infrastructure, including healthcare facilities of all types.
The consultation also sets out updated policy to make clear that public services should not have unreasonable restrictions placed on their current or permitted operation as a result of development being approved after they were established. This means that development proposals should be capable of being integrated effectively with existing public service activities and infrastructure in their vicinity.
The consultation will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to (a) promote and (b) enforce the new EN-1 and EN-3 requirements associated with incinerators.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy (EN-1) and the National Policy Statement for Renewable Energy Infrastructure (EN-3) govern planning requirements for larger-scale incinerators (50MW+) that fall under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime. Applications for Development Consent of NSIPs, including larger-scale incinerators, are determined by the Secretary of State under these policy frameworks. In 2025 these documents were updated to reflect current policy, including removal of Critical National Priority policy presumption from Energy from Waste proposals. Updates were subject to public consultation, and the revised energy National Policy Statements were published and came into effect in January 2026.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department will respond to the consultation entitled Reforms to the statutory consultee system which closed on 13 January 2026.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
A government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to amend planning rules to include measures relating to the long-term stewardship and public accessibility of green spaces provided as part of residential development.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that local plans should make sufficient provision for green infrastructure, which is defined as a multifunctional network of green and blue spaces.
The government is currently consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making. The consultation includes a proposed requirement for local plans to set standards for green infrastructure.
The consultation on changes to the NPPF is available on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment has been made of the effectiveness of national planning policy in securing the long-term management and maintenance of public open spaces in residential developments.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is currently consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making. The consultation includes proposals relating to the provision of new or improved open space.
The consultation on changes to the NPPF is available on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
I also refer my hon. Friend to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 18 December 2025 (HCWS1210).
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his department plans to respond to the public consultation on the Government Statistical Service Harmonisation Standard for Ethnicity that concludes on 4 February.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is not planning a central response to the public consultation on ethnicity harmonisation standards. However, it is likely that individual statistical production teams will have responded to the consultation. This information is not tracked nor held centrally.
The Department recognises that harmonisation is important for effective and accurate data comparison. Harmonisation standards are “designed to promote alignment across organisations, not to enforce identical approaches”. Therefore, on a team level, statistical producers may have views on how standards apply to their datasets of interest and how ethnicity data collection and reporting should be altered. A formal, central response would not capture the nuances of user need.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2026 to Question 99790 on Free Schools, if she will make it her policy to undertake a new assessment against the (a) selection criteria and (b) geographical context on Swift Academy.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The criteria for the mainstream free schools pipeline review were set out in the Written Ministerial Statement laid on 22 October 2024. The department assessed the local need for school places, value for money and whether projects would provide a distinctive local offer or risk negatively impacting other local schools.
The department has offered feedback to local authorities, trusts and MPs with a related pipeline free school project.
We keep all pipeline projects under review to ensure that they meet a need for places and represent value for public money. This includes the use of annually published pupil place planning data, which informs ministerial decision‑making.
In 2016, the previous government ran a central free school programme application wave, which was open to all trusts to submit proposals for new free schools. All applications received were assessed against the published selection criteria in the How To Apply Guidance.
Local consultation is also undertaken prior to the opening of any new free school, enabling residents and other interested parties to provide their views on the proposal.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2026 to Question 99790 on Free Schools, which trusts her Department invited in 2016.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The criteria for the mainstream free schools pipeline review were set out in the Written Ministerial Statement laid on 22 October 2024. The department assessed the local need for school places, value for money and whether projects would provide a distinctive local offer or risk negatively impacting other local schools.
The department has offered feedback to local authorities, trusts and MPs with a related pipeline free school project.
We keep all pipeline projects under review to ensure that they meet a need for places and represent value for public money. This includes the use of annually published pupil place planning data, which informs ministerial decision‑making.
In 2016, the previous government ran a central free school programme application wave, which was open to all trusts to submit proposals for new free schools. All applications received were assessed against the published selection criteria in the How To Apply Guidance.
Local consultation is also undertaken prior to the opening of any new free school, enabling residents and other interested parties to provide their views on the proposal.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2026 to Question 99790 on Free Schools, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the surplus of school places in Walsall and Bloxwich constituency on the decision whether to proceed with the Swift Academy.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The criteria for the mainstream free schools pipeline review were set out in the Written Ministerial Statement laid on 22 October 2024. The department assessed the local need for school places, value for money and whether projects would provide a distinctive local offer or risk negatively impacting other local schools.
The department has offered feedback to local authorities, trusts and MPs with a related pipeline free school project.
We keep all pipeline projects under review to ensure that they meet a need for places and represent value for public money. This includes the use of annually published pupil place planning data, which informs ministerial decision‑making.
In 2016, the previous government ran a central free school programme application wave, which was open to all trusts to submit proposals for new free schools. All applications received were assessed against the published selection criteria in the How To Apply Guidance.
Local consultation is also undertaken prior to the opening of any new free school, enabling residents and other interested parties to provide their views on the proposal.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2026 to Question 99790 on Free Schools, what steps her Department is taking to assess the (a) need for places and (b) value for money of the Swift Academy; and if she will publish that assessment.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The criteria for the mainstream free schools pipeline review were set out in the Written Ministerial Statement laid on 22 October 2024. The department assessed the local need for school places, value for money and whether projects would provide a distinctive local offer or risk negatively impacting other local schools.
The department has offered feedback to local authorities, trusts and MPs with a related pipeline free school project.
We keep all pipeline projects under review to ensure that they meet a need for places and represent value for public money. This includes the use of annually published pupil place planning data, which informs ministerial decision‑making.
In 2016, the previous government ran a central free school programme application wave, which was open to all trusts to submit proposals for new free schools. All applications received were assessed against the published selection criteria in the How To Apply Guidance.
Local consultation is also undertaken prior to the opening of any new free school, enabling residents and other interested parties to provide their views on the proposal.