Written Statements

Thursday 15th October 2026 Written Statements

Thursday 15 October 2026

Broadcast Media Mergers

Thursday 15th October 2026 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Lisa Nandy)]

On 6 July 2026 Sky UK Ltd announced it had agreed terms to acquire ITV Media and Entertainment Holdings Ltd for a total consideration of up to £1.6 billion.

Under the Enterprise Act 2002, I may intervene if I have reasonable grounds to suspect that arrangements are in contemplation which, if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation; and, I believe that one or more public interest considerations under the Act may be relevant to a consideration of the merger.

Following engagement with the parties and independent research, my Department has today written to the legal representatives of Sky and ITV on my behalf to inform them that I am minded to intervene on the following public interest grounds which are currently specified in the Act:

The need for free expression of opinion in news media.

The need for, to the extent that it is reasonable and practicable, a sufficient plurality of views in news media in each market for news media in the United Kingdom or a part of the United Kingdom.

The need, in relation to every different audience in the United Kingdom, or in a particular area or locality of the United Kingdom, for there to be a sufficient plurality of persons with control of the media enterprises, serving that audience.

Under section 42 of the Act, I may specify new or amended public interest considerations in an intervention notice for Ofcom to consider in relation to the merger. I have informed the parties that I am also minded to intervene on the following public interest ground which is not currently specified in the Act, but which I believe should be:

The need for the availability throughout the United Kingdom of a wide range of broadcasting, on-demand programmes or both, which —when either is, or as the case may be, both are, taken as a whole—is of high quality and calculated to appeal to a wide variety of tastes and interests.

The legislation already specifies a public interest consideration on the need for the availability, throughout the UK, of a wide range of broadcasting which is both of high quality and calculated to appeal to a wide variety of tastes and interests. This was drafted at a time where viewing was largely via broadcast linear channels; it does not currently cover the effect of a merger on streaming or on-demand programmes. Having considered the anticipated merger, I am of the view that there are reasonable grounds to believe that it might affect availability of a wide range of high-quality and varied programming on the on-demand platforms that are now widely used by UK audiences.

Consequently, if I decide to intervene on the basis of this new public interest consideration, I will bring forward legislation which amends section 58 of the Act to extend the application of the public interest consideration relating to the availability of a wide range of broadcasting to on-demand programmes.

The letters to the parties, and other relevant updates, will be published on gov.uk.

It is important to note that I have not taken a final decision on intervention at this stage. The “minded to” letter invites further representations in writing from the parties and gives them until 9 am on 20 October to respond.

If I decide to issue an intervention notice, the next stage would be for Ofcom to assess and report to me on the public interest considerations, and for the Competition and Markets Authority to assess and report to me on whether a relevant merger situation has been created, and any impact this may have on competition.

Following these reports, I would need to decide whether to refer the matter for a more detailed investigation by the CMA under section 45 of the Act.

I will update Parliament on my final decision at the earliest opportunity.

[HCWS385]

Arctic Policy Framework

Thursday 15th October 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Uma Kumaran)]

The Government are today publishing an update to the United Kingdom’s Arctic policy. This builds on the United Kingdom’s Arctic policy framework, “Looking North”. It is a response to recent developments in the region since the publication of “Looking North” in 2023 and sets out clear priorities to guide the United Kingdom’s engagement. This update reflects the Government commitment that the United Kingdom should continue to be an engaged, constructive and reliable neighbour, a partner in science and stewardship, and a steadfast ally in maintaining the stability and security on which the Arctic’s future—and our own—depends.

The update builds on strong foundations. It sets out how the United Kingdom is responding to the challenges facing the region, including the threat from Russia, climate and environmental change, the growing global interest in the region’s economic opportunities, and an increasing interconnectedness to wider global events. It also sets out how the United Kingdom, in partnership with others, will bring to bear its diplomatic engagement, science and research expertise, defence and deterrence capability, and economic interests in taking action to protect the people, climate and environment of the region, preserve security and stability, and promote shared prosperity, all of which are fundamental to both the region and the United Kingdom’s interests.

The United Kingdom will focus its engagement in the following five priority action areas:

Understanding and responding to a changing Arctic, to better inform policy by furthering our understanding of climate and environmental change, to address its causes and impacts, and draw on the United Kingdom’s polar research capabilities and expertise to drive research collaboration that recognises the value of modern science and traditional knowledge.

Enhancing security and stability, by stepping up our defence contribution to the High North, including through our NATO-first approach and investment in technology and infrastructure, in conjunction with partners, to maintain credible deterrence and warfighting readiness without seeking escalation or unduly securitising the region.

Supporting strong and effective governance, including by reaffirming our support for the Arctic Council, and championing rules-based international governance, consistent with established norms and fundamental principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Building responsible trade and economic partnerships, where the United Kingdom has expertise and capabilities to offer, while managing risks to our security, safety and environment and ensuring responsible and transparent economic activity that benefits indigenous communities and other inhabitants of the Arctic.

Strengthening resilience, to deter threats to our security and prosperity by working collaboratively to enhance our understanding of the risks that we and our partners face from this rapidly changing region and appropriate mitigations.

These priorities reflect our diverse interests and relationships with the Arctic as a region. Partnership will be key to their delivery and the Government will draw on and seek to strengthen further its relationships with our seven Arctic state allies, indigenous partners and many non-Arctic states across Europe and the Indo-Pacific, as well as the European Union, with whom we share interests in the region. As the Arctic continues to change, so we are committed to ensuring it is a secure, sustainable and prosperous region.

[HCWS382]

Combined Authority Best Value

Thursday 15th October 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Jim McMahon)]

The Government are committed to a radical shift in where power and resources lie, empowering local leaders to drive growth and improve outcomes for their communities. But stronger local leadership must be matched by strong local institutions. As powers and investment increase, so too does the responsibility to demonstrate strong governance, sound financial management, transparent decision making and effective stewardship of public resources.

It is a matter of public record that, following the publication of the independent Tees Valley review in January 2024 and the mayor’s response, Ministers required further assurance of improvement. On 3 April 2025, the Department therefore issued Tees Valley combined authority with a non-statutory best value notice, which set expectations for improvement around governance, culture, partnerships and continuous improvement, including action to address recommendations from the 2024 independent review. That notice was due to be formally reviewed after 12 months.

The Department has engaged closely with the authority and its independent improvement and advisory board to scrutinise progress against the notice and the authority’s organisational improvement plan. I commend the commitment of officers and the engagement across the Cabinet and constituent authorities to support the authority’s improvement work. I recognise the complexity of unpicking historic governance and accounting issues, and that, as improvement work has progressed, further matters requiring attention have been identified. However, despite sustained improvement efforts, I am not yet assured that the authority has the capacity, capability or appropriate arrangements in place to respond with sufficient pace, transparency or consistency to the level of remaining risk.

In particular, I have material concerns about the authority’s long-term financial sustainability, given its high levels of debt, increasing borrowing and interest costs, and declining revenue reserves in recent years. I welcome the authority’s recent agreement of formal loan repayment arrangements with South Tees Development Corporation, including changes to strengthen Cabinet oversight. However, those steps do not in themselves provide assurance on the assumptions underpinning the repayment arrangements or the management of associated financial risks, on which I would like direct, independent assurance. More fundamentally, the effectiveness of these arrangements ultimately depends on strong leadership, governance and financial management, where broader concerns remain.

I note the external auditor’s indication in its 2024-25 audit update report that it is considering further exercise of its statutory powers in response to concerns about the authority’s governance and control environment and the delays in completing and signing off financial statements for 2023-24 and 2024-25.

Although governance and assurance improvements are in train, including through the development of the single assurance framework, I remain concerned about the scale of work outstanding to deliver and embed those improvements, and evidence their impact.

Having considered all available evidence to date, including from the authority, its independent advisory board and the external auditor, I consider there are signs of potential best value failure. 1 am therefore informing the House that the Secretary of State has today exercised powers under section 10 of the Local Government Act 1999 to appoint Laura Shoaf CBE as lead inspector, and, on Laura’s recommendation, will shortly appoint three assistant inspectors to carry out an inspection of the authority’s compliance with its best value duty.

The inspection will provide an evidence-based assessment of the authority’s compliance with its best value duty, focusing on, but not limited to: governance and decision making across the authority; use of resources and audit and accounting arrangements; capacity and capability at leadership level and across the organisation; the adequacy of the authority’s plans and capacity to deliver its organisational excellence strategy; and how these functions and arrangements are impacting organisational culture, partnerships and community engagement, and service delivery.

Given the scale and complexity of the authority’s commercial and regeneration activities, I would welcome expert assurance that appropriate arrangements are in place to oversee and mitigate the associated risks.

Our new model of Government rests on strong and capable strategic and local authorities and I am committed to taking the action necessary to secure this. The best value framework is an established and proportionate accountability backstop. It supports improvement where concerns arise and enables intervention where necessary, acting to ensure that strategic authorities have the right accountability, capacity and capability that protects residents and public money, reinforces public confidence and provides a secure foundation for devolution’s resilience.

Further devolution will be rolled out as quickly as possible, and additional powers and control, as set out in the Cabinet statement, will be available to Tees Valley combined authority as with all mayoral strategic authorities, benefiting the people of the Tees Valley. Further detail on the approach, including any phasing, will be set out in the delivery plan this autumn.

My Department will continue to engage with and support the authority throughout this process. I will update the House once the inspection has concluded.

[HCWS384]

Local Government Best Value: Slough and Bedford Borough Councils

Thursday 15th October 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Jim McMahon)]

The Government are committed to rewiring the relationship between central, local and regional government, returning power to people and places so that councils and communities can improve public services, drive growth and deliver better outcomes. Local institutions must be strong, with the right accountability, capacity and capability, and this Government are taking the action necessary to support the local government sector in building that strength and driving improvement.

Today, I am updating the House on the steps we are taking in partnership with Slough borough council and Bedford borough council to support their recovery and reform.

Slough borough council

Slough borough council has been in intervention since December 2021, and extended in November 2024, with directions due to end on 30 November 2026. On 5 March 2026 the then Minister of State for Local Government and Homelessness commissioned, due to ongoing concerns of the pace of improvement at the authority, an external review, led by Dame Mary Ney with support from Will Godfrey. The review was to assess Slough borough council’s improvement trajectory under intervention and identify what, if any, further support is required to drive immediate progress and to put the council on a long-term sustainable footing.

I would like to put on record my thanks to Dame Mary Ney and Will Godfrey. The report, which I am publishing today, makes a series of recommendations for the intervention. These include:

Embedding a sustainable senior leadership team to drive the council’s improvement and provide stability, to transition it to a more sustainable operating model.

A reset of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government commissioner team to an oversight role; adoption of a single commissioner team with Department for Education.

A new, shared approach to political leadership and development, underpinned by the appointment of a political adviser.

A decision to move ahead with convergence of Slough Children First with the council.

Government support for Slough growth potential, to accelerate housing delivery and realise the opportunity of Heathrow expansion.

Subsequently the Slough commissioners have submitted their eighth report, outlining progress at the council. While progress has been made in some areas, it remains fragmented, and recovery remains slow, uneven and fragile. The council remains in a vulnerable financial position, with a forecast £20 million overspend, continued reliance on exceptional financial support and the need to closely review its debt repayment strategy to ensure it is managing down its high level of debt effectively. Governance remains underdeveloped, and serious weaknesses persist in key services, including children’s services, SEND and housing. Commissioners do not have confidence the council can sustain improvement without ongoing external support.

I have carefully considered the commissioners’ report, the external-led review and other relevant material. I am satisfied that Slough borough council is failing to comply with its best value duty. I am therefore minded to exercise powers of direction under section 15(5) and (6) of the Local Government Act 1999 to implement an intervention package that ensures the council’s compliance with its best value duty.

Proposed package

Having considered the external review recommendations and commissioners’ report, I believe that ongoing commissioner involvement is required to support the council into a place of sustainability and that stepping commissioners back too quickly would carry significant risk at this stage.

A key lesson we must learn from the last decade of intervention is that progress in one area is too often undermined by weakness in another and our intervention approach across the two Departments has been too fragmented to date. Children’s services will not be able to secure and sustain improvement while wider weaknesses in leadership, governance, and financial management persist across the organisation. I am therefore minded to refresh the commissioner team, working to shared DFE and MHCLG objectives, comprising of a lead commissioner, managing director commissioner, finance commissioner, and a SEND and children’s services commissioner—appointed jointly by DFE and MHCLG—alongside a political adviser to support the council ahead of, and following, the all-out elections in May 2027. It is my belief that this will provide the council with the continuity necessary to embed outstanding improvement activity, drive transformation and take forward the external review recommendations.

I envisage the appointment of commissioners until 30 November 2029, with a review of the progress of the intervention after 12 months.

Slough is a town of significant economic potential, and my Department will continue to work with commissioners and the council to harness that potential for the long-term benefit of its residents.

Bedford borough council

Best value inspection report

On 10 February 2026, the then Secretary of State commissioned a statutory inspection of Bedford borough council and its compliance with its best value duty. Paul Najsarek, Margaret Lee OBE and Tasnim Shawkat were appointed as inspectors and reported their findings to the Department in June 2026. I am publishing this report today, and extend my thanks to the inspectors for their diligent work and to the council and all participants for their co-operation.

The report identifies some strengths within the council, including within partnership working and in supporting the Universal project. It also notes the steps taken in response to external challenge, including an improvement plan and independent improvement and assurance panel, but concludes these are not yet sufficient to drive the urgent improvement required.

Overall, the report documents serious concerns across a number of areas:

On continuous improvement: the report notes that, despite extensive external support and challenge since 2023, the council has made limited progress in delivering the scale of transformation and change required. The inspectors “have no confidence that the necessary improvement will be secured without external intervention”.

On leadership: the report identifies challenges “in all parts of the organisation—politically and managerially”. Weak leadership and cross-party working has meant it has been unable to “confront its growing financial problems”.

On governance: the council’s governance arrangements lack the “clarity, grip or discipline needed to support timely and effective decision-making”. Inspectors assess they are not adequate for a council with a directly elected mayoral model operating without overall political control.

On culture: the report highlights a “negative culture” characterised by low trust, blame, defensiveness, silo working and weak accountability. Inspectors describe poor member-officer relationships, reports of bullying and misogynistic behaviour that had not been systematically addressed, low staff morale, and blurred boundaries between member and officer roles.

On use of resources: the report identifies “limited and insufficient evidence of action to improve” the council’s financial position, which remains unsustainable, with persistent overspends, significant shortfalls in its medium-term financial strategy, limited reserves and growing borrowing pressures. The council required exceptional financial support to set a balanced budget for 2025-26 and 2026-27.

Compliance with the best value duty

I have carefully considered the report and other relevant material, including the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s review of 2025, the progress made since the Local Government Association’s corporate peer challenge of 2023 and updates since the inspection concluded, and I am satisfied that Bedford borough council is failing to comply with its best value duty in relation to continuous improvement, governance, leadership, culture, and use of resources.

The council must now work collaboratively and at pace to address the recommendations received to date and deliver sustained improvement.

I consider that the council needs intensive support to achieve this. I am minded to exercise my powers under the Local Government Act 1999 to issue statutory directions to the council and nominate commissioners with expertise in political and corporate leadership, transformation, governance and finance, and some with powers to exercise specified functions of the council. My proposal to appoint commissioners is not taken lightly, and recognises that, as the inspectors say, the council has a “limited track record of delivering transformation and change, despite the extensive external support already available”.

The council would be directed to prepare and agree a comprehensive improvement and recovery plan to the satisfaction of the commissioners, bringing together the full range of activity required to ensure compliance with its best value duty. Progress against this plan must be demonstrable, with commissioners reporting to the Secretary of State on progress at six-monthly intervals. The intervention will also strengthen the council’s capacity to work effectively with partners on major strategic projects, including Universal, helping maximise the benefits they bring to the borough.

My clear expectation is that the council should continue to lead and deliver its own improvement wherever possible, with the appointed commissioners providing oversight, challenge and support and exercising their powers to secure improvement. The proposed intervention will be in place for three years but should there be sufficient evidence of progress, powers over functions will be handed back to the council.

Representations

I am now inviting representations from the council and any interested parties, including residents, on the inspection report and the proposed intervention package by 28 October 2026.

I will carefully consider all representations and any other evidence received, before deciding how to proceed.

Conclusion

I remain committed to supporting both councils to secure the sustained improvement needed and deliver better outcomes for local residents.

I will deposit in the House Library a copy of the documents referred to, which are being published on gov.uk today. I will update the House in due course.

[HCWS383]

5. Ports: National Policy Statement

Thursday 15th October 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Keir Mather)]

I laid the revised text of the national policy statement for ports before the House on 6 July. There having been no resolution to the contrary within the 21 sitting days prescribed by the Planning Act 2008, I am pleased to inform Parliament that I am today formally amending the NPSP under the provisions of section 6(9) of that Act. The NPSP applies to ports in England, and to reserved trust ports in Wales—currently, Milford Haven.

Ports are critical to the success of our economy. They have proved their ability to adapt to changing market conditions and to invest largely without recourse to public funds. The updated national policy statement will provide strong support for investment, responsive to customers’ requirements, contributing to national resilience, and in harmony with the environment.

[HCWS381]