Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Master of the Rolls about the impact of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 on the justice system.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Lord Chancellor is responsible for the Government's relationship with the judiciary. As would be expected, he and other Departmental Ministers have regular engagement with the senior judiciary, including the Master of the Rolls, on a whole host of matters including legislation that affects the justice system.
It is standard practice not to comment on the specifics of discussions between Ministers and the judiciary. In line with constitutional conventions, discussions with the judiciary do not cover the merits of policy proposals and are limited to technical matters relating to the operation of the courts and the wider administration of justice.
Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of digitising possession cases on the speed at which legitimate possession cases are processed by the courts when the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 begins to be implemented
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The most recent published statistics show that claim to possession order median timeliness is currently 7.6 weeks, an improvement from the same period in 2024, and within the 8 weeks set out in the Civil Procedure Rules: (Mortgage and landlord possession statistics - GOV.UK). As the Renters’ Rights Act is implemented, HMCTS will put in place measures including additional sitting days and administrative resource to ensure sufficient capacity is in place for the county court to handle the anticipated change to the possession caseload.
The digital service will offer an online route for making and responding to possession claims, filing documents, and receiving updates and outcomes, offering an improved user experience through guided journeys. It will reduce the time taken to deal with printing, posting and administrative handling of paper forms.
Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what definition they use for "knowingly" and "recklessly" in the offence of knowingly or recklessly misusing a possession ground under section 16J of the Housing Act 1988, inserted by section 15 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Renters' Rights Act delivers the government's manifesto commitment to overhaul the regulation of the private rented sector, including by abolishing Section 21 'no fault' evictions.
Misuse of a possession ground is a serious matter, particularly where this results in the tenant giving up their tenancy. It is ultimately for the courts and tribunals to determine what “knowingly” and “recklessly” mean when deciding whether the offence under section 16J(1) has been committed.
Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many local authority staff in England have responsibility for enforcement action in the private rented sector.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
My Department does not currently hold the requested information. However, we are in the process of implementing a new mandatory collection of private rented sector enforcement data from local housing authorities, which will include the number of full-time equivalent staff responsible for enforcement in the private rented sector.
Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government in what circumstances they would make regulations under section 14ZB(6) of the Housing Act 1988, inserted by section 7(10) of the Renters' Rights Act 2025.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer given to Question (attached) UIN HL10508.
Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prisoners sentenced to Imprisonment for Public Protection who have been recalled to prison have been released by the Secretary of State under section 32ZZA of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
29 prisoners serving a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection were released by the Secretary of State under section 32ZZA of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 between 1 November 2024 (when the power became available) and 1 June 2025. We are determined to make progress towards safe and sustainable releases for those in prison, but not in a way that undermines public protection.
Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Chapman of Darlington on 4 November (HL Deb 1808), whether the statement setting out the Official Development Assistance allocations for 2026–27 and 2028–29 will describe the steps that the Secretary of State has taken to ensure that the 0.7 per cent target will be met by the UK in the next calendar year, as required by section 2(4) of the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Lord to the response of 19 November 2025 to Question HL11642.
Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Chapman of Darlington on 4 November (HL Deb 1808) stating that official development assistance allocations will be published "in the coming months", what plans they have to make a statement under section 2(4) of the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015 alongside these allocations.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Lord to HLWS887 made on 22 July 2025, published alongside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) Annual Report & Accounts 2024-25. If, when published, the FCDO annual report and accounts for 2025-26 shows that the 0.7 per cent target has not been met in calendar year 2025, the government will make the relevant statement as set out in the International Development Act 2015.
Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government under what circumstances they expect the use of the powers in the Renters' Rights Bill to change the date from which a new rent is payable in rent appeal cases brought before First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government is committed to empowering tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases, to protect tenants from undue financial hardship and prevent rent hikes being used as a form of backdoor eviction once Section 21 notices have been abolished.
We recognise that there is inherent uncertainty as to the volume of rent increase challenges that will be brought when the tenancy reforms in the Renters’ Rights Bill come into force. This is why we have put in place a proportionate safeguard for use in circumstances where it has become clear that the Tribunal system is on course to be overwhelmed.
We intend to use the power if the Tribunal appears at risk of being overwhelmed by a sharp increase in challenges and it has become necessary to avoid lengthy delays for genuine cases to be heard. It will be subject to the affirmative procedure, to allow appropriate parliamentary scrutiny.
Asked by: Lord Carter of Haslemere (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average time for the First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber to consider, process and rule upon rent appeal cases brought by tenants.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not hold the requested information centrally. To obtain this data would require a detailed analysis of the individual case records, which could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.