Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why staff are "strongly advised" in the Immigration Enforcement Live Facial Recognition Policy Document published in November to refer to that document rather than being required to do so.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Immigration Enforcement live facial recognition policy document was based on standard police guidance. However, we can confirm that during operational deployments it was made clear to relevant Home Office members of staff that adherence to the agreed-upon policies and processes was mandatory.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to publish an assessment of the trial use of live facial recognition in immigration enforcement in November; and whether it will be used or trialled again for immigration enforcement purposes before the close of the consultation on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Immigration Enforcement carried out two live facial recognition deployments in collaboration with South Wales Police and Greater Manchester Police. The Department are reviewing these operations and considering the next steps. The results of these deployments are available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many residential properties have had energy efficiency measures installed under the Government policies then in place for each year from 2015 to 2024; and how many are projected to have such measures installed under current policies for each year from 2025 to 2030.
Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government publishes monthly delivery data on Gov.UK. The information sought regarding delivery of the ECO4 scheme can be found in the attached pdf and at
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/household-energy-efficiency-national-statistics.
To the end of September 2025 there were around 101,500 meaures installed in 49,400 households under the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. A summary of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund statistic can be found in the below table:
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund:
Wave and Period (to end September 2025) | Wave 1 (2021-23) | Wave 2.1 (2023-26) | Wave 2.2 (2024-2026) |
Properties Upgraded | Up to 20,000 properties upgraded | 62,800 measures in 30,000 households | 7,100 measures in 3,300 households |
More information is available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/social-housing-decarbonisation-fund-statistics-november-2025/summary-of-the-social-housing-decarbonisation-fund-statistics-november-2025.
Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery (LAD) and Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) was released in November 2025 and can be found in the second attached file. Delivery under the current Warm Homes: Local Grant and Social Housing Fund is currently ongoing and in progress.
Over this parliament the government plans to upgrade up to 5 million homes and cut energy bills for good.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor and regulate the use of personalised algorithms and targeted advertising by online gambling platforms.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
All gambling operators in the UK must comply with robust advertising codes, which are enforced by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) independently of Government. These codes apply across all advertising platforms, including online and social media. The codes are regularly reviewed and updated and DCMS regularly engages with the ASA to discuss these changes and the impact of the regulations.
All operators in the UK are also required to comply with the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice, which includes new provisions relating to direct marketing and socially responsible promotions. The impact of these measures will be assessed in due course.
We engage with a range of stakeholders and other regulators, such as the ICO, to understand whether more can be done to further raise standards in this area, particularly on online platforms.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 21 May (HL7312), when the Betting and Gaming Council will publish its report on advertising.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has provided the Government with their report on gambling advertising. It is for the BGC to decide whether to publish it. We have reviewed the report and are considering this alongside a range of other evidence to determine next steps in this area.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce mandatory transparency requirements on gambling advertising spend and targeting strategies by licensed operators.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We currently have no plans to introduce mandatory transparency requirements on gambling advertising spend and targeting strategies by licensed operators.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they hold data about the condition of flora in each county in England, and if so, whether they will publish that data.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Natural England (NE) does not hold county-level data on plants. When it requires such information, NE works with partners to access excellent quality datasets such as the ‘distribution database’ of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, which may be filtered by county. Such datasets may be processed and published by partners e.g. as County Floras or Rare Plant Registers. NE’s own holding of botanical data focuses on protected sites rather than county scale information. NE recently worked with the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland to produce a new GB level red list for vascular plants.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of special areas of conservation in each county in England are in a favourable condition.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The table below sets out the percentage of terrestrial special areas of consideration (SAC) feature area in each county assessed as being in favourable condition as of October 2025.
Four counties have no SAC features recorded within their boundaries and are therefore not listed in the table: Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, and the City of London.
County | % of SAC features in favourable condition |
Berkshire | 66.0% |
Bristol | 3.3% |
Buckinghamshire | 56.1% |
Cambridgeshire | 45.1% |
Cheshire | 4.1% |
Cornwall | 27.9% |
Cumbria | 28.1% |
Derbyshire | 18.9% |
Devon | 37.5% |
Dorset | 40.0% |
Durham | 25.6% |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 46.7% |
East Sussex | 35.8% |
Essex | 26.3% |
Gloucestershire | 20.4% |
Greater London | 52.3% |
Greater Manchester | 2.9% |
Hampshire | 37.5% |
Herefordshire | 12.0% |
Hertfordshire | 81.9% |
Isle of Wight | 31.7% |
Kent | 49.0% |
Lancashire | 27.3% |
Leicestershire | 0.0% |
Lincolnshire | 47.5% |
Merseyside | 0.0% |
Norfolk | 27.6% |
North Yorkshire | 37.7% |
Northumberland | 30.8% |
Nottinghamshire | 0.0% |
Oxfordshire | 83.9% |
Shropshire | 4.7% |
Somerset | 27.7% |
South Yorkshire | 2.4% |
Staffordshire | 15.5% |
Suffolk | 41.8% |
Surrey | 69.9% |
Tyne & Wear | 12.5% |
Warwickshire | 100.0% |
West Midlands | 20.6% |
West Sussex | 35.9% |
West Yorkshire | 2.5% |
Wiltshire | 37.6% |
Worcestershire | 50.0% |
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of local nature reserves (1) in each county, and (2) in each local authority area, in England are in a favourable condition.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities are responsible for declaring Local Nature Reserves (LNRs) and ensuring they are managed appropriately. There is no statutory requirement for LNRs to meet a specific “favourable condition” standard. As a result, Defra does not hold data on the condition of LNRs by county or local authority.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of sites of special scientific interest in each county in England are in a favourable condition.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 1 April 2023 Natural England changed from a unit (or area)-based assessment and reporting process to one based on the features within each site, called Whole Feature Assessment. A feature is a habitat, species, or geological characteristic for which the site is important.
The table below shows the percentage of Sites of Special Scientific Interest features in each county that are assessed as being in favourable condition as of 31st October 2025:
County | % of SSSI features in favourable condition |
Bedfordshire | 40.0% |
Berkshire | 68.7% |
Bristol | 45.2% |
Buckinghamshire | 57.1% |
Cambridgeshire | 41.8% |
Cheshire | 27.3% |
Cornwall | 51.5% |
Cumbria | 36.9% |
Derbyshire | 28.0% |
Devon | 46.8% |
Dorset | 23.0% |
Durham | 40.8% |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 49.5% |
East Sussex | 34.5% |
Essex | 43.6% |
Gloucestershire | 49.9% |
Greater London | 62.1% |
Greater Manchester | 36.2% |
Hampshire | 35.2% |
Herefordshire | 35.4% |
Hertfordshire | 50.0% |
Isle of Wight | 46.0% |
Kent | 39.9% |
Lancashire | 43.4% |
Leicestershire | 40.4% |
Lincolnshire | 47.9% |
Merseyside | 23.6% |
Norfolk | 42.4% |
North Yorkshire | 46.5% |
Northamptonshire | 37.0% |
Northumberland | 39.3% |
Nottinghamshire | 17.4% |
Oxfordshire | 55.2% |
Rutland | 51.1% |
Shropshire | 46.7% |
Somerset | 38.0% |
South Yorkshire | 43.1% |
Staffordshire | 18.2% |
Suffolk | 37.0% |
Surrey | 50.8% |
Tyne & Wear | 46.5% |
Warwickshire | 68.7% |
West Midlands | 45.3% |
West Sussex | 26.5% |
West Yorkshire | 35.1% |
Wiltshire | 44.1% |
Worcestershire | 48.4% |
.