Lord Fuller

The R&R Programme offers tours of the Palace of Westminster, starting in Royal Court and including the medieval Cloister Court and the basement, for members, staff of both Houses, and members’ staff. Attendees are provided with an insight into the work already being undertaken to maintain the Palace as well as an understanding of the future works needed and the challenges facing the Palace.

Since 2015, 292 members have been on a Palace R&R tour, comprising of 175 MPs and 117 Peers. Of the current members of either House, 193 members have been on a Palace R&R tour, comprising of 93 MPs and 100 Peers.

The R&R Programme offers tours of the Palace of Westminster, starting in Royal Court and including the medieval Cloister Court and the basement, for members, staff of both Houses, and members’ staff. Attendees are provided with an insight into the work already being undertaken to maintain the Palace as well as an understanding of the future works needed and the challenges facing the Palace.

Of the current members of either House, 193 members have been on a Palace R&R tour. There are an estimated 85 sitting days before the end of October in which at least one of the Houses is sitting. This would mean an average of 15.1 members would need to take a tour on every anticipated sitting day before the end of October for all parliamentarians to have undertaken a tour (the number of Lords members is based on those eligible to attend proceedings as of 10 April 2025). Given the basement is a working space, there are restrictions on access and tours are timed to avoid the busiest operational periods.

The tours have been publicised by various means in the current Parliament, including through the other engagement fora that the Programme uses to engage with parliamentarians. Tours have been advertised on internal communication channels such as ParliNet, Red Benches, PeerHub and offered in-person at R&R engagement stands (for example, in the 1 Millbank House Library and Portcullis House), at the Lords Members’ Fair, and during 1-to-1 R&R briefings with members of both Houses and others in the parliamentary community. To target new members specifically, the tours were advertised by e-mail to new members of the House of Lords and leaflets offering tours and briefings were available in the communal workspaces used by newly elected MPs. In addition, the Chair and Deputy Chair of the R&R Programme Board e-mailed all MPs and Lords in January 2025 inviting them to engage with the Programme and I also recommended the tour to noble Lords in my opening speech in the parliamentary debate in January 2025 on the R&R annual progress report.

Tours are only one way in which the R&R Programme engages with parliamentarians. The R&R Client Team has held engagement stalls in prominent places such as Portcullis House, offered and held 1-to-1 briefings with members, appeared at committees and party groups, and provided information about R&R on ParliNet and in leaflets. As part of its interactions with members, the team also regularly checks that its engagement channels are working for members and explains how to obtain further information about the Programme.

The application details for live planning cases are available from the Planning Inspectorate’s website. There are currently two live Nationally Significant Infrastructure solar cases:

West Burton: 886 hectares on the Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire border.

Heckington Fen: 524 hectares, in North Kesteven, Lincolnshire.

An Environmental Statement forms part of an application for development consent and includes a description of the likely significant effects of the proposed development on the environment, including on land use and any impacts resulting from the cumulation of effects with other projects.

These impacts are considered during the planning enquiry and weighed up in the planning balance when the Secretary of State makes his decision.

There are currently 9 review cases under consideration. The oldest case was received on 11th April 2024 and the most recent came in on 24th November 2024.

The designation review process itself is non-statutory, which means there is no statutory obligation to respond to cases within a specific timeframe, however we undertake to complete them as swiftly as possible once all new evidence and advice from Historic England, if required, is received.

All designation review requests received by the Department will be carefully considered and the decisions confirmed in due course.

No such formal assessment has been made. However, the UK ports sector is market-oriented and competitive both internally and externally, with ample capacity available at national level for bulk cargoes.

The Devolution Priority Programme will provide a fast-track to mayoral devolution, aiming to see a new wave of mayoral elections in May 2026. The areas on the Devolution Priority Programme will receive the full backing of government to deliver to these ambitious timescales. We will commence Government-led consultations in early in February, and we have a team in the department who will be focused on supporting these places through the process.

My department is liaising closely with the Local Government Boundary Commission for England so that they are involved at the appropriate time to ensure fair electoral arrangements across the area of any new unitary local authorities.

The Government wrote to local authorities in December setting out that, where it will help deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe, the government would be prepared to postpone local elections from May 2025 to May 2026. Of the 18 requests, Government agreed that for Norfolk and Suffolk; Essex and Thurrock; Hampshire and the Isle of Wight; East Sussex and West Sussex postponement is essential for the delivery of the Devolution Priority Programme and complementary reorganisation. Government has also agreed to postpone elections in Surrey, where reorganisation is essential to unlocking devolution options.

As set out in my colleague’s letter of 16 December, the Minister will only consider these requests where it is clear that postponement will help the area to deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe. A decision will be made in due course, recognising the need to give confirmation as soon as practically possible. If the decision is to make secondary legislation to postpone elections from May 2025 to 2026, such legislation would be subject to the negative resolution procedure and would come into force no sooner than 21 days after it is laid in Parliament.

The powers in the Local Government Act 2000 under which that legislation will be made do not apply a statutory requirement to undertake consultation. However, the 16 December letter to all councils in two-tier areas and small neighbouring unitaries welcomed views on any matters raised in the letter. Future consultation will be undertaken on devolution and on the reorganisation proposals that are subsequently developed for all areas to which those proposals apply.