Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the UK will (1) participate in, or (2) contribute towards, the Interreg Europe programme, as part of the UK-EU reset.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We recognise the value of the UK associating to EU programmes, and the PEACE+ programme continues to operate in Northern Ireland and Ireland. Each EU programme is different and association to these programmes are made on a case by case basis, in line with the national interest.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Livermore on 23 April (HL16234), whether they will publish a breakdown of the number of dwellings on the Council Tax list in (1) England, and (2) Wales, for each individual (a) dwelling group, (2) dwelling type, and (3) value significant code.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC published an updated set of its Council Tax stock of properties at the end of May. This includes the number of properties broken down by their group and type across England and Wales, and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/council-tax-stock-of-properties-2025
There are no current plans to publish properties categorised by their Value Significant Code.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what precautionary measures they have taken to increase the resilience of cables in the area of the new Chinese embassy in London; and what steps they have taken to move critical communications cables running across or near the site.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
National security is the first duty of any Government, and that is why the intelligence and security agencies have been absolutely integral in determining the necessary mitigations for any risks associated with the new site for the Chinese Embassy.
While it would not be appropriate for the Government to provide detail of those mitigations, the Director of GCHQ and Director General of MI5 publicly wrote to the Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary on 20 January making clear that “the package of mitigations deals acceptably with a wide range of sensitive national security issues, including cabling.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government which councils and combined authorities will have elections in May 2027; and which will have their scheduled elections cancelled as a consequence of unitary restructuring.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government remains committed to the indicative timetable for local government reorganisation set out in July 2025, with elections to the new councils scheduled for May 2027. These will replace local elections for any existing councils in those areas.
The two Combined Authorities of Cumbria and Cheshire & Warrington will also hold inaugural mayoral elections in May 2027, to align with the majority of other local elections taking place.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Livermore on 14 May (HLWS9), and further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 23 April (HL16466), what estimate they have made of total business rate receipts in England, including both local and central lists, in (1) 2024–25, (2) 2025–26, (3) 2026–27, (4) 2027–28, and (5) 2028–29.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Local authority estimates of business rates receipts are published by the department annually:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils
Business rates receipts in England are estimated to be £26.4bn in 2024-25, £29.5bn in 2025-26 and £30.6bn in 2026-27. These figures exclude receipts from the central list.
Estimates of Rateable Value for each property on the central list are published by the Valuation Office, which can be used to calculate estimated business rates receipts:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/the-central-rating-list
Business rates receipts from the central list are estimated to be £2.1bn in both 2024-25 and 2025-26 and £2.4bn in 2026-27.
For 2027-28 and 2028-29, estimates come from the calculations that support the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast. These show that business rates receipts are estimated to be £34.0bn for 2027-28 and £34.8bn for 2028-29 in England, including both local and central lists.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the reduced first time buyer stamp duty threshold (1) discourages individuals from buying flats as their first property, or (2) encourages individuals to delay their purchase until they can utilise the discount for a larger property.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
First time buyers benefit from paying no Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) up to £300,000 and pay a reduced rate on purchases up to £500,000. This includes those buying flats and larger properties under the threshold. 155,400 transactions benefited from First-Time Buyers’ Relief (FTBR) in the financial year 2024 to 2025. The Government is not aware of any evidence to suggest that the reduced first-time buyer stamp duty threshold causes first-time buyers not to buy flats or to delay purchasing property.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many business rate challenges relating to rateable values on the draft or final 2026 rating list have been submitted to the Valuation Office Agency in England; and how many have progressed to the Valuation Tribunal Service.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
If a ratepayer disagrees with their property’s rateable value, they can challenge it using the Check, Challenge, Appeal (CCA) service. Once a ratepayer receives the outcome of their Check case, which ensures all facts about the property are correct, they may submit a Challenge.
The Valuation Office will publish the number of Challenges made on 2026 RVs in August this year. Appeals on these decisions are the responsibility of the Valuation Tribunal Service and the Valuation Tribunal for Wales.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they expect a reduction in the average time it takes for a landlord to regain possession through the courts as a result of the Renters' Rights Act 2025; and if so, when.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly possession statistics which monitor the volume and timeliness of possession claims in the County Court. The Civil Procedure Rules state that possession hearings should be listed between 4 and 8 weeks of a claim being issued. The latest possession statistics for October to December 2025, show a mean average of 7.3 weeks from claim to order, down from 8.0 weeks for the same period in 2024.
In the longer term, we expect the reforms to reduce the volume of possession claims as only those cases where there is a clear, well-evidenced ground for possession will be able to proceed. We are also developing a new digital possession service – doing away with outdated paper processes and reducing the chance of mistakes being made.
The timeliness of the court possession process is influenced by a number of factors including user behaviour.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government for what reason the Valuation Office Agency published official statistics for the combination of Rateable Values in special category codes broken down by local authority for the 2023 Rating List, but has not published combined statistics for the 2026 Rating List; and whether the Head of Profession for Statistics has been consulted on the discrepancy, in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, Edition 3.0, published in October 2025.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office Agency published a Special Category code and local authority breakdown as part of the annual `Non-domestic rating: stock of properties, 2025` official statistics.
HMRC will publish a Special Category code and local authority breakdown for the end of the 2023 list position (31 March 2026) on 14 May 2026 in the annual `NDR: Stock of Properties` publication. In the following year, HMRC will publish the first `NDR: Stock of Properties` publication which will include a Special Category code and local authority breakdown for the 2026 list. This is consistent with the data that has previously been published in official statistics by the Valuation Office Agency. The departmental Head of Profession for Statistics was regularly consulted and aware of VOA statistical publications.
Asked by: Lord Jamieson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 9 April (HL15984), how they plan to evaluate the effectiveness of new approaches being tested by local authorities to tackle long-term rough sleeping.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Further to the Written Answer given on 9 April (HL15984), the £15 million for local authorities to test new approaches to reducing long-term rough sleeping has been allocated to areas facing the greatest long-term rough sleeping pressures.
Local authorities were selected based on both high absolute numbers and a high proportion of people experiencing long-term rough sleeping over the month. Further information on the local authorities provided with this funding is available here.
Local authorities and their partners are best placed to assess local needs and determine how funding can be used most effectively to reduce long-term rough sleeping in their areas. Areas receiving funding will be required to achieve a reduction in long-term rough sleeping, measured through the Local Outcomes Framework, and to improve the maturity of local systems for managing long-term rough sleeping. Each area receiving this funding will be required to produce a Long-Term Rough Sleeping Partnership Plan, which sets out how, with partner agencies, they will deliver system changes to address long-term rough sleeping.