Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks to the visibility of the night sky of light pollution from new housing developments.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should ensure that new development is appropriate for its location, taking into account the likely effects (including cumulative effects) of pollution on the natural environment, as well as the potential sensitivity of the site or wider area to impacts that could arise from the development. In doing so they should limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light on local amenity, intrinsically dark landscapes and nature conservation.
Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). That consultation, which can be found on gov.uk here, included proposals relating to pollution. We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the protection afforded to surrounding landscape views (1) of, and (2) from, World Heritage Sites in England.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
My Department has not made such an assessment. Our National Planning Policy Framework sets out the strong protections in place for World Heritage Sites including their settings.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of international dark sky reserves.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has some of the best, earliest, and largest number of designated Dark Skies Areas in Europe. This includes Exmoor National Park, which was the first designated Dark Sky Reserve in Europe; and Northumberland, which has been awarded the Dark Sky Gold Tier, indicating natural, non-polluted or near-natural night skies. A survey into the designation of the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park, for example, reported a positive impact on the local economy. There have been no recent assessments of the benefits by Defra.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of people between 16 and 24 years old who are not in (1) paid work, or (2) education or training, in each of the G7 countries compared to the UK.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. When this Government came into power there were 921,000 NEETs. This increased by 250,000 between 2021 and 2024. The number of young people not in education, employment and training (NEET) currently stands at around 957,000. For many years our young people have not had the opportunity and support they deserve and we are increasing funding and taking action in the following ways.
On 16th March, the Government announced a further £1 billion investment in young people, resulting in a total £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and additional investment in the Growth and Skills Levy. This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn.
This includes the delivery of eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain and introduction of a new Youth Guarantee Gateway in Jobcentres, providing more intensive support to 16-24 year olds.
This investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. It will also help unlock up to 200,000 more employment opportunities, through a new £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant for employers who hire 18–24-year-olds who have been on Universal Credit for over six months, a new £2,000 apprenticeship incentive for small and medium sized employers hiring 16–24-year-olds and the Jobs Guarantee scheme, providing long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds with a fully funded six month job.
The Government will also prioritise prevention, building on measures announced in the Skills White Paper. The Government will improve support in schools, monitor attendance, increase access to work experience and work with local authorities to pilot auto-enrolling young people in further education, if needed.
Together these measures demonstrate the Government’s commitment to supporting employers, partners and young people across Great Britain.
Additionally, an independent investigation has been launched to tackle the persistently high numbers of young people who are NEET. Led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, the report will examine why increasing numbers of young people are falling out of work or education before their careers have begun, with a particular focus on the impact of mental health conditions and disability.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of people aged between 16 and 24 years old who are not in (1) paid work, or (2) education or training.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. When this Government came into power there were 921,000 NEETs. This increased by 250,000 between 2021 and 2024. The number of young people not in education, employment and training (NEET) currently stands at around 957,000. For many years our young people have not had the opportunity and support they deserve and we are increasing funding and taking action in the following ways.
On 16th March, the Government announced a further £1 billion investment in young people, resulting in a total £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and additional investment in the Growth and Skills Levy. This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn.
This includes the delivery of eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, expansion of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain and introduction of a new Youth Guarantee Gateway in Jobcentres, providing more intensive support to 16-24 year olds.
This investment will also create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. It will also help unlock up to 200,000 more employment opportunities, through a new £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant for employers who hire 18–24-year-olds who have been on Universal Credit for over six months, a new £2,000 apprenticeship incentive for small and medium sized employers hiring 16–24-year-olds and the Jobs Guarantee scheme, providing long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds with a fully funded six month job.
The Government will also prioritise prevention, building on measures announced in the Skills White Paper. The Government will improve support in schools, monitor attendance, increase access to work experience and work with local authorities to pilot auto-enrolling young people in further education, if needed.
Together these measures demonstrate the Government’s commitment to supporting employers, partners and young people across Great Britain.
Additionally, an independent investigation has been launched to tackle the persistently high numbers of young people who are NEET. Led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, the report will examine why increasing numbers of young people are falling out of work or education before their careers have begun, with a particular focus on the impact of mental health conditions and disability.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of the UK tax-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio in (1) 2025–26, (2) 2026–27, (3) 2027–28, (4) 2028–29, and (5) 2029–30; and what comparative assessment they have made of the tax-to-GDP ratio of each of the G7 countries in each of those years.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published the latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) in March 2026[1]. This forecasts the tax-to-GDP ratio to change as follows: 2025-26 – 36.3%; 2026-27 – 37.0%; 2027-28 – 37.7%; 2028-29 – 37.8%; 2029-30 – 38.3%[2].
The UK’s current tax-to-GDP ratio is in the middle of the pack within the G7; lower than Italy (42.8%), France (43.5%) and Germany (38.0%), but above Japan (33.7%), Canada (34.9%) and the US (25.6%) based on the latest available OECD data. [3]
[1] https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2026/#
[2] https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2026/#, page 42
[3] Latest OECD data 2024, except Japan, which is from 2023.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is their policy that shops, medical centres and other amenities should be provided at the same time as the construction of homes in greenfield developments.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that significant weight should be placed on the importance of new, expanded or upgraded public service infrastructure when considering proposals for development.
The government is consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, more ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making, designed to make planning policy easier to use and underpin the delivery of faster and simpler local plans. The consultation includes policies supporting the delivery of new and improved community facilities and public service infrastructure serving new development, setting out that planning conditions and obligations should be used to secure the timely delivery of community facilities and public service infrastructure required to serve new development, so that these facilities are available for use when the development (or an agreed proportion of the development) is first occupied or comes into use.
We are inviting views on these proposals through the consultation, which is available here (attached) and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of places of worship in current plans for large-scale greenfield housing developments.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that planning policies and decisions should plan positively for the provision and use of community facilities, such as places of worship. It is for local planning authorities to make decisions on individual development proposals, and the government does not collate information on proposals to provide new places of worship as part of these.
The government is consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, more ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making, designed to make planning policy easier to use and underpin the delivery of faster and simpler local plans. The consultation includes policies to support the provision of places of worship, including where a development proposal for housing, employment or other development would give rise to significant numbers of additional people living in, working in or visiting an area.
We are inviting views on these proposals through the consultation, which is available here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the threats to national security presented by the cutting and other interception of subsea communication cables.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises the increasing threat to the homeland from state actors and that critical national infrastructure, including subsea cables, will continue to be a target.
As the threat landscape evolves, it is essential to ensure that our risk assessments remain robust and fit for purpose. All risks in the National Risk Register, including the risk related to subsea cables, are kept under review to ensure that they are the most appropriate scenarios to inform emergency preparedness and resilience activity. We are currently reviewing and updating our assessments of risks to the UK’s subsea telecommunications cables.
While individual cables are vulnerable to damage, the UK’s international connectivity is resilient, supported by 45 international cables as well as high‑capacity fibre links running through the Channel Tunnel.
DSIT continues to work closely with the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Defence and other government departments to ensure the security and resilience of the UK’s subsea telecommunications infrastructure.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the threats to financial services presented by the cutting of subsea cables or the monitoring of information carried by them.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Strengthening the financial sector’s resilience to threats and hazards of all origins is a key priority for HM Treasury and the financial regulators.
While individual subsea cables are vulnerable to damage, the UK’s international connectivity is resilient, supported by 45 international cables and high‑capacity fibre cables through the Channel tunnel.
However, critical sectors must be prepared for reasonable worst-case disruption. HM Treasury is working closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to update the Government’s assessment of how disruption or monitoring of subsea cables could affect financial services. This work will inform response planning and further support a secure, resilient financial sector.