Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the tax rises for landlords in the Budget 2025 on (1) the supply of property in the private rented sector, and (2) rent levels.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility does not expect that the reform to property income tax will have a significant impact on rental prices.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much has been spent on legal aid for asylum seekers in the past 12 months.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

Expenditure data for asylum seekers across all legal aid schemes is not held centrally. An individual’s asylum status is not relevant to eligibility for legal aid services and is not specifically tracked or recorded.

The Legal Aid Agency does publish expenditure incurred under all categories of legal aid, including immigration and asylum, as part of its official statistics.

Legal aid is available for asylum cases under paragraph 30 of Schedule 1, Part 1 Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO). This is subject to both a legal merits test and a financial eligibility test.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have plans to reform the legal aid system to reduce costs.

Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Ministry of Justice is exploring a range of activity to drive increased departmental efficiency and productivity over the Spending Review period, including across the legal aid system. One key opportunity will be through our programme to build a suite of new digital systems that will transform the delivery of legal aid over this parliament. Our aim is not only to ensure we have secure and reliable systems following the recent cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) but to boost productivity and reduce the costly administrative burdens faced by those providing legal aid services. We are working urgently to understand how we can accelerate this programme and deliver efficiencies both for legal aid firms and the LAA.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to procure 1 million extra rental properties that are estimated by the National Residential Landlords Association to be required by 2031.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

In our Plan for Change, we have set an ambitious milestone of building 1.5 million new homes across all tenures in England in this Parliament. At the Spending Review, we announced £39 billion for a successor to the Affordable Homes Programme over 10 years from 2026-27 to 2035-36. For further information, I refer the noble Lord to the Written Ministerial Statement published on 2 July (HLWS770).

The government is committed to supporting the Build to Rent sector. We are unlocking nearly £2 billion in additional lending through the Private Rented Sector Guarantee Scheme and have announced a £700 million extension to the Home Building Fund to help deliver more homes alongside institutional investors, including those provided by Build to Rent operators.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether local authority selective licensing for residential properties will duplicate the private rented sector database in the Renters' Rights Act 2025; and what assessment they have made of the impact of each of those schemes on costs for landlords and tenants.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Selective licensing and the Private Rented Sector Database have different purposes. Unlike the Database, selective licensing schemes aim to target specific local issues by enabling more intensive proactive enforcement strategies.

We recognise the need to keep requirements for landlords proportionate and fair. While Database registration brings some additional requirements, we are committed to ensuring these remain reasonable.

We will continue to review the use of selective licensing as we develop the Private Rented Sector Database – refining the way the two systems work together.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the European Commission's European Affordable Housing Plan, published on 16 December, specifically its proposals for empowering regional and local governments to regulate short-term rentals that contribute to housing shortages.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government recognises that excessive concentrations of short-term lets can impact on housing availability and affordability and place pressure on local services.

We have abolished the furnished holiday lets tax regime, meaning landlords will no longer be incentivised by the tax system to make their properties available as short-term holiday lets rather than longer-term homes. From 31 October 2024, higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax on additional dwellings increased from three to five percentage points above standard rates. The Renters’ Rights Act includes a provision to prevent landlords from evicting tenants simply to convert properties into holiday lets.

In addition, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is progressing a national registration scheme for short-term lets. We are also empowering Mayors to introduce a visitor levy on short-term overnight accommodation in their region and continue to consider whether further powers are needed for local authorities.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the health impacts of 'forever chemicals' in British food and drink.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) aims to keep levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food as low as reasonably achievable.

The Committee on Toxicity (COT), an advisory body which provides independent scientific advice to the FSA, is currently undertaking an assessment of PFAS. This assessment will include an independent review of the available toxicological and epidemiological data, focusing on a number of biological and health effects. The COT’s assessment will also consider toxicokinetics (how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolises and excretes) of PFAS. Derivation of updated health-based guidance values where possible will also be considered.

The outcome of this assessment is expected to support human health risk assessment of PFAS by United Kingdom Government Departments and Agencies in the context of existing and legacy exposure through food, drinking water and the environment.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Budget 2025 on the returns of private landlords.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility does not expect that the reform to property income tax will have a significant impact on rental prices.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they consider Syria a 'safe' country for immigration purposes.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

All asylum and human rights claims from Syrian nationals are carefully considered on their individual merits. Each individual assessment is made by considering any relevant extant caselaw and the latest available country information. Country Policy and Information Notes (Syria: country policy and information notes - GOV.UK) outline conditions in Syria and provide guidance to asylum decision-makers.