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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure improved environmental and health outcomes are a core part of investments such as Pride in Place.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Through the Government's Pride in Place Programme, up to £5.8 billion is being invested over ten years in 284 neighbourhoods experiencing the highest levels of deprivation. The programme will help revitalise local areas and fight deprivation through a focus on three strategic objectives: building thriving places; strengthening communities; and empowering people to take back control.

Each selected area will receive up to £20 million flexible funding and support over ten years. In each area, a Neighbourhood Board will work with the local community to decide how this funding is spent, which could include investment in projects to improve environmental and health outcomes, where these reflect local priorities.

To make sure Neighbourhood Boards have maximum spend flexibility and are not required to regularly seek approval from central government, MHCLG has published an indicative list of the types of projects or initiatives that will benefit communities in a long-term and sustainable way, available on GOV.UK here.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to improve air quality; and what steps she is taking with devolved administrations on this issue.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We are taking forward the measures set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan to further improve the quality of the air we breathe and reduce the impacts of air pollution on human health and the environment. This includes delivering actions to reduce emissions from transport, domestic burning, agriculture and industry, alongside implementing the Environment Act PM2.5 targets.

Air quality policy is a devolved matter, but air pollution does not respect administrative boundaries. The UK Government therefore works closely with the devolved governments through the Common Framework to coordinate action, share evidence and support delivery of measures that reduce harmful emissions and concentrations of air pollutants across the United Kingdom.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps is she taking to help ensure farmers are prepared for more frequent periods of extreme heat.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As set out in the Farming Roadmap, the Government is backing farmers with the largest nature-friendly budget in history to support farmers and land managers to help restore nature and boost farm productivity, which in turn protects food security and builds resilience to extreme heat and other consequences of climate change.

As of December 2025, an equivalent to 69% of the utilised agricultural area of England was covered by Defra agri-environment schemes. The Government has since launched the SFI to help more farmers access these schemes.

Last month the Government announced an extra £50 million for Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 Window 2, taking the total budget for SFI26 to £290 million and helping more farmers access support.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps are being taken to ensure (a) the resilience of food supply chains and (b) access to high-quality British food during heatwaves.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK has a resilient food supply chain and is equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Defra is closely monitoring the impacts of prolonged dry weather on food security and regularly engages with industry representatives, including the NFU, to monitor any potential impacts to arable crops and commodities.

Farmers across England will receive new support to help manage the impact of prolonged dry weather, including a £65m funding boost, as the Government steps up its response to the ongoing drought.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her planned timeline is for the publication of the results of the public consultation on introducing a statutory licensing regime for animal rescue centres and sanctuaries.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government committed in the Animal Welfare Strategy to consult on licensing domestic rescue and rehoming organisations and is working to bring this forward. The consultation will be published in due course and will seek views from all those with an interest in this important sector.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking with supply chains to ensure farmers can continue to produce high-quality food in increasingly unpredictable weather.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK has a resilient food supply chain and is equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Defra is closely monitoring the impacts of prolonged dry weather on food security and regularly engages with industry representatives, including the NFU, to monitor any potential impacts to arable crops and commodities.

Farmers across England will receive new support to help manage the impact of prolonged dry weather, including a £65m funding boost, as the Government steps up its response to the ongoing drought.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to increase reservoir infrastructure to mitigate potential extreme summer weather.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is pushing ahead with reforms to the water sector under our Plan for Change, which includes £104 billion of private investment, including £8 billion dedicated to improved drought planning, long-term water resource management and the delivery of 9 new reservoirs alongside major infrastructure upgrades to reduce leakage and improve water security.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to embed wildfire resilience into land‑use, water and nature recovery policy.

Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra is delivering the change to land use needed to increase our resilience to the impacts of climate change. This includes restoring the peatlands, wetlands and woodlands that store carbon and reduce wildfire risk to farmland, homes, infrastructure and nature. Following the 2026 wildfires we are considering options to improve wildfire resilience.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce costs to parents related to returning to school in September 2026.

Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

As part of the government’s work to reduce child poverty and ease cost pressures on families, the department has put in place a major package to support families with back-to-school costs.

Over 3 million children from families receiving Universal Credit will now benefit from free school meals, marking a major contribution to the government’s work to lift over a half a million children out of poverty, the biggest reduction in a single Parliament since records began.

This is alongside 1400 more free breakfast clubs opening across the country, saving families up to £654 per child per year on childcare costs, and new limits on expensive branded school uniforms, which could save some families up to £50 per child on the back-to-school shop.

Families benefiting from free school meals, free breakfast clubs and cheaper uniforms could save up to £1,200 a year, while eligible working parents using government-funded childcare could save up to £8,000 a year.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will reform the EPR before the publication of the Year 2 fees issued; and revisit and lower the fees for glass by at least 75%.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is alive to the concerns of the glass industry and Ministers are working across Government to identify appropriate solutions to address pressures facing the sector.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the government is taking to ensure that that public contracts are not awarded to companies blacklisting workers.

Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010 prohibit the compilation, usage, sale or supply of blacklists of workers.

Suppliers may be excluded for blacklisting offences under the exclusion regime in the Procurement Act in certain circumstances.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress she has made on the implementation of the golden thread framework making the delivery of national sporting events such as Silverstone more streamlined and supported.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises the value and impact of the UK’s leading events industry and has committed to publishing a new cross-sectoral events strategy by spring 2027. This strategy will cover events across the arts, culture, sport and business sectors and will support an events industry that tells our national story, drives economic growth, and projects the best of the UK to the world.

The Government is also proactively engaging and convening stakeholders from across sectors and the industry. I have hosted two roundtables with industry representatives this year, which provided valuable opportunities to hear directly from the industry. This engagement brought together departments across government including Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade; Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; Home Office; Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government; Skills England and Department for Health and Social Care.

To support the development of the strategy, DCMS facilitated a workshop in Sheffield in September which was attended by 60 stakeholders from across industry bodies; events delivery organisations; arm’s length bodies; youth voice; and regional representatives.

There is also regular ongoing engagement with industry through regional and operational working groups which convene stakeholders and government departments.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to end the overselling of seats on a flight.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

UK law provides protections for passengers who are denied boarding as a result of overbooking. This includes a choice between reimbursement and re-routing, the provision of care and assistance such as meals and accommodation where required, and compensation.

As the UK aviation industry operates almost entirely in the private sector, decisions on ticket sales practices are generally a commercial matter for individual airlines. Airlines may oversell flights for a number of reasons, including to account for passengers who do not travel as booked or where operational circumstances require the use of a smaller aircraft than originally planned.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to introduce (a) a broader fast-track visa waiver programme for major sporting events and (b) an extension to the eligibility requirements for a Paid Permitted Engagement visa.

Answered by Jo White - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Standard Visitor route already has generous provisions for fans, sportspeople, and the personal and technical staff of sportspeople, coming to the UK to attend a sporting event. Non-visa nationals (such as visitors from the EU/EEA or the United States) do not require a visa to visit the UK and can travel on an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).

For those that do require a visa, the UK’s service standards for processing a visa are already among the fastest in the world and paid-for priority services are available for those who require an even faster decision.

The Standard Visitor route Permitted Paid Engagement (PPE) rules are also generous. These rules exceptionally permit professional sportspersons to be paid for carrying out an activity directly relating to their profession for the first 30 days of their visit, provided they have been invited by a sports organisation, agent, or broadcaster based in the UK.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will provide an update on recent progress on the reintroduction of keystone species like beavers.

Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra supports the reintroduction of keystone species where benefits to the environment, people and the economy are clear. Three licensed beaver wild release projects have been approved in England, with two further applications underway. Defra has approved £1m of funding for golden eagle reintroduction work and supported white-tailed eagle releases.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to scale up peatland restoration, woodland expansion and wetland recovery.

Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is investing over £1 billion in tree planting and support to the forestry sector over this parliament, as well as £85 million between 2026 and 2030 to improve and restore our peatlands, including extending the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme until March 2027.

The Environment Agency's Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative is working to restore at least 15% of saltmarsh, seagrass and native oyster reef habitats along the English coast by 2043.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to increase ranger numbers in landscapes at high‑risk to wildfires.

Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

It is crucial that we learn lessons from the 2026 wildfires and we are taking a number of steps to prepare for future wildfire seasons by strengthening coordination across Government, working closely with fire and rescue services, land managers and local authorities, and improving our understanding of wildfire risk. Our focus is on building resilience, through better prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. We recognise that rangers play an important role in managing wildfire risk, working closely with Fire and Rescue Services where needed, and ensuring staff are appropriately trained to support safe and appropriate action.

Risk ratings for quarries near legacy mine workings

Found: Tuesday 19 May 2026 Members present: Sir Alan Campbell (in the chair) Alex Barros-Curtis Markus Campbell-Savours

Found: Current membership Nick Smith (Labour; Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney) (Chair) Mr Alex Barros-Curtis (Labour