Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions her Department has had with regulators and industry on modernising the financial infrastructure related to property transactions.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government regularly engages with lenders and regulators to discuss the housing market, including lenders’ mortgage lending practices which support property transactions.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is currently consulting on reforms to the home buying and selling process. The Government has made clear its objectives that reform should support faster, more reliable transactions and reduced fall throughs and risks.

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 ensure a regular supply of tomatoes in the UK.

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

The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with any potential disruption. Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes.

Defra works with industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains. The UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade, and recent developments.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to test digital transaction flows in the home-buying process from upfront information to settlement and title registration.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

On 6 October, my Department published two consultations outlining reform proposals to transform home buying and selling. They can be found on gov.uk here and here.

As part of those consultations, we made clear our interest in ensuring digital data from trustworthy sources could be shared securely between professionals using data standards and trust frameworks.

The consultations closed on 29 December 2025. We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response shortly including any plans for trials or testing with the sector.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to establish accreditation for digital platforms in the property market that are capable of providing verified property data, secure settlement and automated registration of home sales and purchases.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

On 6 October, my Department published two consultations outlining reform proposals to transform home buying and selling. They can be found on gov.uk here and here.

As part of those consultations, we made clear our interest in ensuring digital data from trustworthy sources could be shared securely between professionals using data standards and trust frameworks.

The consultations closed on 29 December 2025. We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response shortly including any plans for trials or testing with the sector.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure home buyers and sellers are protected through the expansion of digital conveyancing, particularly in terms of data verification, property information and the security of settlement funds.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

On 6 October, my Department published two consultations outlining reform proposals to transform home buying and selling. They can be found on gov.uk here and here.

As part of those consultations, we made clear our interest in ensuring digital data from trustworthy sources could be shared securely between professionals using data standards and trust frameworks.

The consultations closed on 29 December 2025. We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response shortly including any plans for trials or testing with the sector.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress HM Land Registry has made in digitising the land register.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Title (Land) Register consists of information held in a variety of formats, including paper documents, scanned images, and digital images.

HM Land Registry (HMLR) is committed to digitising its data, while ensuring that data security, integrity and privacy remain paramount.

Work is underway in three key areas to transform HMLR's register information into a fully digitised format:

1. Digitising paper documents integral to the Register, such as Leases and Conveyances, making them accessible and easier to manage.
2. Converting existing computerised data into a machine-interpretable format, facilitating seamless integration with modern digital systems.
3. Converting spatial data into an open and shareable format, making spatial information more accessible and useful for HMLR's stakeholders.

HMLR's longer term plans will integrate all its digitised information into a geospatial and fully digital Land Register that allows vital property information to be shared as spatial data. HMLR's Strategy 2025+, which is available on gov.uk here, sets out further details around its plans to support the property market and beyond with its data.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to tackle vulnerabilities in property transactions, particularly in the handling and movement of large sums during settlement, in the Economic Crime Plan.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government’s Economic Crime Plan 2 has strengthened the UK’s defences against property‑related money laundering by enhancing transparency of land and overseas property ownership, improving data‑sharing and enforcement, and targeting higher‑risk activity in the property sector to better detect, disrupt and recover illicit assets.

The government’s Money Laundering Regulations ensure that those sectors most at risk of being abused for money laundering have appropriate risk-based controls in place. The regulations apply to all financial, legal and estate agency firms involved in property transactions, whether directly with the purchase, securing the funds, or setting up structures to hold property.

The government intends to develop a new public-private strategy focused on anti-money laundering and asset recovery in the coming months.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with regulators and industry on updating the financial infrastructure that underpins the movement of funds during property transactions.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government regularly engages with lenders and regulators to discuss the housing market, including lenders’ mortgage lending practices which support property transactions.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is currently consulting on reforms to the home buying and selling process. The Government has made clear its objectives that reform should support faster, more reliable transactions and reduced fall throughs and risks.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of fragmented payment processes in property transactions on levels of fraud risk.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government regularly engages with lenders and regulators to discuss the housing market, including lenders’ mortgage lending practices which support property transactions.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is currently consulting on reforms to the home buying and selling process. The Government has made clear its objectives that reform should support faster, more reliable transactions and reduced fall throughs and risks.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the Problem Gambling Severity Index score for players of (a) The National Lottery, (b) Society Lotteries, and (c) instant win scratch cards.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government is committed to tackling gambling-related harm. DCMS regularly reviews the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) from the Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey of Great Britain and uses it as one of a range of sources of evidence.

In 2024, the proportion of National Lottery players who experienced ‘problem gambling’ (a PGSI score of 8+) is 3.9% for draw games, 9.5% for instant win games, and 7.9% for scratchcards.

The rate of Society Lottery PGSI 8+ scores is 4.9%.

The rate of non-National Lottery scratchcards PGSI 8+ is 14.5%.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Voluntary Code for Prize Draws, updated on 17 December 2025, what steps his Department is taking to monitor compliance among operators.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Voluntary Code for prize draw operators was launched on 20 November 2025. The Code aims to raise standards in the sector in the distinct areas of player protections, transparency, and accountability. Signatories have until 20 May 2026 to comply with the Code.

The Government’s focus is on the successful implementation and adoption of the Voluntary Code, with operator signatories required to regularly review their compliance and swiftly rectify any issues if necessary. The Department will work closely with the sector on this during the implementation phase and periodically review the effectiveness of the Code and compliance to ensure that it is fit for purpose.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential savings to the public purse of reducing the annual expenditure by HM Land Registry on requisitions arising from manual or inconsistent submissions; and what the planned role is of property sector digitalisation in helping to achieve those savings.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

For the year ending 31 March 2025, HM Land Registry (HMLR) estimated it had nearly 450,000 avoidable requisitions costing the conveyancing industry and HMLR up to £19m annually.

HMLR is supporting the conveyancing industry to improve the quality of its applications through a number of measures:

1. Using technology to validate data supplied in applications pre-submission;
2. Providing avoidable requisition data to conveyancers to understand the error and correct these errors prior to submission to HMLR; and
3. Extensive training and engagement activities with the property sector.

HMLR has been sharing avoidable requisition data with conveyancers for the last six months and since December 2025 HM Land Registry has published avoidable requisition data on gov.uk here. This has resulted in over 29% of law firms reducing their avoidable requisition rate and 20% now have an avoidable requisition rate under 1%.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) name, (b) job title, (c) annual remuneration, (d) time commitment and (e) expected end date is for each direct ministerial appointment in his Department.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Details of each direct ministerial appointment currently in post can be found in the below table. Details of appointees renumeration have been included where they are paid for their work directly.