Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of private sector rent controls on housing supply.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 78220 on 20 October 2025.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that imported eggs meet the same food safety standards as eggs produced by UK farmers.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Eggs exported to Great Britain must comply with our strict food safety rules in line with domestic import legislation. Imported consignments must be accompanied by official veterinary export health certificates, which include food safety attestations.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to integrate sector-specific skills training pathways into core Jobcentre Plus support services.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP is integrating skills support into core Jobcentre Plus services by enabling Work Coaches to identify claimants’ skills gaps and refer jobseekers to provision aligned with labour market demand, including Sector-based Work Academy Programmes, Skills Bootcamps, apprenticeships, local training provision and work experience placements. This is being strengthened through the Government’s reforms to Jobcentre Plus and the development of the new Jobs and Careers Service, with closer alignment between employment support, careers advice and locally available skills provision. Jobcentres also work with employers, colleges, training providers and local partners to help ensure support reflects local and sectoral skills needs.
Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) play a key role in delivering sector-specific skills pathways through Jobcentre Plus. SWAPs are developed with employers and training providers to meet recruitment needs in sectors experiencing demand, including health and social care, construction, logistics, hospitality, security and the public sector. Participants receive sector-specific pre-employment training alongside a work experience placement and a guaranteed job interview, or support through an employer's recruitment process. This approach enables customers to develop the skills, knowledge and experience required for vacancies within a particular sector, while recognising and building on transferable skills to support people to move into new sectors and develop new career pathways. The programme also helps employers access a pipeline of job-ready candidates.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
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 under the Leasehold and Freehold Reform framework to regulate transparency in property management service charges.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 15 July 2026 (HCWS270).
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with the Competition and Markets Authority on the potential impact of regulatory compliance costs on market entry for small businesses.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Secretary of State has not had any recent discussions with the Competition and Markets Authority regarding the potential impact of regulatory compliance costs on market entry for small businesses. Ministers and officials regularly engage with the CMA on various topics, including the role of regulation in supporting growth.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the viability of establishing a statutory worker buy-out framework.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the important role that employee ownership and co-operative business models can play in supporting business succession and growth.
Our call for evidence on business support for co-operatives and non-financial mutuals sought to gather evidence, including on barriers affecting business conversion and mutualisation. The Government response to this Call for Evidence will be published shortly.
We will continue to consider all options which can help ensure the policy and regulatory environment can best support businesses seeking to transition to employee and worker ownership.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of restructuring policy levies on domestic energy bills on household disposable incomes.
Answered by Polly Billington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Tackling affordability is this Government’s number one priority. At the Budget on 28 October, the Government announced a new Cost Control Framework to be introduced at Spending Review 2027. Until that framework is in place, no further policy costs will be placed on energy bills unless they bring bills down or are essential to maintaining security of supply. The planned levy on gas bills to fund hydrogen will be scrapped, so the Government rather than consumers fund the costs of hydrogen projects.
This comes on top of the £150 of costs removed from bills at last year's Budget by scrapping ECO and moving 75% of the Renewables Obligation levy to the Exchequer, with these actions factored into bills until April 2029.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of introducing debt-leverage restrictions on private sector investment in regulated infrastructure.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the importance of maintaining an attractive investment environment for regulated infrastructure while ensuring that companies operate on a financially resilient basis.
Requirements relating to company financing are determined through the relevant statutory and sector-specific regulatory frameworks. My Department has made no recent assessment of the potential impact of introducing economy-wide debt-leverage restrictions on private sector investment in regulated infrastructure.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of introducing dividend distribution limits on private sector investment in regulated infrastructure.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the important role private investment plays in delivering and maintaining the UK’s regulated infrastructure. Regulatory frameworks are kept under review to ensure they support investment, protect consumers and promote long-term resilience.
My Department has made no recent assessment of the potential impact of introducing economy-wide dividend-distribution limits on private sector investment in regulated infrastructure.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of penalising non-ready infrastructure projects on electricity grid queue clearance rates under the Connections Action Plan.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department has taken forward reforms to the grid connections process, removing over 300GW of project capacity from the main queue that was no longer progressing or was not required to meet the system’s needs by 2035.
Projects are required to meet ongoing progression milestones, such as securing planning consent, to retain their connection agreements with confirmed connection point and date. This supports a more efficient connections process and enables viable projects to progress more quickly.