Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing Post Office branches with business rates support equivalent to that announced for pubs, social clubs and live music venues.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Government recognises the vital role that post offices play in supporting local high streets and communities, including by helping to sustain local economic activity.
In recognition of the impact of the 2026 revaluation on bills, the Government has introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion, to protect against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills.
The Government has already started the work of reforming our business rates system by introducing new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new multipliers provide nearly £1 billion per year of support and benefit over 750,000 properties.
The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events, and does not routinely comment on proposals.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has considered the contribution that post offices make to footfall and spending in nearby businesses when determining eligibility for targeted business rates relief.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Government recognises the vital role that post offices play in supporting local high streets and communities, including by helping to sustain local economic activity.
In recognition of the impact of the 2026 revaluation on bills, the Government has introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion, to protect against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills.
The Government has already started the work of reforming our business rates system by introducing new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new multipliers provide nearly £1 billion per year of support and benefit over 750,000 properties.
The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events, and does not routinely comment on proposals.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate the Government has made of the cost of exempting Post Office branches in England from business rates.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Government recognises the vital role that post offices play in supporting local high streets and communities, including by helping to sustain local economic activity.
In recognition of the impact of the 2026 revaluation on bills, the Government has introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion, to protect against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills.
The Government has already started the work of reforming our business rates system by introducing new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new multipliers provide nearly £1 billion per year of support and benefit over 750,000 properties.
The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events, and does not routinely comment on proposals.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Home Office’s planning application for asylum accommodation at Site A, MOD Bicester, if she will clarify which specific statutory procedure under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is being used.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Home Office's application has been made under the Urgent Crown Development procedure as at sections 293B to 293C of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
The procedure is governed by the Town and Country Planning (Crown Development) (Urgent Applications) (Procedure) (England) Order 2025.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment has been made of the classification of new planning applications for data centres under Class B8 (Storage or Distribution).
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has made no such assessment.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many full-time equivalent schoolteachers there were in (a) 2025 and (b) 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Recruiting and retaining expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child, as high-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child’s outcomes.
In November 2025, there were 466,400 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, compared with 468,300 in 2024. The change in teacher FTE is in line with changes to pupil numbers, with falling rolls in primary schools. Pupil to teacher ratios have remained broadly stable at 17.9 in 2025 compared to 18.0 in 2024.
In February, we published our delivery plan, which sets how we will recruit 6,500 secondary, special school and FE teachers over the course of this parliament. Our delivery approach is focused on three key themes – attracting, retaining and developing teachers – to ensure we have enough highly-skilled teachers in our schools and colleges to allow every child to achieve and thrive. We are recruiting these additional teachers where need is greatest. Changing demographics means our greatest needs are in mainstream secondary schools, special schools and further education colleges. We have achieved 71.6% of the 6,500 target: there are 4,654 more teachers; 3,008 more teachers in Secondary and Special Schools in 2025/26 and 1,646 more teachers in Further Education, than in 2024/25.
The latest School Workforce Census reported the lowest leaver rate (8.5%) in any year outside the pandemic and teacher vacancies decreased to 1,600 in November 2025, down from 2,200 in November 2024.
The number of teachers returning to classrooms is continuing to rise. Latest figures reported 17,700 returners, continuing the increasing trend seen in the past four years.
Our school teacher pipeline is also growing. There were 32,576 new entrants to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in Autumn 2025, up 13% from the previous year.
Primary and nursery schools saw a 2,900 decrease in teachers from 2024/25 to 2025/26. However, primary pupil numbers have fallen by 172,000 since 2019 and are expected to continue falling until at least 2030 which is why we did not include primary schools in the 6,500 teacher pledge. We are targeting workforce growth in mainstream secondary schools, special schools and FE colleges where they are most needed.
We are also seeing strong growth where there have been shortages. Last year we saw a 13% increase in new entrants to teacher training, including a 37% increase in Physics entrants, recruiting 78% of the target. This is the highest number of Physics entrants since comparable statistics began in 2014/15.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
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 risks to leaseholders in circumstances where a freeholder becomes insolvent and building safety remediation costs remain outstanding or unfunded.
Answered by Samantha Dixon
The Department recognises the difficulties freeholder insolvency can cause for leaseholders, especially where building safety risks are present.
In 11m+ residential buildings, developers can still be held responsible via the developer remediation contract and both developers and former owners can be pursued through a remediation contribution order.
Government funding is provided for cladding remediation works and in some circumstances applications may be made for these funds even after a freeholder has become insolvent.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
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 impact of proposals to cap ground rents on the ability of professional freeholders to fund or oversee building safety remediation works.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 27 January 2026 (HCWS1278) and to Annex 5 of the Impact Assessment for the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill which can be found here.
The government is investing £5.2 billion to remove unsafe cladding, with industry funding the remainder through measures including the building safety levy.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
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 impact of the proposals in the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill on the delivery and funding of building safety remediation programmes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 27 January 2026 (HCWS1278) and to Annex 5 of the Impact Assessment for the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill which can be found here.
The government is investing £5.2 billion to remove unsafe cladding, with industry funding the remainder through measures including the building safety levy.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
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 has assessed the potential risks to leaseholders arising from freeholder insolvencies that may result from ground rent reform.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 27 January 2026 (HCWS1278) and to Annex 5 of the Impact Assessment for the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill which can be found here.
The government is investing £5.2 billion to remove unsafe cladding, with industry funding the remainder through measures including the building safety levy.