Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2025 on Question 95787 on the Prime Minister, what is the estimated total departmental spend by his department to supporting the Minister for the Union in their role since the office was established.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The title of Minister for the Union has been held by the Prime Minister since its creation in 2019. Responsibility for Union policy has sat across departments (including MHCLG) and currently sits within the Cabinet Office. The Department does not currently provide any direct financial support to the Minister for the Union.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has had discussions with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on steps to maintain the security of domestic wood supply for future house building.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The UK imports c.80% of our timber. Imports will continue to play an important role in future timber supply, but the government wants to reduce them and there is an opportunity for domestic forestry and wood processing sectors to grow and thrive as a result. The proportion of softwood-producing woodland in England has risen to 10% of those planted over the last four years. We want to increase this to at least 30% and bring more hardwoods to market through increased woodland management. The government launched a Timber in Construction Roadmap on 27 February 2025. Increasing domestic timber supply is one of the key themes and the roadmap sets out actions that government and industry has committed to.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the guaranteed strike price for sustainable aviation fuel on the cost of (a) timber and (b) recyclable waste wood products for house building.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Measures introduced by the Department for Transport to support the uptake of sustainable aviation fuel do not support the use of feedstocks which are timber or could be better deployed in the production of recyclable waste wood products for house building.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether it is her policy to keep the allocations of funding set out in her Department's guidance on Levelling Up Fund Round 3: explanatory and methodology note on the decision-making process, published on 20 November 2023.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Chancellor’s July ‘Public Spending: Inheritance’ speech forecasted an overspend of £21.9 billion above limits set by the Treasury in the Spring. We understand that will have caused uncertainty about the status of some projects and the challenge that presents locally. We must, however, ensure that we are making responsible decisions on public spending. Decisions that have fallen on this government to take. In this context, the Chancellor has set out a path to confirming plans for this year and next at the forthcoming Budget on October 30th.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
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 policy paper entitled Our Long-Term Plan for Towns, published on 1 October 2023, whether it is her policy to continue the £20 million endowment-style fund for each town.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is committed to delivering growth in every corner of the country, by empowering communities to find local solutions to national priorities. However, as you will appreciate, the Government has inherited an extremely difficult fiscal environment and has a responsibility to fix the foundations of our economy, to ensure economic stability.
The department will set out further details on funding, next steps, and confirmation of the revised timelines in due course.