Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to identify immigrants who arrive illegally on small boats.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
We collect biographic and biometric data from all those arriving illegally in the UK. Checks are then run against a range of data sources to identify relevant information.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to publish financial modelling for Essex devolution proposals, in the context of projected levels of funding gaps.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Combined County Authorities (CCA) do not replace the councils in the area – and services such as social care, libraries and education that are provided by the local authorities would continue to be provided by them. The finances of constituent members such as Essex County Council will remain separate from the proposed Greater Essex Combined County Authority.
The CCA would instead benefit from devolution of both powers and funding in the areas of transport, housing and adult skills, as well as attracting a Mayoral Capacity Fund to assist with setting up and a thirty-year Investment Fund for both revenue and capital spending.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with Essex County Council on the financial sustainability of local services under the proposed devolution deal.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Combined County Authorities (CCA) do not replace the councils in the area – and services such as social care, libraries and education that are provided by the local authorities would continue to be provided by them. The finances of constituent members such as Essex County Council will remain separate from the proposed Greater Essex Combined County Authority.
The CCA would instead benefit from devolution of both powers and funding in the areas of transport, housing and adult skills, as well as attracting a Mayoral Capacity Fund to assist with setting up and a thirty-year Investment Fund for both revenue and capital spending.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 (a) transparency and (b) local accountability in areas where local elections have been cancelled as part of planned devolution arrangements.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Accountability for decisions in all local authorities whose elections were postponed remains with the elected members, whose terms of office were extended by one year.
The government ran public consultations in the areas on the Devolution Priority Programme. We are now carefully considering the evidence collected, in order to decide whether statutory tests have been met to proceed with the legislation required to establish the proposed devolution institutions. Government will share conclusions from the consultation responses once a decision has been made.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 adequacy of the ability of (a) county and (b) unitary councils to set balanced budgets for the next financial year.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We have delivered a Settlement for 2025-26 that begins to fix the foundations of local government by providing significant investment redirecting funding towards the services and places that need it most. The Settlement makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25.
Councils are responsible for managing their budgets locally and setting a balanced budget. Any council that has concerns about its ability to set or maintain a balanced budget should approach the Ministry in the first instance where we will treat all discussions in confidence, with respect and determination to find a solution together.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help educate (a) the public and (b) landowners on their legal obligations in relation to badger protection.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Badger Persecution Priority Delivery Group, of which Defra is a member, recently re-launched its Operation Badger initiative. Operation Badger aims to increase awareness of the many types of criminal activity such as illegal trapping, poisoning, and sett disturbance that threaten badgers and to educate and encourage reporting of suspected crimes against badgers.
Advice on badger protection, legislation and planning is also available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many prosecutions have been brought for offences related to waste crime in the last five years.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the five years up to March 2025 the EA has brought 341 prosecutions against companies and individuals for waste crime offences.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
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 support leaseholders who cannot (a) sell their properties and (b) re-mortgage due to ground rent charges.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government remains firmly committed to its manifesto commitment to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and we will deliver this in legislation.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to protect leaseholders from ground rent charges.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government remains firmly committed to its manifesto commitment to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and we will deliver this in legislation.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Reform UK - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to provide long-term protections for badger populations.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 prohibits the deliberate killing, injuring or capturing of a wild badger and any interfering with badger setts; and The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 prohibits certain methods of control. Additionally, badger persecution is one of the seven UK wildlife crime priorities, and a UK Badger Persecution Priority Delivery Group is in place. This is police led and comprises a range of members including Defra who meet regularly to tackle offences such as badger baiting which is rightly illegal in this country. The government’s view is that anyone found guilty of these offences should be subject to the full force of the law.
We have also started work on a comprehensive new bovine TB eradication strategy to drive down TB rates to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods and to end the badger cull by the end of this parliament. As part of this, we have launched the first badger population survey in over a decade to estimate badger abundance and population recovery and are developing a national wildlife surveillance programme to unlock a data-driven approach to deploying TB vaccines and other eradication measures. We are also establishing a Badger Vaccinator Field Force to rapidly scale up vaccination efforts, helping to reduce TB rates and protect badgers.