Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support is available to small businesses affected by changes in Small Business Rate Relief.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Every three years, all commercial properties are revalued by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). The 2026 revaluation, which will take effect from April 2026, will update RVs and may, therefore, affect businesses’ eligibility for SBRR. The revaluation process is ongoing and the VOA are required to publish a draft of all properties’ new RVs this year.
Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) is available to businesses with a single property below a set rateable value. Eligible properties under £12,000 will receive 100 per cent relief, which means over a third of properties in England (more than 700,000) pay no business rates at all. There is also tapered support available to properties valued between £12,000 and £15,000, benefitting an additional c.60,000 properties.
The government is committed to retaining SBRR, which is a permanent relief set down in legislation. As highlighted in the Transforming Business Rates Discussion Paper, the Government is interested in hearing stakeholders’ views on the extent to which the current system acts as a barrier to investment and specifically, whether the current eligibility criteria for SBRR impacts businesses' incentives to invest and expand into a second property.
The Government will publish an interim report that sets out a clear direction of travel for the business rates system, with further policy detail to follow at Budget 2025.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timeline is for introducing legislation to prohibit the import of hunting trophies.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to banning the import of hunting trophies from species of conservation concern. Timeframes for introducing legislation will be provided once there is sufficient clarity on the Parliamentary timetable.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when his Department plans to respond to the consultation entitled Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes: 2025 update, published on 7 February 2025.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government’s recent consultation on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards in the domestic private rented sector closed on 2nd May and we are currently analysing responses. A Government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to review existing workplace temperature guidance; and if she will take legislative steps to set a maximum working temperature to protect employees’ (a) health and (b) safety.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to ensuring workplaces are safe in the modern world and in our Next Steps to Make Work Pay publication, we committed to look at how to modernise health and safety guidance for extreme temperatures. As part of this, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is reviewing the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) for the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 to ensure it is fit for purpose for a modern workplace.
HSE will be consulting on review of the ACOP and there will be an opportunity to respond in due course.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to review the range of season and flexible ticket options available to commuters when rail services are brought into public ownership, to better accommodate hybrid working patterns.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are overhauling the complex fares and ticketing system to make it easier for passengers to trust that they are buying the right ticket and getting the best fare, with the move to Great British Railways (GBR) enabling passengers to receive a more consistent offer across the network.
We need to balance affordability for both passengers and taxpayers as we reform fares and deliver GBR, ensuring everyone gets a fair deal. Delivering better quality services, and increased reliability of trains, alongside a clearer fares offer will ensure an enhanced passenger experience.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
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 ensure that local authorities are correctly implementing the council tax premium on second homes.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The second homes council tax premiums is not a mandatory requirement, and it is for individual councils to decide whether to make use of a premium. However, where councils apply a premium, they are required to implement this in line with the relevant regulations. Furthermore, the government has published guidance for councils on the implementation of premiums and exceptions. Councils must have due regard for this guidance when considering application of the premium.
Where a household believes their council has incorrectly applied the premium, they may be able to appeal this to the Valuation Tribunal in certain circumstances.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
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 protect nature in the design of new build housing developments.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework is clear about the importance of conserving and enhancing the natural environment.
Planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by minimising impacts on and providing net gains for biodiversity, including by establishing coherent ecological networks that are more resilient to current and future pressures and incorporating features which support priority or threatened species such as swifts, bats, and hedgehogs.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to grant local authorities greater flexibility in setting school term dates.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Local authorities already have responsibility for setting term dates for schools where they are the employer, including community schools, community special schools, voluntary controlled schools, pupil referral units and maintained nursery schools. These will be set in line with the requirements set out in the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle the challenges that medical graduates face in securing positions within medical specialty training programmes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure that patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.
We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the National Health Service in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timeline is for the roll-out of the new pet passport scheme.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
We have agreed to establish a UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Zone, which will mean taking pets on holiday into the EU will be easier and cheaper.
Instead of getting an animal health certificate each time you travel, you will be able to get a multiuse pet passport valid for travel to the EU.
It’s important that we get the right agreement for the UK, so we’re not putting an arbitrary deadline on negotiations. We will provide more information on pet passports valid for travel to the EU in due course.