Oral Answers to Questions

Josh Dean Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2026 Commons Chamber

The hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent, representing the Restoration and Renewal Client Board, was asked—

[Josh Dean (Hertford and Stortford) (Lab)]

8. What recent progress the client board has made on consulting hon. Members on the restoration and renewal programme.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney)]

The restoration and renewal programme has engaged extensively with Members of both Houses. In this Parliament, there have been 380 interactions with MPs and peers through briefings, tours and events. The number of interactions over the past three years, since January 2023, is about 980. The client board will shortly publish a report to help us all decide on the preferred way forward.

[Josh Dean]

I thank my hon. Friend for his answer and for the board’s engagement with parliamentary colleagues. A full decant from Parliament is among the options for colleagues to consider as we restore this place—it is an option that I support—but will he set out what engagement the board has had on any plans to ensure that, if we do decant, Parliament remains in London to ensure that the jobs of the hundreds of people who keep this place running, including our catering and cleaning staff, are protected?

[Nick Smith]

After ramping up engagement on the cost information, and once the House has provided direction on the R and R programme, if we do go to full decant, the Lords will likely go to the Queen Elizabeth II centre and MPs to the northern estate. There will be ongoing work on temporary accommodation, and the related impact on jobs is for us all to consider in future.