Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she intends to publish an answer to Question 118227, tabled on 5 March 2026, on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Secondment.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

An answer to Question 118227 was published on 16 April 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is still working towards the Smokefree 2030 ambition for England.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government’s ambition is to deliver a smoke-free United Kingdom, and we are going even further than the smoke-free 2030 target.

The landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill will create the first smoke-free generation which is expected to help reduce smoking rates of 14- to 30-year-olds to near zero by 2050.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department has issued on the use of merit order when using a reserve list for the appointment of a (a) Cabinet Secretary and (b) Permanent Secretary.

Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles set out rules on reserve list appointments (here, page 5). This applies to all appointments, and there is no separate guidance for appointment of a Cabinet Secretary or Permanent Secretaries.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the pavement licenses on the hospitality industry for each of the last two years.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

In October 2025, the Government launched a call for evidence seeking views on the recommendations from the report of the Licensing Taskforce. This shaped the development of the National Licensing Policy Framework published in November 2025. We will continue to work with a wide range of stakeholders, including local authorities, police and residents, to take forward the recommendations made by the Taskforce including around pavement licences.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made a formal assessment of the impact of the pavement licensing regime on the hospitality industry.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

In October 2025, the Government launched a call for evidence seeking views on the recommendations from the report of the Licensing Taskforce. This shaped the development of the National Licensing Policy Framework published in November 2025. We will continue to work with a wide range of stakeholders, including local authorities, police and residents, to take forward the recommendations made by the Taskforce including around pavement licences.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent changes to the treatment of pensions within inheritance tax on the adequacy of the current timeframe for the payment of inheritance tax.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The changes to the inheritance tax treatment of pensions are consistent with the process which already exists for administering estates and paying any tax due. Personal representatives are already responsible for administering the rest of the estate, including non-discretionary pension schemes which are already in scope of inheritance tax.

The Government recognises the general difficulties that some personal representatives may face in paying the inheritance tax due and already offers several payment options to help.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 1 April 2026 to Question 120397 on Police: Elections, whether her Department collates and holds such contact details for each police force.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office remains firmly committed to protecting elected representatives and those standing for election.

The Home Office does not routinely collate or hold contact details for individual police forces. MPs can access the contact details for their relevant Operation Bridger coordinator via ParliNet.

In an emergency, elected representatives or candidates are advised to call 999 and reference Operation Bridger for MPs, or Operation Ford for locally elected representatives or those standing for local election.

For non‑emergency incidents, reports should be made to the police via 101 or through the online reporting system, again referencing Operation Bridger or Operation Ford as appropriate. This ensures that the relevant Bridger coordinators and/or Ford officers are able to follow up on reported incidents.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that historic communications and reasonable expectations of pension scheme members are reflected in trustee governance and decision-making.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Pensions Regulator has published guidance on trustee duties and expects trustees, when considering discretionary benefit increases, to assess whether doing so would be in members’ interests, including any consistent history or practice of making such awards.

DWP’s recent consultation, “Trust based pension schemes: Trustees and governance, building a stronger future” sought views on ensuring that trustee boards take into account the perspectives of members in their decision making. We are currently analysing responses to the consultation.

Question

To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2026 to Question 118900 on Polling Stations: Religious Buildings, what advice the Electoral Commission has issued on whether (a) synagogues and (b) mosques are deemed accessible.

Answered by Jeremy Wright

The Commission provides guidance to Returning Officers on identifying suitable polling station venues. This includes evaluating the suitability of the polling stations that are available for use in the appropriate electoral areas.

The Commission has recently drawn Returning Officers’ attention to existing security guidance. It also provides accessibility guidance, which outlines the actions Returning Officers should take when assessing the accessibility of venues, including ensuring venues have sufficient space for voting to take place, and considering which equipment may be necessary to support voters, such as ramps or temporary floor coverings.

Question

To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2026 to Question 118899 on Elections: Campaigns, whether the Electoral Commission has made an assessment whether an imprint in a foreign language is accessible and legible to electors who only speak and read English.

Answered by Jeremy Wright

The Electoral Commission has not made such an assessment.

There are no requirements in law on the language of imprints. Campaigners may wish to produce campaign material in other languages to reach voters whose first language is not English. The purpose of an imprint is to ensure that voters seeing the material, know who is responsible for it. Providing an imprint in the same language as the campaign material would be one way to ensure transparency for those voters that the material is targeting.

Question

To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, whether there is a memorandum of understanding between the Electoral Commission and the House of Commons on the reporting and enforcement regime for political donations for hon. Members.

Answered by Jeremy Wright

The Electoral Commission has a memorandum of understanding with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, which outlines how the two reporting regimes operate in a way which reduces the administrative burden on MPs. The Commission regularly reviews how the regimes operate and makes recommendations to Parliament to ensure the systems work effectively together and minimise the administrative burden on parliamentarians.

Question

To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2026 to Question 118895 on Political Parties: Finance, what guidance the Electoral Commission has provided to Members’ Associations on how sponsorship revenue deemed to be as a commercial transaction should be treated under donation reporting requirements.

Answered by Jeremy Wright

Commercial transactions may be sponsorship, if the purpose of the payment can reasonably be seen to be to help the members association meet the costs of an event, publication, or research study. For example, a payment for advertising at an event run by a members association would be sponsorship and the full amount must be treated as a donation.

The Commission will publish updated guidance on sponsorship shortly.

Question

To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2026 to Question 118900 on Polling Stations: Religious Buildings, whether the Electoral Commission holds any data on the number of polling stations located in (a) synagogues and (b) mosques.

Answered by Jeremy Wright

Individual local authorities are responsible for designating polling places. The Electoral Commission does not hold a central list of polling stations.

Question

To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, whether there is a memorandum of understanding between the Electoral Commission and the Metropolitan Police on electoral law enforcement.

Answered by Jeremy Wright

The Electoral Commission does not have a memorandum of understanding with the Metropolitan Police. It works closely with police forces to support them in their understanding of electoral law.