Asked by: Lee Barron (Labour - Corby and East Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department will release guidance on Swift Bricks for new build properties.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Planning Practice Guidance setting out how swift bricks are expected to be used in new developments can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Lee Barron (Labour - Corby and East Northamptonshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many British citizens resident in the UAE have returned to the UK since the beginning of the war on Iran.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Lee Barron (Labour - Corby and East Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the temporary removal of tariffs on egg imports from Ukraine on UK egg producers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under our Free Trade Agreement with Ukraine, tariffs on all goods are temporarily removed until March 2029, except for poultry and eggs, where the liberalisation is due to end on 31 March 2028 following the two-year extension announced on 19 January 2026.
Asked by: Lee Barron (Labour - Corby and East Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the rationale for requiring separate applications for a Health and Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney and a Property and Financial Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney, where both powers are granted to the same individual.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) allows a person (the donor) to choose people they trust (the attorney) to make decisions for them should they lose the mental capacity to make their own decisions. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 provides the legal framework for LPAs, one for Property and Financial Affairs and one for Health and Welfare, reflecting their different scopes and use.
While donors often appoint the same attorney for both, the instruments remain separate to avoid confusion arising from the differing points to which each LPA can be used and ensures donors can make clear, informed decisions about each type of power. The Health and Welfare LPA may also contain sensitive health information which is not relevant for Property and Financial Affairs decisions. There were consultations in 2012 and 2013 which included proposals for a combined form but, in line with the responses, the Department did not proceed with this idea.
Asked by: Lee Barron (Labour - Corby and East Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to consult with communities on the use of Pride in Place funding in Corby and East Northamptonshire constituency.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh
The community will decide how to invest £20m of Pride in Place funding in Corby Kingswood. A Neighbourhood Board made up of local people will come up with an investment plan for the future of their area.
This plan must evidence how they have consulted the wider community and we are bringing forward £150,000 of funding so they can get started now.
Asked by: Lee Barron (Labour - Corby and East Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when his Department will publish the conclusions of the consultation on the regulation of the debt enforcement sector.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
People in debt deserve to be treated fairly. That is why the Government is supporting the Enforcement Conduct Board’s work to make sure anyone facing enforcement action is treated fairly. We will respond to our consultation about regulation of the enforcement sector soon, which forms part of our wider work to build a more sustainable enforcement sector for everyone.
Asked by: Lee Barron (Labour - Corby and East Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish monthly data from the Capacity Tracker on the number of returned care packages, by (a) NHS-funded and (b) Local Authority-funded recipients.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since January 2025, we have hosted a survey on the Capacity Tracker which has collected information on a voluntary basis from both care home and home care provider locations regarding their handing back of local authority or National Health Service funded packages of care. We are considering how this information might best be shared publicly in a way that provides insights that are as accurate and useful as possible for the sector. We do not yet have an intended publication date.
Asked by: Lee Barron (Labour - Corby and East Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if her Department will issue guidance on a reasonable timeframe for the (a) construction and (b) completion of an energy recovery facility with a capacity of 350,000 tonnes per year following the granting of planning permission.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
All full planning permissions for development, including waste to energy development, are required to be commenced within three years of the grant of permission (unless the local planning authority sets a different time period.)
Further guidance on this commencement condition can be found in the Use of Planning Conditions section of my Department's Planning Practice Guidance.
My Department does not publish guidance on the reasonable timeframe for the completion of developments.
Asked by: Lee Barron (Labour - Corby and East Northamptonshire)
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 plans to introduce greater flexibility in the National Planning Policy Framework to support small almshouse charities in building affordable homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 31178 on 24 February 2025.
Asked by: Lee Barron (Labour - Corby and East Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support sugar beet growers.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
contribution to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production.
We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. Government uses the UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group to understand economic relationships in the sugar sector and maintains a regular dialogue with key stakeholders in the industry to remain up to date on concerns of sugar beet growers. These allow Government to collect both data and industry intelligence on the agricultural sectors, including sugar, to understand any challenges being faced.
To date the Farming Innovation Programme (FIP) has awarded over £64 million in funding to support 105 wider broadacre sector projects. These include a project focused on developing a long-term solution to combat virus yellows, a disease transmitted by aphids that threatens English sugar beet crops. A range of the other FIP projects could have outcomes that can be applied to sugar beet production, as may projects supported by the £47 million available for Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF).