Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Dental Act 1921 in meeting patient needs in orthodontic care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Dentists Act 1921 was repealed in full by the Dentists Act 1957, section 51 and schedule 2, which in turn was repealed by the Dentists Act 1984 , section 54 and schedule 6.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 address leasehold issues arising from probate sales of properties which did not qualify for cladding remediation support under the Building Safety Act (2022).
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There is a range of support in place for leaseholders, even those whose lease does not qualify for protection under Part 5 of the Building Safety Act 2022.
All leaseholders are also protected from cladding remediation and benefit from qualifying status on their main home. All leaseholders are protected from paying towards safety defects associated with the developer or through the developer remediation contract.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 planning to take to ensure that local residents are (a) informed and (b) consulted during the Holocaust Memorial Learning Centre (Victoria Tower Gardens) planning approval process.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Decisions on the redetermination procedure for this application, and any necessary consultation and engagement with local residents, have not yet been taken.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many full-time equivalent staff will be needed to enforce the short-term lets database.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Detailed operational requirements, including staffing levels, are being determined as part of the development process.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of using artificial intelligence in the regulatory process for short-term lets.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to being at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation across public services and regulatory processes. Decisions about which technologies, including potential AI applications, will best support the Short Term Lets registration scheme's effectiveness are being determined during the design phase. Any specific assessment of AI applications in the registration process would be a matter for DCMS as the lead department for this policy area. Public testing on the register is due to start later in 2025 and a full version of the scheme in 2026.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's consultation outcome entitled Consultation on a registration scheme for short-term lets in England, updated on 19 July 2024, when she will publish a full response to the consultation.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
DCMS has commenced the second phase of digital development, with public testing due to start in September. The full consultation response will be published alongside the necessary secondary legislation.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the tax revenue from ensuring compliance with rules on eligibility of short-term lets for business rates.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Before a short-term let can be assessed as a self-catering accommodation (short-term let) for business rates purposes it must have been available to let for at least 140 days in the past year and demonstrate at least 70 days of actual letting activity in the last year.
It is for local authorities to bill and collect business rates. The government does not make an estimate of the number of short-term lets who choose not to be assessed for business rates or do not meet these criteria. However, the government does collect data on the number of short-term lets assessed for business rates. The latest available data from March 2025 shows that there are 65,380 short-term lets assessed for business rates in England.
Where a property does not meet these criteria, it will usually be considered domestic, and liable for council tax in the same way as any other domestic property.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to resolve ongoing issues with accessing the legal aid portal.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This is an unprecedented event involving sophisticated organised crime. Every effort is being made to restore systems following the criminal attack on our services. The Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) digital services have been taken offline to negate the threat and prevent further exposure of legal aid providers and users. We will not reopen the system until the appropriate steps have been taken to enable us to do so. We have been able to return some to internal use, enabling an improved ability to support criminal legal aid applications and payments.
The Government are committed to ensuring that operational delivery of legal aid continues. We have put in place contingency plans to ensure that those most in need of legal support can continue to access the help that they need and that those providing vital legal services can be confident they will continue to receive payments whilst systems are offline.
Emergency legislation came into force on 27 June enabling the LAA to implement enhanced business continuity arrangements, including increased delegation of decision making to legal aid providers. These enhanced measures are designed to support legal aid providers and prevent a significant case backlog while contingency measures are in place.
The recent data breach is the result of serious criminal activity, but it was enabled by the fragility of the LAA’s IT systems as a result of the long years of underinvestment under the last Conservative Government. By contrast, since taking power this Government has prioritised work to reverse the damage of over a decade of under-investment. That includes the allocation of over £20 million in extra funding this year to stabilise and transform the Legal Aid Agency digital services. This investment will make the system more robust and resilient in the face of similar cyber-attacks in future.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what oversight his Department provides for investments in heat network infrastructure.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero provides capital funding for heat networks via the Green Heat Network Fund and the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme. The Department is represented on the Investment Committees for these schemes. Successful applicants must sign funding agreements with the Department which require them to provide regular monitoring and reporting updates on their projects as a condition of funding. These are the subject of regular meetings between the respective scheme delivery partners and DESNZ officials.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions he has had with Westminster City Council on upgrades to the Pimlico District Heating Undertaking.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.