Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
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 (a) publish for the purposes of public scrutiny and (b) make available to hon. Members for the purposes of parliamentary scrutiny the draft 4th edition of the Service Charge Residential Management Code prior to its formal adoption.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Responsibility for reviewing and updating the current edition of the Service Charge Management Code rests wholly with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), as owners of the Code. The Department had no role or influence in determining the composition of the expert panel or the terms of reference of the review.
A draft 4th edition of the Code was published by RICS for public consultation in April 2022, and it will be for RICS to decide if and when the 4th edition of the code is published, or subject to further scrutiny. Once the revised code is published, Ministers will decide whether or not formally to approve it, in whole or in part, using powers under Section 87 of the Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act 1993.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which teams in her Department are reviewing the draft of the 4th edition of the Service Charge Residential Management Code for (a) legal, (b) policy and (c) other considerations.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Responsibility for reviewing and updating the current edition of the Service Charge Management Code rests wholly with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), as owners of the Code. The Department had no role or influence in determining the composition of the expert panel or the terms of reference of the review.
A draft 4th edition of the Code was published by RICS for public consultation in April 2022, and it will be for RICS to decide if and when the 4th edition of the code is published, or subject to further scrutiny. Once the revised code is published, Ministers will decide whether or not formally to approve it, in whole or in part, using powers under Section 87 of the Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act 1993.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
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 provided terms of reference to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors for the review and update of the Service Charge Residential Management Code; and if she will publish the terms of reference.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Responsibility for reviewing and updating the current edition of the Service Charge Management Code rests wholly with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), as owners of the Code. The Department had no role or influence in determining the composition of the expert panel or the terms of reference of the review.
A draft 4th edition of the Code was published by RICS for public consultation in April 2022, and it will be for RICS to decide if and when the 4th edition of the code is published, or subject to further scrutiny. Once the revised code is published, Ministers will decide whether or not formally to approve it, in whole or in part, using powers under Section 87 of the Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act 1993.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
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 had discussions with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on the inclusion of service charge payer representatives on the Service Charge Residential Management Code expert panel.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Responsibility for reviewing and updating the current edition of the Service Charge Management Code rests wholly with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), as owners of the Code. The Department had no role or influence in determining the composition of the expert panel or the terms of reference of the review.
A draft 4th edition of the Code was published by RICS for public consultation in April 2022, and it will be for RICS to decide if and when the 4th edition of the code is published, or subject to further scrutiny. Once the revised code is published, Ministers will decide whether or not formally to approve it, in whole or in part, using powers under Section 87 of the Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act 1993.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
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 approved the membership of the expert panel that contributed to the draft of the fourth edition of the Service Charge Residential Management Code.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Responsibility for reviewing and updating the current edition of the Service Charge Management Code rests wholly with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), as owners of the Code. The Department had no role or influence in determining the composition of the expert panel or the terms of reference of the review.
A draft 4th edition of the Code was published by RICS for public consultation in April 2022, and it will be for RICS to decide if and when the 4th edition of the code is published, or subject to further scrutiny. Once the revised code is published, Ministers will decide whether or not formally to approve it, in whole or in part, using powers under Section 87 of the Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act 1993.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
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 had discussions with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on the composition of the Service Charge Residential Management Code expert panel.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Responsibility for reviewing and updating the current edition of the Service Charge Management Code rests wholly with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), as owners of the Code. The Department had no role or influence in determining the composition of the expert panel or the terms of reference of the review.
A draft 4th edition of the Code was published by RICS for public consultation in April 2022, and it will be for RICS to decide if and when the 4th edition of the code is published, or subject to further scrutiny. Once the revised code is published, Ministers will decide whether or not formally to approve it, in whole or in part, using powers under Section 87 of the Leasehold Reform and Urban Development Act 1993.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to improve (a) public access, (b) environmental protections and (c) biodiversity enhancement for (i) rivers, (ii) lakes and (iii) other inland waterways.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors including blue spaces for people’s health and wellbeing and is working to ensure this is safe and appropriate. We are currently developing policy working closely with key stakeholders to improve access to nature, in line with our ambitious manifesto commitments to create nine new national river walks and three new national forests in England. This includes access onto unregulated inland waterways, taking account of environmental protection and biodiversity enhancement.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which UK-based charities and organisations have lost funding as a result of reductions to the Overseas Development Assistance budget since 2024; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact on the delivery of international aid programmes.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This government remains fully committed to the UK playing a globally significant role on development; it is both in our national interest and in the interest of our partners across the globe.
Detailed decisions on how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review based on various factors including impact assessments
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase access to accredited online schools for pupils with (a) special educational needs and (b) mental health conditions who are unable to attend mainstream education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for South Cotswolds to the answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43288.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Pathways to Work Green Paper proposals on people living with (a) Multiple Sclerosis and (b) other progressive neurological conditions; and what steps she plans to take to ensure that people with fluctuating or invisible disabilities do not lose access to Personal Independence Payment or other essential support.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The proposals outlined in our Green Paper, Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working aim to make the system fit to support people who need it now and in the future. Some information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper was published alongside the Spring Statement and can be found at this link: Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK. More information on the impacts will be published in due course, a further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
With regards to the changes to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) eligibility criteria, it is important to note that the PIP assessment considers the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability, not the health condition or disability itself. Therefore, the impact of the PIP changes will depend on an individual’s circumstances.
There will be no immediate changes to PIP eligibility. Our intention is that the changes will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. For those already on PIP, the changes will only apply at their next award review. The average award review is about three years. When people are reassessed, they will be reviewed by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on their individual needs and circumstances.
We are consulting on how best to support those who are no longer eligible for PIP and linked entitlements, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met.
In the Green Paper, we also announced that we are looking at recording assessments as standard to build greater trust in the system. The aim is to create greater transparency, using recordings as a learning opportunity to consider potential improvements to the quality of the assessment process, including improving our assessment of fluctuating conditions.