Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the overnight visitor levy be applied to homeless people living in hotels provided for temporary accommodation.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The visitor levy will apply to short-term, commercially let overnight accommodation. National exemptions will apply to non-commercial accommodation or land uses. This includes Gypsy, Roma and Traveller sites, temporary accommodation, and charitable accommodation for shelter or refuge.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what are the average waiting time for processing public requests at the Valuation Office Agency each year since 2015.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The current average wait time for the resolution of a Council Tax Formal band challenge is 2.7 months.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is the current average wait time for processing public requests at the Valuation Office Agency.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The current average wait time for the resolution of a Council Tax Formal band challenge is 2.7 months.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the impact of the 2022 drought on the Queen Mary, Queen Mother and Wraysbury reservoirs.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2022 the Environment Agency declared a drought in south east England. This resulted in lower than average flows in the River Thames, reducing the volumes that could be abstracted and stored in reservoirs in London, including the Queen Mary, Queen Mother and Wraysbury reservoirs.
Thames Water has said London’s total reservoir storage fell to around 58%, compared to a normal seasonal average of 75%, as a result of this reduced abstraction and higher than normal demand associated with the prolonged dry weather. The reservoirs were subsequently filled when the drought ended, recovering to normal levels over the autumn and winter period.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department's policy is on the level of growth major infrastructure projects should deliver.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government is committed to increasing the UK's long-term growth potential.
The 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy set out the government's long-term plan for economic, housing and social infrastructure to drive growth and boost living standards in every part of the UK. Backed by at least £725bn in public investment, the Strategy aims to restore confidence and drive economic growth by providing stability on funding, creating the right conditions for private sector investment and improving how infrastructure projects are planned and delivered.
The National Infrastructure & Service Transformation Authority (NISTA’s Infrastructure Pipeline (currently covering 700+ projects and around £718bn of public and private investment) provides a 10-year view of UK infrastructure investment, translating commitments into deliverable programmes and supporting planning for skills, capacity and private investment across the infrastructure system. planning for skills, capacity and private investment across the infrastructure system.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department's policy is on providing support for infrastructure projects that have a negative net present value in their appraisals.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government published a new version of the Green Book in February. This ensures that government decisions are no longer based solely on single metrics, such as benefit-cost ratios or net present social values. They must instead take into account the full range of economic and social impacts that arise from the project.
The new Green Book makes clear that a proposal with a benefit-cost ratio of less than one (i.e. a negative net present social value) may still represent value for money. This may be the case, for instance, if the project has significant benefits that cannot be expressed in monetary terms and which therefore cannot be included in a benefit-cost ratio.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment was made of the relative requirements of the Lee Valley reservoirs compared with the Northern Lower Thames reservoirs in times of drought in 2022.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2022 the Environment Agency declared a drought in south east England. This resulted in lower than average flows in the River Thames, reducing the volumes that could be abstracted and stored in reservoirs in London, including the Queen Mary, Queen Mother and Wraysbury reservoirs.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of (a) the daily quantity of raw water that the Teddington Direct River Abstraction Scheme would supply to reservoirs for onward transport to water treatment works, and (b) what the percentage of the total daily raw water demand required by London’s water treatment plants would be supplied by the Teddington Direct River Abstraction Scheme.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The proposed Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA) supplies 67Ml/d during droughts. London’s water use is just under 2000Ml/d. Therefore, TDRA contributes just over 3% of Thames Water’s total demand in London and is needed to provide drought resilience to supply.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what level of public subsidy she is willing to provide to support expansion at Heathrow.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has been clear that Heathrow expansion should be privately financed. It is for promoters of expansion to bring forward detailed proposals, including the costs and financing arrangements for their schemes. We will continue to assess issues of affordability and financeability as part of our wider consideration of any future proposals, while ensuring that taxpayers' interests are protected.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what are the average wait times for processing probates at the Probate Office each year since 2015.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes regular data on probate timeliness and open caseload in the quarterly Family Court Statistics bulletin, available at: Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK.
Published data on probate timeliness by application type are available from Q3 2019 to Q1 2026. HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not hold equivalent data for the period from Q1 2015 to Q1 2019. While an overall timeliness figure is available for Q2 2019, data disaggregated by application type is not available. Consequently, a complete annual figure for 2019 cannot be provided.