Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether the Government will ensure that at least 30% of the future International Climate Finance commitment will be allocated to supporting nature’s recovery.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We are delivering on our current International Climate Finance commitment of £11.6 billion over five years from 2021/22 to 2025/26, including at least £3 billion to be spent on development solutions that protect and restore nature. The recently published Development White Paper includes a commitment to work globally to improve the quantity, quality and accessibility of climate and nature finance. Our own future funding commitments beyond 2025/26 will be agreed through the spending review process.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the next round of International Climate Finance from April 2026 has already been allocated under future spending plans.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The next round of International Climate Finance falls outside of this Spending Review period. Decisions on how spending is allocated after 2024-25, including for International Climate Finance, will be made at a future Spending Review.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) his Department's budget for and (b) the amount spent on the planting of trees was in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Data on tree-specific funding is only available from 2020, when the Nature for Climate Tree Programme was established. Since then, Defra has had a capital spend (CDEL) of £232 million on planting trees in England.
The planting of trees has also been funded by Countryside Stewardship payments. Since 2016, £120 million has been claimed planting and managing trees and for managing and enhancing woodlands.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make a comparative assessment between the adequacy of his Department's funding for economic development in the Canary Wharf area and (a) Chesterfield Borough Council and (b) Derbyshire County Council.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Homes England is tasked with accelerating house building and regeneration in all areas of the country.
Selection criteria include value for money for the taxpayer, the potential for early delivery, clear local support, and projects that support policy priorities such as brownfield development, diversification, and innovation. All investments are made following a thorough due diligence and approval process to ensure value for money for taxpayers. Fuller details of selection criteria can be found here.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of applicants to the Landscape Recovery scheme were entering land on which they are (a) tenants and (b) owners.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Landscape Recovery offers farmers and land managers the opportunity to co-design a bespoke, long-term agreement to produce environmental and climate goods whilst supporting environmentally sustainable domestic food production across landscape-scale projects.
Landscape Recovery Round 1 supports 22 projects. Project areas range between 500 and 5,000 hectares, covering a total of over 40,000 hectares. Round 2 is expected to support 34 projects, covering a total of over 200,000 hectares. Rounds 1 and 2 include over 250 and over 700 land managers, respectively. The majority of projects currently in Round 1 involve at least one tenant, and it is expected that over three quarters of Round 2 projects will include tenants. We want to make Landscape Recovery work in a range of contexts, especially where there is a diversity of land managers. We are closely monitoring how the scheme works for tenants in light of the findings and recommendations of the Rock Review.
We have a legal duty to assess the impact of all our Environmental Land Management schemes, including Landscape Recovery, on food production. All Landscape Recovery projects are required to assess their impact on food production in detail during the project development phase. We also introduced a food production criterion at the application phase in Round 2, through which we assessed how bidders were taking into consideration food production in their plans, mitigating any negative impact where possible and supporting sustainable food production.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of hectares of land managed by each applicant to the Landscape Recovery scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Landscape Recovery offers farmers and land managers the opportunity to co-design a bespoke, long-term agreement to produce environmental and climate goods whilst supporting environmentally sustainable domestic food production across landscape-scale projects.
Landscape Recovery Round 1 supports 22 projects. Project areas range between 500 and 5,000 hectares, covering a total of over 40,000 hectares. Round 2 is expected to support 34 projects, covering a total of over 200,000 hectares. Rounds 1 and 2 include over 250 and over 700 land managers, respectively. The majority of projects currently in Round 1 involve at least one tenant, and it is expected that over three quarters of Round 2 projects will include tenants. We want to make Landscape Recovery work in a range of contexts, especially where there is a diversity of land managers. We are closely monitoring how the scheme works for tenants in light of the findings and recommendations of the Rock Review.
We have a legal duty to assess the impact of all our Environmental Land Management schemes, including Landscape Recovery, on food production. All Landscape Recovery projects are required to assess their impact on food production in detail during the project development phase. We also introduced a food production criterion at the application phase in Round 2, through which we assessed how bidders were taking into consideration food production in their plans, mitigating any negative impact where possible and supporting sustainable food production.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hectares of trees have been planted in each year since 2005.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Forestry Commission produces a time series of statistics on all new planting of woodland for the UK. These can be found in Forestry Statistics on the Forest Research website. These statistics are reported for each financial year in thousands of hectares. The latest available figures are for 2022-23 published in September 2023.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who will have access to information on the Privately Rented Property Portal; and whether he plans to take steps to protect the privacy of tenants’ information stored on the Privately Rented Property Portal from other Departments and enforcement agencies.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is working with the Ministry of Justice, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) and the Judiciary to drive improvements to the county court possession process.
We will set out more details about our implementation plans in due course.
Local authorities are under a duty to record any banning orders against landlords or property agents on the Database; and are responsible for uploading and maintaining records. Guidance for local authorities on the use of the database can be found here.
Our latest data from the English Private Landlord Survey shows that in 2021, 57% of landlords had a buy-to-let mortgage. The impact assessment for the Renters (Reform) Bill is available online.
The Government publishes quarterly homelessness statistics, including causes of homelessness. This includes a breakdown of the reported reason for homelessness for households who are homeless or threatened with homelessness due to end of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. The data is available here.
Local authorities will have access to the full range of information recorded on the Property Portal. We do not have plans to record Tenants’ information on the Property Portal.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps is he taking to (a) promote the use of the Database of Rogue Landlords and Property Agents and (b) remind local authorities of their responsibilities in respect of this tool.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is working with the Ministry of Justice, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) and the Judiciary to drive improvements to the county court possession process.
We will set out more details about our implementation plans in due course.
Local authorities are under a duty to record any banning orders against landlords or property agents on the Database; and are responsible for uploading and maintaining records. Guidance for local authorities on the use of the database can be found here.
Our latest data from the English Private Landlord Survey shows that in 2021, 57% of landlords had a buy-to-let mortgage. The impact assessment for the Renters (Reform) Bill is available online.
The Government publishes quarterly homelessness statistics, including causes of homelessness. This includes a breakdown of the reported reason for homelessness for households who are homeless or threatened with homelessness due to end of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. The data is available here.
Local authorities will have access to the full range of information recorded on the Property Portal. We do not have plans to record Tenants’ information on the Property Portal.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of (a) the number of private rented sector properties with an outstanding mortgage and (b) the cost per landlord of measures in the Renters' Reform Bill in the (i) short, (ii) medium and (iii) long term.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is working with the Ministry of Justice, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) and the Judiciary to drive improvements to the county court possession process.
We will set out more details about our implementation plans in due course.
Local authorities are under a duty to record any banning orders against landlords or property agents on the Database; and are responsible for uploading and maintaining records. Guidance for local authorities on the use of the database can be found here.
Our latest data from the English Private Landlord Survey shows that in 2021, 57% of landlords had a buy-to-let mortgage. The impact assessment for the Renters (Reform) Bill is available online.
The Government publishes quarterly homelessness statistics, including causes of homelessness. This includes a breakdown of the reported reason for homelessness for households who are homeless or threatened with homelessness due to end of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. The data is available here.
Local authorities will have access to the full range of information recorded on the Property Portal. We do not have plans to record Tenants’ information on the Property Portal.