Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 135 of his Department's document entitled Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he has made in increasing renewable energy production on overseas bases.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The priority for Defence is to maintain resilience to enable our warfighting capability both in the UK and Overseas. Assessments into energy resilience of our overseas bases have been undertaken and where it has been identified that renewables, fuel diversification or energy storage will enhance our operational resilience, then these projects have been raised onto the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) for consideration of funding. That plan is still under consideration.
Asked by: Patrick Hurley (Labour - Southport)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies on the development of futsal of the Football Association's level of influence in (a) FIFA and (b) UEFA.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Football Association (FA) is the governing body for football and futsal in England and is responsible for the sport's strategic direction and development, including grassroots participation, coaching, and elite pathways.
The FA is an autonomous member of both FIFA and UEFA. Its relationships and level of influence within these international governing bodies are primarily a matter for the FA itself.
Asked by: Leigh Ingham (Labour - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has for the future of funding for School Games Organisers beyond 2026.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has confirmed funding for the School Games Organisers until the end of the 2025/26 Academic Year. Funding beyond then will be confirmed in due course following departmental funding processes.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the statutory role of Sports England consultee in planning decisions on the (a) development of sporting facilities and (b) maintenance of playing fields.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to reviewing the existing statutory consultee arrangements to ensure they align with the government’s ambitions for growth. As per the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510), we intend to consult on removing a limited number of statutory consultees, including Sports England. We also intend to review the range and type of planning applications on which statutory consultees are required to be consulted and consider whether some types of application could be removed, or addressed by alternative means of engagement and provision of expert advice. Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to increase opportunities for women and girls to participate in grassroots sport.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, are able to participate in sport and physical activity.
The This Girl Can campaign, run by our Arm’s Length Body Sport England, has inspired millions of women and girls to get active 1.6 million women are expected to be active as a result of the campaign by 2028.
The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup marks the beginning of a decade of women’s sporting moments. Since summer 2024, the Government has invested £6.7 million into the tournament's legacy programme Impact '25, reaching 37,000 women and girls in the year leading up to this World Cup alone. Funding from this programme has been used to make facilities more accessible for women, train new female coaches and match officials and provide sanitary packages to clubs nationwide.
Following the outstanding achievements of the Lionesses in recent major tournaments, we will ensure that the impact of these achievements is felt by future generations of aspiring Lionesses by doubling priority access to facilities we invest in, reserved peak-time slots and women and girls-only evenings.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) small grassroots organisations and (b) under-represented groups are consulted on the Civil Society Covenant.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Civil Society Covenant was launched by the Prime Minister in July 2025 at a major civil society summit. Its ambition is to strengthen relationships and encourage partnership between civil society and all levels of UK government.
To inform the development of the Civil Society Covenant, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, working with key civil society partners, engaged over 1,200 organisations from across the diversity and breadth of civil society. This included nine roundtables that heard from a diverse set of civil society organisations that may have been under-represented or faced barriers in participating in the engagement process. These roundtables brought together 220 leaders including those from faith communities and those representing ethnic minority groups, as well as people leading small organisations locally in the heart of their communities and Local Infrastructure Organisations.
The views and insights heard through this engagement fed directly into development of the Covenant which includes a commitment to ‘Promote participation and inclusion by involving people in decisions that affect their lives, ensuring their voices are heard and removing barriers to democratic participation’.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing tenants' protections from eviction after landlords have accessed grants to improve energy efficiency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recently consulted on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards in the domestic private rented sector. The consultation included proposals for rented homes to achieve Energy Performance Certificate C or equivalent by 2030. The consultation closed in May this year and DESNZ are currently reviewing responses ahead of publishing a response.
The government is committed to protecting and improving the rights of tenants. The Renters’ Rights Bill will put in place new regulations to protect tenants. This includes providing stronger protections to ensure that tenants are able to appeal excessive above-market rents, abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault evictions’, and moving to a simpler tenancy structure where all assured tenancies ae periodic. These measures provide more security for tenants and enable them to challenge poor practice and unfair rent increases without fear of eviction.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has had discussions with the social housing regulator on the financial viability of East End Homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG ministers have not had discussions with the independent Regulator of Social Housing (The Regulator) about East End Homes.
All registered social housing providers are required to deliver the standards set by the Regulator. Those standards seek to ensure a financially viable and well-governed sector, which can continue to increase the provision of social housing. In May 2023, the Regulator determined that East End Homes was non-compliant with its Governance Standard. It continues to engage with the provider and monitors its progress in addressing the issues previously identified.
Asked by: Jo White (Labour - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made progress on the Residual Waste Infrastructure Capacity Note.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra published the Residual Waste Infrastructure Capacity Note and an accompanying statement on 30 December 2024. This statement set out that government will only back new Energy from Waste projects that meet strict conditions. Proposals for new facilities will have to demonstrate a clearly defined domestic residual waste treatment capacity need to facilitate the diversion of residual waste away from landfill, or enable the replacement of older, less-efficient facilities. Additionally, new facilities will have to maximise efficiency and support the delivery of economic growth, net zero and the move to a circular economy.
We are considering how best to reflect the approach in this statement in the new set of national policies for development management which we have committed to producing, and in updates to National Policy Statements.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will meet the Chief Medical Officer to discuss the potential merits of raising the digital age of consent.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In December 2024 DSIT commissioned a feasibility study into research to understand the impact of smartphones and social media on children. The report will be published in due course.
The government keeps all legislation under review and engages regularly with experts – including Chief Scientific Advisors - to gather evidence of where updates are needed. The government has not proposed changes to digital age of consent or a consultation on this, at this stage.
Where there is evidence that more needs to be done to protect children online the government will not hesitate to act.