Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of additional powers for local authorities to instigate stronger penalties against repeat illegal parking violations.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local Authorities are empowered to determine their parking arrangements, as they are best suited to understand the best way of responding to local needs.
They must do so in a way which meets standards set by national government that parking policies should be proportionate, support town centre prosperity, and reconcile competing demands for kerb space, and ensure traffic moves freely and quickly on their roads and the roads of nearby authorities as required in the Traffic Management Act 2004.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many permanent civil servants in his Department had their contract of employment terminated as a result of poor performance in the (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25 financial years.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Human Resources data for Energy Security and Net Zero has been available from September 2023. Since then, the Department dismissed 5 permanent employees in 2023-24 and 6 permanent employees in 2024-25 as a result of issues relating to poor performance.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what budget was allocated to the Office for Investment in the spending review 2025.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
£3.8 billion was allocated to The Department for Business and Trade as part of the Spending Review, which includes funding for the Office for Investment (OfI). As set out previously, (9th June), the OfI's budget for FY 2025/6 is £24,671,291.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 4 June (HL7640), what additional steps they are taking to safeguard victim-survivors of domestic abuse on 'direct pay' ahead of their response to their consultation on "Child Maintenance: Improving the collection and transfer of payments".
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The CMS takes the issue of domestic abuse very seriously and is committed to ensuring victims and survivors of abuse get the help and support they need to use the CMS safely.
The CMS has substantially strengthened its procedures and processes to support customers who are experiencing domestic abuse. They will not be complacent and will always look at ways to go even further.
The CMS has refreshed its approach and understanding of domestic abuse to include financial and coercive control and better awareness of how abuse affects all genders.
The CMS has access to a list of resources which helps caseworkers provide signposting to supporting organisations, and a Domestic Abuse Plan which includes clear steps to follow in order to support customers who are experiencing abuse. The list of resources and Domestic Abuse Plan is regularly reviewed.
As well as the Domestic Abuse Plan, the CMS responds to cases involving domestic abuse in several ways, including by acting as an intermediary in Direct Pay cases, and providing advice on how to set up bank accounts with a centralised sort code to limit the risk of a parent’s location being traced.
The CMS has a specialist team in place who deliver targeted support to parents subject to the most challenging and complex domestic abuse.
The CMS have also substantially reduced the time it takes to move a case from Direct Pay to Collect and Pay when a receiving parent reports missed payments
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's transparency data entitled MHCLG: spending over £25,000, March 2025, published on 28 April 2025, what the spending to ATKINSRÉALIS PPS LIMITED reference CSSP - F&G was for.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
£99,053.21 was paid in March for works completed in February 2025 for professional services rendered in connection to the Client Side Support provision for the Building Safety Fund and ACM programmes. CSSPs support applicants by providing technical advice and overseeing remediation work so the projects deliver quality and timely remediation.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the average administrative cost incurred by Ofgem per voucher issued under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme for each financial year since its inception.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has not published the average administrative cost incurred by Ofgem per voucher issued under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
The scheme, now part of the Government’s Major Project Portfolio, will be included in the 24-25 National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) Annual Report publication, which will disclose whole life scheme costs.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total value of Boiler Upgrade Scheme funding paid out for installations subsequently found to be non-compliant with eligibility rules each year since the scheme’s inception; and how much of this funding has been successfully recovered by Ofgem.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is administered by Ofgem on behalf of the government. Given the nature of the data requested, Ofgem will write to the noble Lord and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
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 changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme on levels of industrial action by municipal firefighters.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Proposed changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) are not expected to lead to industrial action by firefighters. Non-uniformed staff of local fire and rescue services are members of the LGPS but firefighters have their own separate pension scheme, the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 10 September 2024 (HL567), and with reference to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) article Economic statistics classifications and developments in public sector finances: April 2025 published on 22 May, why they do not consider Malvern Hills Trust to be a public body, and how they reconcile their Answer with the decision by the ONS to classify the Malvern Hills Trust to the local government subsector.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is Defra’s understanding that the Malvern Hills Trust is not a public body. This is based on the Cabinet Office’s guide to the classification of public bodies, which includes a helpful but brief definition in these terms: ‘A public body is a formally established organisation that is publicly funded to deliver a public or government service, though not as a ministerial department. The term refers to a wide range of public sector entities.’
The 1884 Private Bill that established Malvern Hills Trust also does not suggest that it would be classified as a public body.
More information on what constitutes a public body can be accessed in the Cabinet Office guide, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-bodies-reform (copy attached).
Defra does not hold information on the Office for National Statistics’ classification of the Malvern Hills Trust.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what were the (1) employer, and (2) employee, contribution rates for each public service pension scheme in each financial year since 1999–2000; and what is the estimated service cost of each of those schemes in the current financial year.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are 20 public service pension schemes in the UK for NHS workers, teachers, the armed forces, the police, firefighters, the judiciary, local government workers and civil servants. Published actuarial valuations are completed every 4 years (or every 3 years in the case of the Local Government Pension Schemes in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland) and set the employer contribution rates.
Across those schemes there will be thousands of different employer contribution rates specified during the period 1999/2000 to 2025/2026 and the Government does not hold a summary of all of the information requested. Employee contribution rates for each of the schemes are set out in scheme regulations laid before Parliament.
There are also public service pension schemes for Westminster MPs and ministers, and equivalent schemes for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which are also required to publish their employer contribution rates. The service costs of the schemes are set out in their annual accounts.