Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Department’s response of 17 November 2025 to the e-petition entitled Raise the income tax personal allowance from £12,570 to £20,000, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of raising the income tax threshold to £20,000 on absolute poverty levels.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Personal Allowance is uprated in line with CPI by default. The previous Government took the decision to maintain the Personal Allowance at its current level from April 2021 until April 2028. The Government is asking everyone to contribute to maintain funding for the NHS and reduce debt, and it is doing this by maintaining the Personal Allowance for a further three years.
As set out in the e-petition response, the Government has no plans to increase the Personal Allowance to £20,000. Increasing the Personal Allowance to £20,000 would come at a significant fiscal cost. This would reduce tax receipts substantially, decreasing funds available for the UK’s hospitals, schools, and other essential public services that we all rely on.
Increasing the Personal Allowance to this level would undermine the work the Government has done to restore fiscal responsibility which is critical to getting our economy growing.
HM Treasury only provides impact assessments on Government policy. The OBR have made an assessment of the Government’s policy related to the Personal Allowance in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
The ‘£50 billion’ figure in the e-petition response (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/737513) provided an indicative idea of scale only and does not reflect a full costing as this is not Government policy. Data from the 2022-23 Survey of Personal Incomes and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) economic forecast were used to inform this indicative estimate.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department issues to local authorities, police forces and licensed premises on the operation of Pubwatch schemes.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Pubwatch schemes are voluntary, licensee-led local partnerships that operate independently of Government. Advice and practical resources for such schemes are provided by the National Pubwatch charity, which supports local groups across the country.
Separately, the Home Secretary issues statutory section 182 guidance under the Licensing Act 2003 to licensing authorities in England and Wales on the discharge of their functions. Licensing authorities must have regard to this guidance, which supports partnership working between licensing authorities, the police and industry to promote the four licensing objectives.
The section 182 guidance does not set operational requirements for Pubwatch schemes but does recognise and support industry led schemes such as Pubwatch as examples of good practice in promoting safer, well run licensed premises.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) flexibility and (b) borrowing support is available to local authorities to increase affordable housing supply.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
For information on the flexibilities available to local authorities to increase social and affordable housing supply, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July (HCWS771), and the Social and Affordable Homes Programme policy statement published on 7 November, which can be found on gov.uk here.
The government has today announced further measures to support local authorities to build more social and affordable homes, including confirmation of our approach to Social Rent convergence. Details can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement (HCWS1283).
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Housing Revenue Account freeze on local authority finances.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There has been no freeze on the Housing Revenue Account since the social housing rent reduction policy between 2016 and 2020.
For steps the government is taking to support the sustainability of the Housing Revenue Account, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July (HCWS771).
The government has today announced further measures to support local authorities to build more social and affordable homes, including confirmation of our approach to Social Rent convergence. Details can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement (HCWS1283).
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to support the sustainability of the Long-term Housing Revenue Account.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
There has been no freeze on the Housing Revenue Account since the social housing rent reduction policy between 2016 and 2020.
For steps the government is taking to support the sustainability of the Housing Revenue Account, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July (HCWS771).
The government has today announced further measures to support local authorities to build more social and affordable homes, including confirmation of our approach to Social Rent convergence. Details can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement (HCWS1283).
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled UK unveils new undersea warfare technology to counter threat from Russia, published on 8 December 2025, how many orders for the Herne submarine have been placed since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
No contract or orders have been placed for the Herne large diameter uncrewed underwater vessel. Procurement of such platforms would be conducted in accordance with UK commercial law, through a fair competition.
The first formal element of the tendering process for Atlantic NET, commenced in September 2025 and was completed in January 2026. This involved the assessment of 26 compliant industry proposed solutions for ‘Persistent ASW Sense (ISR) as a Service’ and followed on from six months of regular two-way industry engagement with approximately 327 companies in the supplier base. These are largely UK based, or have UK elements in their proposals.
Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2025 to Question 94407 on Electric Vehicles: Charging Points, for what policy reason cross-pavement solutions were selected.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Government supports the roll-out of cross-pavement solutions to ensure more drivers without off-street parking can benefit from cheaper and more convenient domestic electric vehicle charging, which concurrently reduces the risk of trailing cables on the public highway.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what criteria her Department uses when determining whether to uprate the Personal Allowance.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Personal Allowance is uprated in line with CPI by default. The previous Government took the decision to maintain the Personal Allowance at its current level from April 2021 until April 2028. The Government is asking everyone to contribute to maintain funding for the NHS and reduce debt, and it is doing this by maintaining the Personal Allowance for a further three years.
As set out in the e-petition response, the Government has no plans to increase the Personal Allowance to £20,000. Increasing the Personal Allowance to £20,000 would come at a significant fiscal cost. This would reduce tax receipts substantially, decreasing funds available for the UK’s hospitals, schools, and other essential public services that we all rely on.
Increasing the Personal Allowance to this level would undermine the work the Government has done to restore fiscal responsibility which is critical to getting our economy growing.
HM Treasury only provides impact assessments on Government policy. The OBR have made an assessment of the Government’s policy related to the Personal Allowance in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
The ‘£50 billion’ figure in the e-petition response (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/737513) provided an indicative idea of scale only and does not reflect a full costing as this is not Government policy. Data from the 2022-23 Survey of Personal Incomes and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) economic forecast were used to inform this indicative estimate.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure NHS Trusts comply with NICE CG143 and national sickle cell clinical standards in the management of acute sickle cell crises, particularly in relation to timely escalation of analgesia and adherence to individual care plans.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS England Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Improvement Programme aims to address health inequalities through targeted interventions. A key priority for the programme has been supporting National Health Service trusts in the management of acute sickle cell crises.
The programme has rolled out seven sickle cell Emergency Department Bypass Accelerator Sites to provide rapid access to pain relief for uncomplicated vaso-occlusion crises. The sites across the country are mainly in areas with a high prevalence of sickle cell, with four based in London and three in the North of England. The accelerator sites operate a 24/7 service, providing patients with direct access to specialist sickle cell care, either through self-referral, ambulance pathways, or transfer between wards. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the units is being carried out by the National Institute for Health and Care Research with early indications suggesting significant improvements in time to analgesia as per the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence CG143 guideline. A full report is expected in Quarter four of 2026.
In 2024, NHS England funded a programme of work to ensure that all patients with sickle cell in London and Greater Manchester have access to a personalised digital care plan, with an ambition to expand to other regions when the technology becomes available.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the answer of 7 January 2026 to Question HL13000 on Police and Crime Commissioners, whether those savings include the operational costs of PCC functions being transferred to the offices of elected combined authority mayors.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
As set out in the government’s answer to Question HL13000, we expect to be able to save at least £20m per annum from 2028/29 as a result of aligning back office and support arrangements for policing governance with wider local government functions.
This includes savings as a result of transferring PCC functions to combined authority mayors.