theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Lord Kempsell:To ask His Majesty's Government how many special advisers and officials in total from all government departments were in attendance at COP30. \p Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent: I refer the Noble Lord to the answer of 17 November 2025, Official Report, PQ 88937.

PQ 88937 Andrew Snowden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) civil servants and (b) support staff attended the COP30 summit; and for what reason.

Cabinet Office response on 17 Nov: Ministerial travel is undertaken using efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements. Security considerations are also taken into account. Information about official overseas travel is published as part of the Cabinet Office transparency returns and made available on the GOV.UK website. It has been the practice that official Prime Ministerial flights are carbon offset where that is possible. Civil Servants and Special Advisers routinely travel with the Prime Minister, including so as to provide support in the conduct of any official duties, which can arise at any time.
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Lord Murray of Blidworth:To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings the departmental board of the Cabinet Office has had since 4 July 2024. \p Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent: The Cabinet Office Board has met twice since 4 July 2024.
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Lord Wigley:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to prevent the sale of tickets for cultural and sporting events at prices above face value; and by what date they plan to have new legislation in force. \p Baroness Twycross: This Government is committed to introducing new protections for consumers on ticket resales, and on 19th November we published our response to our consultation on live event ticket resales and call for evidence on pricing practices in the sector.

Our consultation response sets out that we intend to to take forward the following measures:

A price cap prohibiting the resale of a live events ticket for more than the original ticket cost.

A cap on service fees charged by ticket platforms on resales.

Resale volume limits prohibiting people from reselling more tickets than they were entitled to purchase in the primary sale.

Strict legal obligations on platforms to ensure compliance with the price cap.

Enforcement of the above measures by the Competition and Markets Authority and other public enforcers through Part 3 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

We will bring forward legislation to enact these measures when parliamentary time allows.
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Lord Lebedev:To ask His Majesty's Government whether, as part of the upcoming BBC Charter review, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has conducted a study of how the BBC is fulfilling its duties with regard to impartiality; and if so, what the study found. \p Baroness Twycross: Under its Royal Charter, the BBC has a duty ‘to provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them’. In delivering on that duty, the BBC is independent from the government. It is the responsibility of Ofcom, as the BBC’s independent regulator, to hold the BBC to account for delivering on its Mission and Public Purposes, including due impartiality. Ofcom regularly reports on BBC performance, including in its annual reports on the BBC.

The government expects the BBC to uphold the highest editorial standards and to report the news accurately and impartially. The upcoming Charter Review will consider how best to ensure the BBC continues to deliver the high standards of reporting that the public expect of a national broadcaster.
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Lord Naseby:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure National Wealth Fund investment benefits increase research and development in the UK hydrogen and fuel cell technology manufacturing sector. \p Lord Whitehead: The NWF is the Government’s principal investor and policy bank with operational independence and a total £27.8bn to catalyse private investment in capital intensive projects. The NWF will commit at least £5.8bn over this Parliament to green hydrogen, carbon capture, ports, gigafactories and green steel sub-sectors.

To crowd investment into supply chains, the Government has announced a £1bn Clean Energy Supply chain fund aligned with the Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan and a £4bn British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital initiative. DESNZ has also spent around £160m from the now complete £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio on hydrogen R&D.
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Baroness Northover:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen domestic supply chains for net zero industries and ensure that UK businesses remain competitive and resilient in the face of global market pressures. \p Lord Whitehead: Taking action to ensure that our clean energy supply chains are resilient is a key priority as we deliver on our Growth and Clean Energy Superpower Missions.

The Trade Strategy sets out international and domestic trade levers, frameworks and trading relationships to drive growth. The Trade Strategy will support the Clean Energy Superpower Mission by bolstering supply chain resilience and ensuring we have access to the materials we need.

Our Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan announced a new £1 billion Great British Energy supply chain fund, which will catalyse investment into domestic supply chains; supported by a comprehensive offer from the National Wealth Fund, British Business Bank, and UK Export Finance.
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Lord Wigley:To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, or plan to have, with the Welsh Government about the provision of education and skills courses to equip the workforce with the training necessary for the construction of the proposed small modular reactors at Wylfa. \p Lord Whitehead: In June 2025, the Government announced a new golden age of nuclear power, which is set to create thousands of high-quality jobs across the UK. As part of this, Great British Energy – Nuclear’s small modular reactor project to be located at Wylfa on Anglesey is expected to create around 3,000 jobs on site at peak construction plus thousands more across the supply chain.

The industry-led Nuclear Skills Plan will support this workforce growth and strengthen partnerships with stakeholders in Wales by launching a Wales Regional Skills Hub in 2026.
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Baroness Northover:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage domestic processing and manufacturing capacity for critical minerals and components essential to net zero technologies, including offshore wind. \p Lord Vallance of Balham: A secure, diversified supply of critical minerals is vital for the UK's economic growth and security, industrial strategy, and clean energy transition. Within the Modern Industrial Strategy, the Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan highlighted the UK’s existing strengths in critical mineral mining and processing required for clean energy.

The UK government remains committed to further supporting the growth of UK processing capability. The new Critical Minerals Strategy, which has now been published, sets out how we will enhance the UK’s domestic capabilities, optimising domestic production across the supply chain. The Strategy supports delivery of the Industrial Strategy, recognising critical minerals are foundational to growth driving sectors such as clean energy industries.
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The Lord Bishop of Norwich:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to support global initiatives to reduce deforestation, following the announcement that they will not be investing in the Tropical Forest Forever Facility launched at COP30. \p Lord Whitehead: Reducing deforestation globally underpins UK security and growth and is vital to delivering our global goals on climate and nature. Tropical forests in particular safeguard regional rainfall and agriculture, underpinning UK food security. The UK will continue to drive progress in support of global efforts to reduce deforestation. We co-chair the Forest and Climate Leaders Partnership and work with forest countries and communities to improve forest governance, sustainable trade and mobilise finance for forest protection and restoration. We continue to provide technical assistance in support of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility and have just announced additional support for the Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests programme, which makes use of technical innovations such as space data, to help forest countries monitor and reduce deforestation.
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Lord Naseby:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the levels of UK-made content in the supply chains of Hydrogen Allocation Rounds 1 and 2; and what measures they will take to ensure higher levels are used in future rounds. \p Lord Whitehead: Developing domestic supply chains is a government priority, as demonstrated through our Industrial Strategy and comprehensive public financial institution offer which will provide direct support to UK hydrogen supply chains.

DESNZ collects supply chain data through the Hydrogen Allocation Rounds and welcomes the industry’s voluntary 50% local content ambition.

We are developing options to strengthen our approach to domestic supply chains in future allocation rounds and will be launching our HAR3 market engagement exercise setting out our proposals in due course.
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The Lord Bishop of Norwich:To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made on their stated ambition to deliver £11.6 billion of International Climate Finance between April 2021 and March 2026, of which £1.5 billion should be adaptation and resilience finance for 2025. \p Lord Whitehead: The Government is on track to deliver £11.6 billion in International Climate Finance by the end of the financial year 2025/26. To support the most vulnerable who are experiencing the worst impacts of climate change, the Government is also on track to triple funding for adaptation from £500m in 2019 to £1.5 billion in 2025.

The UK’s International Climate Finance has helped 137 million people adapt to the effects of climate change, provided 89 million people with improved access to clean energy, and helped to mobilise billions in private investment.
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Lord Naseby:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the job-creation potential in the UK hydrogen and fuel cell technology manufacturing sector by 2050. \p Lord Whitehead: The sector is nascent but is expected to grow significantly; the global hydrogen market could exceed $1 trillion by 2050, with the UK well positioned to capture a substantial share.

We intend to publish a revised Hydrogen Strategy which will include the latest hydrogen jobs estimates and set out plans to optimise the job creation and economic benefits delivered by the UK hydrogen economy.

We will continue to engage with stakeholders across the hydrogen value chain; working together with industry and unions to identify actions that support the skills and workforce needs of the UK’s low carbon hydrogen economy.
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Baroness Northover:To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the importance of offshore wind to the UK’s electrification strategy. \p Lord Whitehead: Offshore wind provides the UK with secure, domestically generated electricity, and represents a core part of this Government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower – delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero.

This Government’s mission-driven approach will maximise the opportunity for economic growth, attracting vital investment to UK coastal communities. This Government estimates that the sector could support up to 100,000 direct and indirect jobs by the end of the decade.
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Lord Wigley:To ask His Majesty's Government what are their planned (1) start, and (2) completion, dates for work on constructing the nuclear power station at Wylfa. \p Lord Vallance of Balham: GBE-N has selected Rolls-Royce SMR as its preferred bidder to partner with to develop the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) project, subject to final government approvals and contract signature, targeted later this year.

Initial site activity at Wylfa will begin in 2026, with the first operational SMRs targeted from the mid-2030s.
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Baroness Helic:To ask His Majesty's Government whether alternative training facilities have been identified to replace Crowborough training camp; and if so, what estimate they have made of the cost and operational impact of redirecting units to those sites. \p Lord Coaker: The Government takes the safety and wellbeing of all Cadets and Service personnel extremely seriously. The Ministry of Defence continues to work with the Home Office to assess the potential impact that housing asylum seekers on military bases could have on our Cadet Forces and future activities, including training, to develop any necessary mitigation actions. Our priority is to ensure these developments have limited impact on Cadets and we will always apply appropriate safeguarding measures so that we can continue delivering cadet programmes.
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Lord Hunt of Kings Heath:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to measure the key performance indicators in the third cycling and walking investment strategy, specifically for women and girls. \p Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill: The consultation on the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, is seeking the views of stakeholders on a national vision, statutory objectives and underlying performance indicators. The shape of the final strategy, intended to be published next year including key performance indicators, will be informed by the responses to the consultation.

The Government is committed to halving violence against women and girls within a decade through prevention and overhauling society’s response to these crimes. As part of this, we are working closely with the Home Office on their cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, which is due to be published later this year.
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Lord Moylan:To ask His Majesty's Government what enforcement mechanism will be available to the Office of Rail and Road should Great British Railways breach the new statutory code of practice for ticket retailing anticipated under the Railways Bill. \p Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill: Great British Railways’ (GBR’s) licence will require it to comply with the code of practice, which will be owned and managed by the Office of Road and Rail (ORR).

To ensure that GBR abides by the rules set out in the code of practice, affected third parties will be able challenge any decisions or actions they consider to be noncompliant, by raising them directly with the ORR. The ORR will be required to investigate and, if it considers that GBR has not complied, it will be able to demand corrective action by issuing binding orders on GBR.
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Lord Hunt of Kings Heath:To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the third cycling and walking investment strategy, published on 3 November, what is their target reduction in the rate of cyclists and pedestrians killed and seriously injured. \p Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill: The consultation on the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, is seeking the views of stakeholders on a national vision, statutory objectives and underlying performance indicators. The shape of the final strategy, intended to be published next year including targets, will be informed by the responses to the consultation.

The Government treats road safety seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. The Road Safety Strategy is under development and will include a broad range of policies. We intend to publish the Strategy this year.
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Lord Scriven:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the integrated care board (ICB) reorganisation process on ICB staff satisfaction. \p Baroness Merron: No formal assessment has been made, although the Department recognises that the current process of transition to new integrated care board (ICB) structures and roles directly impacts staff. As the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care acknowledged in his speech at the NHS Providers conference on 12 November, there has been uncertainty for staff for too long but funding arrangements for voluntary redundancy arrangements have now been confirmed and that will help to provide certainty for people. NHS England is working to support ICBs as part of the change process.

The Government is committed to the modernisation of the National Health Service as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, including refocusing the role of ICBs to strategic commissioning. This will help to support the delivery of the three shifts, from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention, that are needed to build a health service fit for the future.
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Baroness Helic:To ask His Majesty's Government what definition, guidance, or evaluative standard (1) the Department for Health and Social Care, (2) NHS employers, or (3) the General Medical Council, rely upon when determining whether a (a) statement, (b) social-media post, (c) repost, (d) share, (e) ‘like’, (f) comment, (g) private message, or (h) any other online action, constitutes a ‘pro-Palestinian’ view for the purposes of investigation or disciplinary action. \p Baroness Merron: The Department does not hold this data on investigations or sanctions centrally.

The regulators of registered medical professionals, including the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, are independent of the Government, are directly accountable to Parliament, and are responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of their statutory duties. The United Kingdom’s model of healthcare professional regulation is founded on the principle of regulators operating independently from the Government. The Department does not have oversight of regulators’ guidance, local employment policies, or actions taken by National Health Service employers at a local level.

Healthcare professionals, like all citizens, are entitled to their political opinions and have the right to campaign on issues. However, professional standards require that they must not express their personal beliefs, whether political or otherwise, to patients in ways that exploit their vulnerability or could reasonably cause them distress. The Government is clear that staff must demonstrate the core values of the NHS and demonstrate neutrality in the workplace. This neutrality supports the delivery of the highest quality of patient care, ensures patients can feel comfortable with the care they receive, and promotes strong working relationships with colleagues.
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Baroness Scott of Needham Market:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment criteria they are using to assess the case for commissioning a specialised service for very severe chronic fatigue syndrome. \p Baroness Merron: The myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), final delivery plan, published on 22 July 2025, includes an action for the Department and NHS England to explore whether a specialised service should be prescribed by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care for very severe ME/CFS. Officials from the Department have commenced discussions with NHS England on how best to take forward this action.

Three factors determine whether a service is a prescribed specialised service. These are: the number of individuals who require the service; the cost of providing the service or facility; and the number of people able to provide the service or facility.
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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the confidence of financial technology company founders in the UK economy. \p Lord Livermore: The UK has a long history as a powerhouse of financial services innovation, which has made the UK one of the most attractive locations worldwide to establish Fintechs. The Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy set out a comprehensive package of reforms to maintain the UK’s global leadership in Fintech.

The Government is committed to making the UK the best place to start and grow a business, recognising the importance of a competitive investment environment for economic growth. The UK is already the best place in Europe to establish a business, and, to make it even easier for entrepreneurs to scale and stay in the UK, the most recent Budget set out a series of measures which will help unlock billions in investment, expand tax reliefs, and make government a better customer for innovative businesses.
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Lord Freyberg:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish examples or case studies to show how artist studios, co-operative creative spaces and small cultural venues may benefit from the retail, hospitality and leisure scheme, under the Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Qualifying Retail, Hospitality or Leisure Hereditament) Regulations 2025, to assist local billing authorities and cultural organisations in the implementation of that scheme. \p Lord Livermore: The Government is introducing new permanently lower business rates multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties from April 2026, replacing the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID.

The scope of the new multipliers broadly reflects the scope of the current RHL relief. The Government has laid legislation defining which RHL properties will be eligible for the new multipliers. To assist Local Authorities (LAs) and businesses in interpreting this legislation, the Government has also published guidance on which properties qualify for the new tax rates. This guidance includes details on how LAs should apply the “wholly or mainly test”, how “visiting members of the public” should be interpreted, and how RHL properties doing a mix of in-person and online sales should be treated.

As administrators of the business rates system, it is the responsibility of LAs to determine whether a hereditament meets the legislative definition of RHL and therefore qualifies for the RHL multipliers. The Government cannot comment on individual ratepayers.
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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that UK inflation slowed to 3.6 per cent in October, and what the implications are for policies aimed at reducing cost-of-living pressures for households and businesses. \p Lord Livermore: The OBR expects inflation to have peaked in Q3 2025, and that it will fall progressively to the Bank of England’s 2% target in Q1 2027. The Bank of England has overall responsibility for controlling inflation and beyond this, the government is targeting inflation at its source, by bearing down on everyday expenses such as energy bills, transport and childcare costs to ease cost of living pressures.

Taken together the OBR’s forecast shows government policy will reduce CPI inflation by 0.4 percentage points in 2026/27. This is the biggest near-term reduction in inflation due to government policy ever forecast by the OBR at a single fiscal event, outside of a crisis.
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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage UK-based fintech founders to retain and expand their companies in the UK, including through targeted tax and regulatory incentives. \p Lord Livermore: The Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy identified Fintech as a priority growth opportunity, and set out the government’s ambition for the UK to remain a leading jurisdiction to start, scale and list a Fintech business.

The Strategy set out a series of measures to shape a regulatory environment for financial services that is proportionate, predictable and internationally competitive. These included working with the regulators to make it quicker and easier for new firms to achieve regulatory authorisation, as well as the launch of a joint FCA-PRA Scale-Up Unit, to enhance engagement with fast-growing, innovative regulated firms.

The Government published its Corporate Tax Roadmap at Budget 2024, which set out a number of commitments for this Parliament. Central to this is the commitment to cap Corporation Tax at 25 percent for the duration of this parliament, confirming the UK as the jurisdiction with the lowest rate in the G7. This is supplemented by some of the most generous business investment tax reliefs and allowances in the OECD - includes full expensing, R&D tax reliefs, and the Patent Box regime.
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Lord Risby:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK's tax regime on foreign direct investment competitiveness. \p Lord Livermore: The UK has considerable economic strengths. It is the second largest services exporter in the world, the second most attractive location to invest in Europe and is ranked sixth in the Global Innovation Index.

Investment is at the heart of the government’s growth mission and is one of its key pillars alongside stability and reform. The UK continues to champion free trade and global investment, supported by over 70 international trade agreements and a competitive tax regime. Our stable fiscal rules and competitive tax system enable international firms to invest confidently and drive innovation across advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and digital technologies.

Investment is critical to growth and we are taking further steps to make the UK the most attractive destination for global investment. As confirmed at the Budget in November 2025, the government has committed over £120 billion of additional departmental capital spending over the course of the Parliament. This investment is being directed to infrastructure and planning priorities that support growth, including supporting regional growth by bringing new affordable homes and improved transport connectivity to more places and supporting energy and net zero priorities through new nuclear power. The National Wealth Fund and the British Business Bank are catalysing private investment and the new National Housing Bank will extend that catalytic effect to the housing market. The strategy is working: the UK is attracting international investment, with £150 billion of new confirmed inward investment commitments at the US State Visit in September and further commitments at the Regional Investment Summit in October.

In addition, following the commitments in the Corporate Tax Roadmap in 2024, the government continues to maintain the parts of the UK corporate tax offer that are most important for attracting new investment: a low Corporation Tax main rate of 25% - the lowest in the G7 - a flexible and competitive regime for intangible assets, the Patent Box, and one of the most generous and competitive capital allowances regimes in the world.

The UK is an attractive location for groups to locate their headquarters or holding companies, offering broad exemptions for gains on disposals of substantial shareholdings and a broad exemption for dividends paid to UK companies. There are also limited withholding taxes on outbound payments such as dividends, interest and royalties.
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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk to consumers using AI chatbots for financial advice, following the consumer study findings from Which? stating such tools provided inaccurate financial advice. \p Lord Livermore: The government recognises that many people lack the support they need to make financial decisions and are increasingly turning to technologies such as general purpose large language models for help.

Together with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the government wants to ensure that people can receive meaningful support from firms they know and trust, such as their bank or pension provider. That is why we are enabling trusted firms to do more to proactively support their customers.

To deliver this, the government is introducing a new regime for targeted support, which will allow firms to engage directly with customers and suggest products or courses of action for their financial situation. As announced by the Chancellor at Mansion House, targeted support will be available online in time for the next financial year.

Alongside this, the UK’s data protection framework applies to the processing of personal data across the design, development and deployment of AI tools. Organisations are required to ensure that personal data is processed fairly, lawfully, transparently, and securely. People also have a number of rights over how their personal data is used, such as the right of access, rectification, or erasure.
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Baroness Northover:To ask His Majesty's Government what processes are in place to assess the impact of new housing developments on existing local businesses and industrial areas, and how those assessments are considered when granting building permits. \p Baroness Taylor of Stevenage: Planning law requires decision-makers to consider the potential land-use impacts that proposals have on neighbouring development when determining planning applications.

Our National Planning Policy Framework sets out that planning policies and decisions should ensure that new development can be integrated effectively with existing businesses. Where the operation of an existing business could have a significant adverse effect on new development in its vicinity, the applicant (or ‘agent of change’) should be required to provide suitable mitigation before the development has been completed.
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Baroness Northover:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the infrastructure and energy requirements of new housing developments, and how those requirements align with net zero and industrial growth strategies. \p Baroness Taylor of Stevenage: Reforming the planning system is key to building 1.5 million homes and delivering our modern industrial Strategy. The revised National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that planning policies should positively and proactively encourage sustainable economic growth whilst making sufficient provision for infrastructure and energy. These policies should also have regard to the national Industrial Strategy and any relevant Local Industrial Strategies.

The Government remains committed to meeting its target of net zero emissions by 2050 and recognises the importance of energy efficient buildings in meeting it. We are consulting on a set of national policies for decision-making before the end of the year. We intend to update the energy efficiency standards in the Building Regulations in the next few months.
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Baroness Maclean of Redditch:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for Housing on 5 February 2024 (HC8158), what proportion of the budget for social and affordable housing is spent on (1) Ukrainian and Afghan refugee and guests schemes, (2) asylum seekers, (3) migrant workers on the shortage occupation list, (4) dependents of such migrant workers, (5) workers on the health and social care visa scheme and (6) non-UK citizens. \p Baroness Taylor of Stevenage: There is not a single budget for social and affordable housing. Most of the income for social housing providers come from rent paid by tenants, some of whom have help from the welfare system to pay it. New social and affordable homes are typically funded by a mix of subsidy from government grant programmes, or through Section 106 agreements in planning permissions, combined with borrowing by landlords against future rental income.

Completed new social homes are allocated to new tenants by local authorities, unless agreed otherwise. Local authorities are responsible for their own allocation scheme for social housing within the framework of legislation.

Eligibility for social housing is tightly controlled. If a person’s visa means that they cannot access state benefits or local authority housing assistance, they are not eligible for an allocation of social housing. Asylum seekers and migrants in the UK on work or student visas are not eligible for social housing.

Data is available for all social housing lettings in England. This data does not include details of official refugee or immigration status, or route into the country. However, it does include details of nationality, based on the self-reported nationality of the lead tenant. The data shows that between April 2024 and March 2025:

These figures are publicly available (attached) in Social housing lettings in England, April 2024 to March 2025 - GOV.UK

Social housing lettings in England (pdf, 230.9KB)
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Lord Porter of Spalding:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the financial pressures on local councils arising from internal drainage board levies in areas where they have increased in recent years. \p Baroness Taylor of Stevenage: The government supports and values the vital work internal drainage boards (IDBs) undertake in managing water levels and reducing flood risk, benefitting communities, businesses and farmers.

In recognition of IDB cost increases and the impact on local authority special levies, the government announced as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement Policy Statement, that it will provide £5 million in funding for the local authorities most impacted by IDB levies in 2026/27. This follows the £5 million grant awarded in 2025/26. As in previous years, allocations for the 2026/27 IDB levy support grant will be announced in due course once IDB levy data has been received towards the end of the financial year.

We recognise the need to ensure IDBs are set up for the longer term. Defra and MHCLG have commissioned a research project into IDB funding and costs, which launched in early September and will close in summer 2026.
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Lord Lucas:To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the prosecution of Greg Hadfield in the Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 17 November, what discussions they have had with the Crown Prosecution Service about why they brought an exhibit to the court that the judge found was not an accurate record; what assessment they have made of the implications for freedom of speech; and what actions they are taking in response. \p Lord Hermer: The Crown Prosecution Service makes prosecution decisions independently.

CPS prosecutors are committed to protecting the principles of free expression and to prosecuting objectively and fairly, in accordance with the two-stage test in the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
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Lord Foster of Bath:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they hold data about the condition of flora in each county in England, and if so, whether they will publish that data. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: Natural England (NE) does not hold county-level data on plants. When it requires such information, NE works with partners to access excellent quality datasets such as the ‘distribution database’ of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, which may be filtered by county. Such datasets may be processed and published by partners e.g. as County Floras or Rare Plant Registers. NE’s own holding of botanical data focuses on protected sites rather than county scale information. NE recently worked with the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland to produce a new GB level red list for vascular plants.
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Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to tighten regulations on the transport and storage of nurdles in line with the EU, and what other measures they will take to reduce the environmental and human health threats of nurdles. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: The Government currently has no plans to align nurdle transport and storage regulations with those of the EU.

The Government has supported industry-led initiatives such as Operation Clean Sweep, to promote good practice in pellet loss prevention.

As a Contracting Party to the OSPAR Convention, the UK has led work under the Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter, resulting in an OSPAR Recommendation on minimum standards for pellet loss certification schemes. The UK also supported development of a British Standards Institution Publicly Available Specification, published in July 2021, which sets out measures for businesses to reduce pellet loss and complies with the OSPAR Recommendation.

Pellet loss is a global issue, and the UK has called for specific provisions in the new international treaty on plastic pollution to address pellet loss throughout the supply chain. Additionally, the UK is working at the International Maritime Organization to introduce mandatory measures for the carriage of plastic pellets by sea in freight containers.
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Baroness Coffey:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the performance of ministers in fulfilling their duties under section 20 of the Environment Act 2021 regarding statements on bills containing new environmental law, and what consideration they have given to creating mechanisms to challenge incorrect or misleading statements. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: In making a statement under the Environment Act 2021 Section 20, as with all other statements ministers make to either House, ministers are bound by the Ministerial Code which requires them to provide accurate and truthful information to Parliament.
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Lord Truscott:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any potential abuses of the Motability Scheme, and what consideration they have given to reforms that might better target those in need. \p Baroness Sherlock: The Department is responsible for the disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP), that provides a passport to the Motability scheme.

The Department takes benefit fraud extremely seriously. Whilst Motability is independent of government, the Department meets with Motability regularly to discuss the scheme, including how it is taking action against any misuse.

The PIP mobility element is in scope of the Timms Review, which aims to ensure PIP is fair and fit for the future.
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Lord Godson:To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants were recorded in non-UK immigration status groups in each year since 2019. \p Baroness Sherlock: To access Universal Credit a person must be British, Irish, have a right of abode, or have a valid UK immigration status that permits recourse to public funds as well as meeting all the other entitlement conditions. The Department recently published Universal Credit Immigration status and Nationality summary statistics through ODS tables on GOV.UK.

For statistical production purposes, immigration status data has been categorised into 8 groups (further details provided in Table Guidance in the attached document).

Taken from the published statistics, the following table shows the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status for each April from 2022 to 2025. Data is not held prior to April 2022.

Total number of people on Universal Credit by Immigration status for April 2022 to April 2025, Great Britain

Immigration status by month

CTA –  UK, Ireland, Right of Abode

EU Settlement Scheme

Humanitarian

Refugee

Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme)

Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including Family Reunion

Other

No immigration status recorded on digital systems

Apr-25

6,400,356

765,451

78,780

90,217

204,378

75,506

33,300

31,468

Apr-24

5,519,088

720,365

49,817

107,486

142,884

84,558

27,134

25,894

Apr-23

4,859,348

671,620

47,020

75,372

113,548

77,363

16,590

35,846

Apr-22

4,611,046

644,847

3,221

64,423

95,612

68,883

6,484

51,600

Source: Universal Credit Immigration status and nationality summary statistics

Notes

Table Guidance (docx, 16.1KB)