Written questions by Gardiner.

Communities and Local Government, when she plans to commence section 32 of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 includes provisions that will make it cheaper and easier for existing leaseholders to extend their lease or buy their freehold, including removing the requirement to pay marriage value.As set out in my Written Ministerial Statement on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the government will act as quickly as possible to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes by implementing the provisions of that Act.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2024 to Question 18874 on Leasehold: Ground Rent, in what order respondents ranked the five policy options outlined in the consultation.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer to Question UIN 18874 on 17 December 2024.

Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is to commence Section 48 of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 includes provisions that will make it cheaper and easier for existing leaseholders to extend their lease or buy their freehold, including removing the requirement to pay marriage value.As set out in my Written Ministerial Statement on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the government will act as quickly as possible to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes by implementing the provisions of that Act.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2024 on Leasehold and Commonhold Reform, HCWS244, whether she plans to remove marriage value from the enfranchisement premium calculation.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 includes provisions that will make it cheaper and easier for existing leaseholders to extend their lease or buy their freehold, including removing the requirement to pay marriage value.As set out in my Written Ministerial Statement on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the government will act as quickly as possible to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes by implementing the provisions of that Act.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2024 on Leasehold and Commonhold Reform, HCWS244, if she will list the flaws in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 contains a small number of specific but serious flaws which would prevent certain provisions from operating as intended and that need to be rectified via primary legislation.The Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244) outlined two flaws regarding a loophole in the valuation scheme set out in the Act, and an omission on shared ownership lease extensions.Primary legislation will also be needed to address the following flaws:Allow third parties to leases, such as resident-led management companies, to recover contributions toward their process costs in some instances. Without this change, these companies may be at risk of insolvency, which would be an unintended outcome of the reforms requiring landlords to pay their process costs;Correct an unintended constraint on landlords’ existing redevelopment break rights that applies in certain limited circumstances; andCorrect technical cross references and make consequential amendments to ensure the smooth implementation of the Act.The government will address these matters as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Food and Rural Affairs, what percentage of his Department's total biodiversity budget was spent on supporting biodiversity in the UK Overseas Territories in 2024-05.

UK Government biodiversity spend is across multiple organisations and this funding contributes to other objectives, such as water quality, net zero and food security. As such it is not possible to provide an exact figure of total domestic expenditure on biodiversity. For 2024-25, the department has committed to make available up to £10 million in direct support for biodiversity in the UK Overseas Territories. Future funding will be subject to the outcomes of spending review and business planning processes.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of total percentage of the biodiversity for which the UK has global responsibility is located in the UK's Overseas Territories.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee, as the Government’s statutory nature advisor, does not have, nor is it aware of, an estimate of the total percentage of the biodiversity for which the UK has global responsibility and is located in the UK Overseas Territories. Of the total number of endemic species associated with the UK’s biodiversity, 94% reside in the Territories.

Food and Rural Affairs, what was the total funding allocated to projects by Darwin Plus in each financial year since 2019-20.

Total funding allocated to Darwin Plus projects in each financial year since 2019-20 is provided in the table below. YearTotal funding taken up by Darwin Plus projects 2019-2020£3.81m2020-2021£4.55m2021-2022£6.65m2022-2023£8.50m2023-2024£10.12m2024-2025£8.96m

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the future of the Darwin Plus programme.

In November 2024, Minister Doughty and Minister McCarthy met with the elected leaders and representatives of the Overseas Territories at the UK Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council. The UK Government confirmed that it would continue to work in partnership with the Territories to support the protection of their unique environments and to help address biodiversity loss.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he will attend the UN Oceans Conference in June 2025.

The third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), co-hosted by France and Costa Rica in June, will be at a critical time for the ocean and a stocktake of progress towards UN Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. The UK is supportive of an action-orientated UNOC and looks forward to the event. Defra are leading on the planning for UK attendance at the Conference and formal invitations from the co-hosts are expected to be shared soon after which Defra will confirm Ministerial attendance.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the paper entitled Marine Protected Areas network report (2019 to 2024), published on 18 December 2024, what steps he plans to take to protect designated features within the MPA network that are not in a favourable condition from (a) destructive forms of fishing and (b) other stressors.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are already protected from the point of designation by the planning and marine licensing regimes that cover activities such as dredging for aggregates and construction of offshore wind farms. Fishing activity falls outside the scope of these regimes, so fisheries regulators make detailed assessments of the impact of all fishing activities on the protected species and habitats in our MPAs and develop byelaws to restrict fishing when it has been assessed as damaging. Over 60% of England’s 181 MPAs have these byelaws in place. As mentioned in my answer to PQ 17500, the Department is considering next steps for fisheries management in MPAs in the context of our domestic and international nature conservation obligations and how we support the fishing sector.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 January 2025 to Question 17503 on Fishing Catches, what (a) criteria and (b) thresholds were applied in deciding which instances of non-compliance with the landing obligation merited enforcement through (i) verbal and (ii) written advice; and when the Marine Management Organisation expects to conclude decisions on remaining cases of non-compliance.

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only. In deciding how to manage instances of non-compliance, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) follows the principles of inform, educate, enforce in accordance with their published Compliance and Enforcement Strategy: Compliance and Enforcement Strategy - GOV.UK. The threshold for evidencing non-compliance with the landing obligation is high, often requiring discarding to be observed/witnessed. Evidence can be drawn from a range of sources but must meet the required burden of proof for the sanction being applied. The issuing of verbal or written advice depends on whether the inspection is conducted at sea or in port. Verbal advice is issued at sea in circumstances where relaying correspondence is more difficult and written advice is issued as a consequence of inspections in port. The MMO aims to resolve straightforward investigations within 6 months. More complex cases may take longer.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2024 to Question 19633 on the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, what recent assessment he has made of the extent to which primary legislation will be required before ratification.

The Government is completely committed to ratification of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement, also known as the "High Seas Treaty" or "Global Oceans Treaty"), which is in line with our determination to reinvigorate the UK's wider international leadership on climate and nature. Work is in hand on the measures needed to implement the detailed and complex provisions of the Agreement before the UK can ratify.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2024 to Question 17500 on Marine Protected Areas: Fisheries, for what reason he was not able to provide a timescale.

The Department has not yet been able to provide a timescale for these measures due to the need to follow due process and consider how we can best meet the Government’s priorities. The Government recognises the need for action to protect and restore our ma...

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2024 to Question 17501 on Fisheries: Monitoring, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making it a mandatory requirement for ve

Defra have already assessed which fisheries should have mandatory Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) and published the results in 2023. The assessment concluded that over 24 metre pelagic trawlers in English waters should be a priority. Implementation beg...

Food and Rural Affairs, what his priorities are for the 68th Global Environment Facility Council Meeting in relation to target (a) 5 and (b) 18 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The 68th Global Environment Facility Council meeting will discuss a programme of work to fund projects that will deliver environmental benefits, including contributing to achieving the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework. The UK’s priorities will...

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2024 on Leasehold and Commonhold Reform, HCWS244, what discussions she has had with the Leader of the House on bringing for

As outlined in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the Leasehold and Freehold Act contains a small number of specific but serious flaws which would prevent certain provisions from operating as intended. We intend to recti...

Communities and Local Government, when she plans to publish the results of the consultation entitled Modern Leasehold: Restricting Ground Rent for Existing Leases, which closed on 17 January 2024.

As outlined in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), the government remains firmly committed to its manifesto commitment to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and we will deliver this in legislation. We will ...

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a national training centre for robotic surgery within the NHS to provide surgical training that is independent of the manufactu

The Department has no current plans to establish such a national training centre. The Department continues to work with the National Health Service and other partners to develop pathways for delivering innovative medical technology into the hands of front...

Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on when the Building Safety Regulator plans to respond to the applications for (a) Gateway 2 and (b) Gateway 3 approval for the two high ris

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is an independent regulator, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is not involved in operational decisions, does not hold information on ongoing cases with the BSR, and cannot comment on an indi...