Every parliamentary written question tabled by James McMurdock this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 1,161–1,180 of 3,691 · this parliament
Communities and Local Government, with reference to his letter to council leaders on 16 February 2026, whether the additional capacity funding will be provided (a) to all local authorities and (b) only to local authorities that requested election postponements.
Up to £63 million new funding will be made available to help all local councils across the 21 reorganisation areas best deliver local government re-organisation and builds on the £7.6 million provided last year.
Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to introduce mechanisms for cases where unitary authority council areas disagree with the decision by a mayoral strategic authority to introduce a visitor's levy.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, whether he is taking steps to ensure that local communities are included in decisions to introduce visitor levies by the mayoral strategic authority.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities that introduce a visitor levy would be permitted to repeal it later on.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the hotel and hospitality sector on the potential impact of a visitor levy on international competitiveness.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of a visitor levy on attendance at major cultural and sporting events.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of a visitor levy on (a) coastal areas and (b) rural communities.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of introducing a visitor levy on the number of domestic tourists.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of implementing a visitor levy on the displacement of tourism activity to neighbouring areas without such a levy.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the administrative costs to accommodation providers of implementing and collecting a visitor levy.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of a visitor levy on small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the hospitality sector.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of of a visitor levy on the competitiveness of English destinations compared with European cities including Paris, Barcelona and Rome.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of a visitor levy on average visitor spending per trip.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of a visitor levy on school trips, business travel and major events.
The precise design and scope of the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy are still being developed. Decisions on whether to introduce a levy will ultimately be for Mayors and other local leaders, based on what is right for their area. The Government’s consultation on the design and scope of the visitor levy closed on 18 February, and we will publish an official response in due course.
What steps she is taking to help tackle (a) human trafficking and (b) employer abuse affecting seafarers.
The Government takes reports of labour exploitation and human trafficking very seriously, including employer abuse against seafarers, and we remain committed to tackling the crime of modern slavery – wherever it occurs.The Home Office funds the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), which has specially trained officers with police-style powers to prevent, detect, and investigate serious labour exploitation across the entire economy in England and Wales.The Government is also establishing the Fair Work Agency (FWA) through the Employment Rights Act. This will bring under one roof multiple agencies and bodies, including the GLAA, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, and HMRC’s National Minimum Wage Team and will ensure a more cohesive and streamlined response to exploitation across the economy. The FWA will have enhanced powers and resources to identify and address labour exploitation more effectively, including new powers to investigate under the Fraud Act 2006.In relation to tackling abuse related to seafarers, Border Force is making use of maritime powers introduced by the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to detain vessels where there is suspected modern slavery.As an operational command within the Home Office, BSC-Maritime takes responsibility for safeguarding the vulnerable and, where necessary, Maritime officers can and do take direct action to remove seafarers from abusive or exploitative environments for their protection, regardless of whether the offence is detected in port or at sea.Maritime Command works closely with Government partners such as the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) to train Border Force officers to identify offences relevant to those partners, such as labour abuses under the ILO Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) or ILO Work in Fishing Convention No.188 (ILO C188).
Communities and Local Government, with reference to his letter to council leaders on 16 February 2026, whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on whether the 2027 local elections will proceed in areas undergoing local government reorganisation.
The government remains committed to the indicative timetable set out in July, with elections to the new councils scheduled for May 2027.
How many people were employed in manufacturing roles in each of the last five years.
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 23rd February is attached.
Pursuant to Answer of 6 February 2026 to Question 109497 on Energy: Manufacturing Industries, what estimate he has made of the additional electricity generation capacity resulting from investments made through the National Wealth Fund.
The UK's National Wealth Fund (NWF) has estimated that its portfolio of investments will deliver an additional 6.4 GW of clean energy generation capacity across solar, wind, nuclear, and other technologies. A significant portion of this comes from the Fund's commitment of up to £36.6 billion for the Sizewell C nuclear power station, which is projected to provide 3.2 GW of additional low-carbon baseload generation capacity by the mid-2030s.NWF is also investing in the storage and transmission capacity needed to enable additional generation capacity, including investments to deliver 7 GW of distributed storage and 4 GW of transmission upgrades.NWF recently provided investment in the Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm; a 92.5 MW demonstrator project to prove out a technology which has the potential to deliver 24 GW of clean generation capacity in Scotland alone. This investment was provided alongside Great British Energy (GBE).GBE will play a key role alongside the National Wealth Fund in driving the private investment needed to deliver our Clean Energy Mission, with an ambition to deliver at least 15 GW in clean energy generation and storage capacity by 2030 - enough to power the equivalent of almost 10 million homes.
What steps he is taking to help improve the (a) resilience and (b) reliability of the electricity distribution network.
Government works closely with industry, regulators and other stakeholders to continually improve and maintain the resilience and reliability of electricity infrastructure, networks and assets. This is to reduce vulnerabilities and ensure an effective response to actual or potentially disruptive incidents. Energy resilience is a top priority for Government which is why my Department will publish an Energy Resilience Strategy in 2026.
What recent assessment he has made of the viability of expanding the utilisation of compressed air energy storage in the energy grid.
There is already 2.8GW of pumped storage hydropower (PSH) on the GB electricity system, which is a form of Long Duration Electricity Storage (LDES). The government agrees that GB needs more LDES, which is why the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan envisages an expansion of capacity of 1.2 to 3.2 GW by 2030 compared to today’s level and also why the National Electricity System Operator (NESO) has published advice that 2.7 to 7.7 GW more LDES is required by 2035 compared to today’s level. In October 2024, this government brought in the LDES cap and floor investment support scheme to deliver new LDES capacity. The scheme is being delivered by Ofgem and is technology neutral (and so could support a number of LDES technologies, including those referenced in the questions). Ofgem plans to consult this spring on the LDES projects it is minded to grant a cap and floor scheme to from its first LDES allocation round.