Written questions by Cocking.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to make it easier for local planning authorities to decline repeat applications for development that has already been refused.

Under Sections 70A and 70B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, local planning authorities already have powers to decline to determine applications if they have previously refused permission for two or more substantially similar applications on the same site, or if a substantially similar application has been rejected by the Secretary of State on appeal or following call-in, within the past two years.

Communities and Local Government, whether it is his Department's policy that neighbouring local authorities will be consulted before new towns are built.

I refer the hon. Member to the independent New Towns Taskforce final report as well as the government’s initial response to it. Both can be found on gov.uk here.

How much funding has been provided to schools to support pupils for whom English is an additional language in each of the last three years.

Schools attract additional funding through the English as an additional language (EAL) factor in the schools national funding formula (NFF), for pupils recorded as having entered state education in England during the last three years, and whose first language is not English.The below table sets out the proportion of funding provided through the EAL factor in the NFF from 2023/24 financial year to 2025/26 financial year.YearProportion of total funding through NFF2025/26 financial year1.1%2024/25 financial year1.1%2023/24 financial year1.0%The NFF is used to allocate funding to local authorities. How much individual schools receive depends on their local authority’s local funding formula.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) illegal waste dumping and (b) fly-tipping on rural communities.

While no recent assessment has been made, we appreciate the difficulty that illegal waste dumping and fly-tipping poses to rural communities. We work with a wide range of parties through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group, which involves the Environment Agency (EA) and National Farmers Union, to promote and disseminate good practice, including how to prevent fly-tipping on private land. We are making policy and regulatory reforms to close loopholes exploited by criminals - fundamentally reforming the waste carriers, brokers and dealers system, tightening waste permit exemptions and introducing digital waste tracking. We have increased EA’s budget for waste crime enforcement by over 50% this year to £15.6m enabling the EA to increase its frontline criminal enforcement resource in the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and area environmental crime teams by the equivalent of 43 full-time staff. We encourage local authorities to make good use of their enforcement powers which include prosecution. On conviction, a cost order can be made by the court so that a landowner’s costs can be recovered from the perpetrator. We are also reviewing local authority powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.

What assessment she has made of the projected fiscal impact of net migration on public spending over the next five years.

The OBR is the government’s official economic and fiscal forecaster. Box 4.5 of the OBR’s published Economic and Fiscal Outlook in March 2024 sets out estimated impacts of migration on the fiscal forecast. The OBR will produce updated economic and fiscal forecasts in its Economic and Fiscal Outlook, which will be published alongside the Budget on 26 November.

Whether her Department plans to publish more detailed statistics on criminal convictions among people with pending asylum claims.

The requested data on offences involving asylum-seekers is not currently published by the Home Office.As explained in this note published in April, systems for collecting and compiling data related to foreign national offenders in the immigration system are currently undergoing a redesign. The Home Office is currently working towards a release of this data. At this stage, we are not in a position to detail what this will contain or the exact timing of the release.Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of offering publicly funded (a) services and (b) activities to asylum seekers on local community cohesion.

The Home Office are responsible for asylum policy and the support provided to asylum seekers while they await the outcome of their asylum claim. The department has not carried out an assessment of the impact of providing publicly funded services and activities to asylum seekers. On community cohesion more broadly, we are committed to bridging divisions between communities and challenging hatred, and we continue to work closely with community groups, charities, and public sector partners to achieve this. That is why MHCLG has launched a landmark £5 billion Pride in Place programme — backing the true patriots who build their communities up and choose unity over division.

How much was spent on benefit payments to foreign nationals in the 2024-2025 financial year.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

How many prisoners released early under automatic release provisions have subsequently been reconvicted.

This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We have had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.Whilst this change provided the intended medium-term relief, it was only ever a temporary change to bridge to a more sustainable solution. The Sentencing Bill has now been introduced to ensure we never run out of prison space again.Our initial operational insights suggested there was not a significant change to the use and application of recall since the implementation of SDS40. We will, however, continue to monitor this.Proven reoffending rates are published regularly on an annual and quarterly basis. The most recent rates are available at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics

How many recorded offences involved individuals with pending asylum applications in the last 12 months.

The requested data on offences involving asylum-seekers is not currently published by the Home Office.As explained in this note published in April, systems for collecting and compiling data related to foreign national offenders in the immigration system are currently undergoing a redesign. The Home Office is currently working towards a release of this data. At this stage, we are not in a position to detail what this will contain or the exact timing of the release.Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.

Communities and Local Government, what data his Department holds on the number of newly built homes purchased by non-UK nationals in each of the last five years.

My Department does not hold data on new built homes purchased by non-UK nationals.Overseas entities who want to buy, sell, or transfer property or land in the UK, must register with Companies House and declare who their registrable beneficial owners or managing officers are.Data on property ownership by overseas companies in England and Wales is published by HM Land Registry and is publicly available on gov.uk.

What estimate she has made of the number of individuals working without the legal right to do so in each of the last five years.

The Home Office does not hold an estimate of the number of individuals working without the legal right to do so. Details of Immigration Enforcement activity to tackle illegal employment in the UK can be found in the Home Office’s published transparency data: Illegal working and enforcement activity to the end of September 2025 - GOV.UK

Whether her Department holds data on (a) taxes paid and (b) the cost of public services used by migrants who have arrived in the UK within the last 10 years.

HMRC does not hold aggregate data on the taxes paid by migrants who have arrived in the UK within the last 10 years. HMRC does hold data on the nationality reported by individuals at the point of National Insurance number registration, for adult National Insurance number registrations. This data is used to produce statistics on UK payrolled employments by nationality, region, industry, age and sex. UK public spending covers a wide range of areas, including public services and infrastructure that are public goods. All groups in society benefit from these areas of public spending. In addition, some public provision is at a family or household level. It is therefore not possible to distinguish spending per person between migrant and non-migrants

What estimate she has made of the cost to the NHS of providing healthcare to (a) asylum seekers and (b) refugees in the last financial year.

The Department and NHS England do not hold the information requested.

If he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the abolition of NHS England on the Neurology Transformation Programme.

NHS England’s Neurology Transformation Programme will be concluding at the end of this financial year. By this time, we will have delivered all of the products, tools, and best practice guidance to support integrated care boards and local pathfinders to transform neurology services at a local level. Expert clinical advice and support will continue to be available during 2026/27 to support local transformation.As we bring together the Department and NHS England to form a new joint centre, we will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for patients, including for people with neurological conditions, driving productivity up and getting waiting times down. By the end of the process, we estimate that these changes will save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested in frontline services.We continue to take forward the Government’s ambitious reform agenda as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, which will deliver the three big shifts our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving neurological care for people in all parts of the country. More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all support people to manage their long-term conditions, including neurological conditions, closer to home.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77757 on Multiple Myeloma: Diagnosis, when the NHS will fully implement non-specific symptom pathways for the purpose of earlier diagnosis of blood cancers.

We recognise that there is more to be done to ensure that every patient receives fast and early diagnosis, including patients with harder to stage cancers, such as myeloma.The National Health Service has fully implemented non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England with blood cancers being one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.Diagnosing cancer earlier is a key focus of the forthcoming National Cancer Plan, which will build on the shifts in care set out in the 10-Year Health Plan to diagnose cancers earlier.

What assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of net zero policies on Scotland's oil and gas sector.

I’m due to be in Aberdeen next week to meet a range of North Sea oil and gas operators.The Government is clear that Scotland’s oil and gas industry will remain part of our energy system for decades to come.We are also strengthening our energy security and making Scotland home to the green jobs of the future by investing in homegrown clean power through GB Energy.GB Energy is already investing in Scottish renewables. This includes an investment of £200 million in solar and renewable energy projects on public buildings across the country, and in June, GB Energy also pledged £300 million of investment in offshore wind supply chains, as part of a £1 billion package in collaboration with industry and the Crown Estate.

If she will set out the the policy of the Valuation Office Agency on amending the valuation of (a) schools and (b) hospitals following the installation of rooftop solar panels.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) applies the law as it stands when valuing domestic and non-domestic properties. In relation to solar panels, the legal position is set out in the Rating Manual, which is published on gov.uk: Section 5a: valuation of all property classes - Power generators - Guidance - GOV.UK, in particular Appendix 1: rateability of microgeneration schemes refers.

Pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2025 to Question 44492 on Business Rates: Tax Allowances, if she will list the special category codes for the types of hereditaments whose valuation is assessed (a) in whole and (b) in part on a consideration of the receipts and expenditure of the property.

Special category codes (SCAT) identify the type of property, not the valuation methodology adopted. They cannot be used to identify the valuation method because for some property types a receipts and expenditure, contractor’s or rental comparison methods may all have been used. The valuation methods used for different property types are set out on gov.uk here: Business Rates – Valuation Office Agency

With reference to page 25 of the Valuation Office Agency's document entitled Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, published on 17 July 2025, if she will publish the training manual for the Valuation Operating System for council tax.

The training material the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has produced on the Valuation Operating System is for internal staff use only.