Written questions by Slade.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department holds up-to-date data on the number of fires linked to (a) disposable and (b) single-use barbecues.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) collects data on incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs), with this data including the cause of the fire and the source of ignition. This data is published in a variety of publications, available on gov.uk here.Data collected through the Incident Recording System (IRS) does include data on whether primary fire incidents attended were caused by barbecues. However, it does not include data on the type of barbecue, for example if it was disposable or single-use.In the latest statistics published on cause of fire, for year ending March 2024, of 46,135 accidental primary fires, 242 were started by barbecues.We are reviewing the IRS, and the data it collects, and considering what categories to record in the future.

What steps he is taking to (a) include support for adults with autism and (b) help support (i) Integrated Care Boards and (ii) local hospital trusts with supporting adults with autism through the NHS 10 year plan.

The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts the 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 supporting people with a range of conditions such as autism, in all parts of the country.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has plans to extend Section 5 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to apply to housing associations undertaking public sector contracts; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of this on the (a) (i) accountability and (ii) transparency of these contracts and (ii) accessibility of information relating to social housing.

The government is committed to increasing accountability and transparency in the social rented sector.We will direct the Regulator of Social Housing (‘the regulator’) to introduce new Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs) for private providers of social housing, including housing associations, to enable residents to request information about their housing management.All registered providers of social housing are already required to deliver the outcomes of the regulator’s Transparency, Influence and Accountability standard, which requires registered providers to ensure that communication with and information for tenants is clear, accessible, relevant, timely and appropriate to the diverse needs of tenants.

How many offenders convicted of non-sexual offences against children have been released under early release schemes; and what steps her Department is taking to supervise those offenders.

This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We were forced to take decisive action to prevent overcrowding and protect the public. Certain offences have been excluded from the SDS change including sex offences irrespective of sentence length; serious violent offences with a sentence of four years or more; specified offences linked to domestic abuse irrespective of sentence length (including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation); as well as offences concerning national security.Offenders released are subject to strict licence conditions, including curfews, exclusion zones, and regular supervision by the Probation Service. Any breach of these conditions can result in immediate recall to custody.We have published SDS40 release data alongside the quarterly Offender Management Statistics: Standard Determinate Sentence (SDS40) release data - GOV.UK.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Supreme Court ruling of [2025] UKSC 16, 16 April 2025, on levels of provision of (a) services, (b) healthcare and (c) workplace facilities for trans people; and what steps she is taking to support trans people who cannot access those services.

The Government has set out our expectation that organisations follow the clarity the Supreme Court ruling provides. The EHRC has committed to support organisations with its updated statutory Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations which they are consulting on. We encourage people to ensure their views are heard by submitting a response to the consultation which launched on Tuesday 20th May.Trans people should have access to the services and facilities they need. It is also vitally important that trans people receive the care and support they need when accessing NHS services, and that they are treated with dignity and respect.

Whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of taxing high-polluting corporations to help support net zero initiatives.

The Government is committed to maintaining an ambitious carbon pricing scheme to ensure that polluters continue to pay for their emissions. The UK’s main carbon pricing scheme is the Emissions Trading Scheme, which covers emissions from power generation, energy intensive industries and aviation (domestic, UK-EEA and UK-Gibraltar flights). The ETS is one of the most cost-effective tools for promoting decarbonisation and plays a key role in helping the UK achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050. The UK ETS raised approximately £3.5bn in revenue in 2024/25.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to increase funding for emergency services.

The Government is committed to supporting our vital emergency services.That is why in 2025/26 we have increased health spending by £22.6 billion relative to 2023/24, policing funding by £1.1 billion and standalone Fire and Rescue Authorities by £65.5 million compared to 2024/25.Funding settlements for emergency services over the next three years will be set out in June’s Spending Review.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of methodological changes to the classification of certain types of accommodation between the 2011 and 2021 censuses by the Office for National Statistics on local authorities' Housing Delivery Test results.

The established methodology for official statistics on housing supply utilises the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) census to improve the quality and reliability of these statistics. The census dwelling count is subject to intensive validation processes and address matching and provides the baseline for the net additional dwellings statistics. A comparison of total dwelling stock counts between the 2021 and 2011 censuses led to adjustments to some of the net additional dwellings figures, which are used as the basis for the Housing Delivery Test (HDT). This only affected the 2020/21 delivery year in the latest HDT 2023 statistics. Following discussions with the ONS and with some relevant local authorities, we believe that in limited and specific cases these census adjusted figures are not appropriate to use for the purposes of the HDT. We are therefore in contact with relevant local authorities and have issued recalculations where needed.

Communities and Local Government, when her Department will publish the response to the consultation entitled Enabling remote attendance and proxy voting at local authority meetings, which closed on 19 December 2024.

Our consultation on remote attendance and proxy voting closed on 19 December, and results will be published in due course. The consultation aimed to consider how to support the local government sector to modernise democratic engagement and remove unnecessary barriers to participation.

Whether the Office for Students will be required to provide a third category for registration; and whether this will take into account the specialised environments of small specialist providers.

I refer the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole to the answer of 18 March 2025 to Question 36617.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of excluding CCTV systems used for security purposes from business rates valuations.

At the Autumn Budget, the government published the Transforming Business Rates Discussion Paper, which sets out priority areas for reform. This paper invites industry to help co-design a fairer business rates system that supports investment and is fit for the 21st century. In summer, the Government will publish an interim report that sets out a clear direction of travel for the business rates system, with further policy detail to follow at Autumn Budget 2025. Improvement Relief was introduced in April 2024 and provides 12 months of relief for qualifying improvements to a property, including installation of CCTV where this increases a property’s RV.

Whether she plans to review the thresholds for Small Business Rate Relief to reflect changes in rateable values ahead of the 2026 revaluation.

Currently, Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) is available to businesses with a single property below a set rateable value. Eligible properties under £12,000 will receive 100 per cent relief, which means over a third of businesses in England (more than 700,000) pay no business rates at all. There is also tapered support available to properties valued between £12,000 and £15,000, which an additional c.60,000 businesses benefit from. The Government is committed to retaining SBRR, which is a permanent relief set down in legislation. As highlighted in the Transforming Business Rates Discussion Paper published at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government is interested in hearing stakeholders’ views on the extent to which the current system acts as a barrier to investment and specifically, whether the current eligibility criteria for SBRR impacts businesses' incentives to invest and expand into a second property.

How much funding her Department plans to provide for (a) dance, (b) drama, (c) music and (d) musical theatre higher education courses in each of the next three years.

The department is determined that the higher education (HE) funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students. The HE sector needs a secure financial footing, which is why, after seven years of frozen fee caps under the previous government, we took last year the difficult decision to increase maximum tuition fee limits for the 2025/26 academic year by 3.1%, in line with the forecast rate of inflation.In return for the increased investment we are asking students to make we expect the sector to deliver the very best outcomes, both for those students and for the country.Additionally, the government provides annual funding to the HE sector through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), which supports teaching of expensive-to-deliver subjects, access and participation and world-leading specialist providers.My right hon. Friend, The Secretary of State for Education will shortly issue guidance to the Office for Students, setting out SPG funding for the 2025/26 academic year and her priorities for it. Funding for subsequent years will be agreed following the government’s spending review.

Innovation and Technology, what estimate he has made of the (a) quality and (b) total area coverage area for (i) 5G and (ii) other wireless data reception in Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency; and what steps he is taking to help improve 5G coverage in those areas.

According to Ofcom’s Connected Nations report (published on 5 December 2024) 92% of the Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency has 4G geographic coverage from all four mobile operators, while 85% of the constituency has 5G geographic coverage from at least one operator. I have raised my concerns about the accuracy of their coverage reporting with Ofcom and I welcome their continuing efforts to make improvements.The government wants all areas of the UK to benefit from good quality mobile coverage. Our ambition is for all populated areas, including communities in Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency, to have higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030.Improving 5G coverage is primarily the responsibility of the mobile network operators, but we continue to challenge and work with the mobile industry and are committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework to support investment and competition in the market.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that the funding made available to ICBs for primary care can be used by GP surgeries to develop plans for premises improvement that will extend beyond the financial year in which an application is submitted.

The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future and recognises the importance of strategic, value for money investments in capital projects, such as new facilities, significant upgrades, or other targeted capital investments to ensure we have world class infrastructure across the entire NHS estate.At a local level, the relevant integrated care board is responsible for deciding how the NHS budget for its area is spent and for allocating funding according to local priorities, such as new general practice (GP) surgeries or integrated care centres/neighbourhood hubs.At the Autumn Budget, we established a dedicated capital fund of £102 million to deliver approximately 200 upgrade schemes to GP surgeries across England, supporting the improved use of existing buildings and space, boosting productivity, and enabling delivery of more appointments. This funding represents a first step in delivering the additional capital the primary care sector needs.Further support for NHS organisations delivering local and national priorities beyond this financial year is being considered in the 10-Year Health Plan and as part of phase 2 of the Spending Review.

Innovation and Technology, what progress he has made on the Shared Rural Network (SRN) since July 2024; and what SRN projects are underway in Mid Dorset and North Poole constituency.

Since July 2024, we have activated 40 government funded masts under the Shared Rural Network, providing new 4G coverage to rural communities across Great Britain. At the end of 2024 Ofcom confirmed that the programme had also hit its objective of helping to deliver 95% coverage a year ahead of schedule. In Mid Dorset and North Poole, outdoor 4G coverage from all four operators has increased to 92% up from 85% since the programme begun in March 2020. There will not be any further coverage improvements from the Shared Rural Network in Mid Dorset and North Poole.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in protecting artists against breaches of artistic copyright by AI models.

The Department has not made its own assessment of the effectiveness of the Berne Convention in relation to AI models.However, a recent meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which is responsible for the Berne Convention, included a session on the use of artistic and other copyright works by AI models.The UK participated in this session and will continue to engage with WIPO and with other international partners as we consider the way forward on this important topic.

What estimate she has made of the savings to her Department from the withdrawal of funding for non-specialist assistive software through the Disabled Students' Allowance.

Funding under the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) is in general not available for goods and services that may be needed by the general student population, whether disabled or not. The department has withdrawn funding for non-specialist software as this falls outside the scope of the DSA. We will monitor the savings from the implementation of this policy.This policy change relates to non-specialist spelling and grammar software only. The decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from DSA funding was made on the grounds that there are now free to access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs, and it is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through the DSA.

Which groups were consulted on the withdrawal of funding for non-specialist assistive software through the Disabled Students' Allowance.

The department engaged with individual disability experts with relevant experience to gather feedback on the proposals. These experts were consulted in a personal capacity, and the department is therefore not able to provide their personal information.This policy change relates to non-specialist spelling and grammar software only. The decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) funding was made on the grounds that there are now free to access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs, and it is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through DSA.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the benefit of including the Garden Trust as a statutory consultee to planning decisions.

The Gardens Trust is currently a statutory consultee on “development likely to affect all registered gardens or parks”. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).