Written questions by Stephenson.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of hectares of forestry land that will be made available for energy generation, in the context of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

The forestry renewables measure, announced as part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, aims to integrate renewable energy into our natural landscape. Provisions will be in place to ensure that renewable energy developments on forestry land are not at the expense of our natural environment. Forestry England’s general duty to promote the interests of forestry and development of afforestation, as set out by the Forestry Act, will be unchanged. The Public Forest Estate comprises a mixture of woodland and non-woodland areas. Only projects at suitable locations within the Public Forest Estate will be taken forward to deliver energy generation projects. Renewable energy developments will be subject to the planning process which will include environmental screening, surveys, and mitigation measures on any potential impacts on landscapes and ecology. The estimated footprint of these projects will be relatively small, and we expect no net loss of woodland area.

Communities and Local Government, whether Environmental Delivery Plans will support the use of nature-based solutions to tackle flooding.

When implementing Environmental Delivery Plans, Natural England will be able to use nature-based solutions, as well as other appropriate interventions, in their efforts to maximise the impact of conservation measures in addressing the negative effects of development.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to provide guidance to forestry authorities on prioritising energy generation in the context of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

The forestry renewables measure, announced as part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, aims to integrate renewable energy into our natural landscape. Provisions will be in place to ensure that renewable energy developments on forestry land are not at the expense of our natural environment. Forestry England’s general duty to promote the interests of forestry and development of afforestation, as set out by the Forestry Act, will be unchanged. The Public Forest Estate comprises a mixture of woodland and non-woodland areas. Only projects at suitable locations within the Public Forest Estate will be taken forward to deliver energy generation projects. Renewable energy developments will be subject to the planning process which will include environmental screening, surveys, and mitigation measures on any potential impacts on landscapes and ecology. The estimated footprint of these projects will be relatively small, and we expect no net loss of woodland area.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment on the potential impact of Environmental Delivery Plans on levels of access to nature.

Through the delivery of conservation measures, Environmental Delivery Plans provide the opportunity to improve access to nature. The scale of improvement will depend on the local context and circumstances.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to clause 49(7)(b) of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, what would happen to projects not completed as part of the environmental delivery plan at the end of the specified period.

Where a developer has been granted permission relying on the payment of the Nature Restoration Levy, Natural England will be responsible for securing the necessary conservation measures to outweigh the negative effects of the development. This model does not require development benefiting from the Environmental Delivery Plan to be completed before the end date of the Environmental Delivery Plan.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to clause 49(7)(b) of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, what would happen to funds provided by developers towards environmental delivery plans that are unspent at the conclusion of the environmental delivery plan period.

The Nature Restoration Levy will be set to secure the conservation measures necessary to outweigh the negative effect of development covered by the Environmental Delivery Plan. In the event that there are unspent funds that are not required to secure the conservation measures under the Environmental Delivery Plan, these funds will be directed towards additional conservations measures and securing additional positive environmental outcomes. Should the Environmental Delivery Plan period elapse before this outcome is achieved, the funds will continue to be invested until the required environmental outcome is achieved.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Environment Agency's data entitled New national flood and coastal erosion risk information, updated on 28 January 2025.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Questions UIN 29949 on 19 February 2025.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2025 to Question 30736 on Local Government: Employers' Contributions and with reference to paragraph 5.48 of Bedford Borough Council Executive's report entitled General Fund Revenue Budget 2025/2026, dated 22 January 2025, and paragraph 1.5.3 of Central Bedfordshire Council's report entitled Budget Report 2025/26 to 2028/29, dated December 2024, for what reasons the additional funding for employer National Insurance contributions paid to (a) Bedford Borough Council is £500,000 less than the estimated total cost for directly employed employees and (b) Central Bedfordshire Council is £1.2m less than the estimated additional cost for Central Bedfordshire Council staff.

Additional funding for employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) has been determined based on a national assessment of the costs for directly employed staff. The grant distribution methodology has been published in an explanatory note on the government website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-explanatory-note-on-the-employer-national-insurance-contribution-grant-2025-to-2026.We recognise the challenges that local authorities are facing as demand increases for critical services. That is why the government is providing an additional £2 billion of grant funding through the Settlement, which includes £502 million of additional grant funding to manage the impact of employer NICs changes on council budgets, and £13 million for combined authorities, totalling £515 million. The final Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to require developers to complete flood defences committed to at planning stage in areas at risk of flooding within a mandated time period.

Local planning authorities are responsible for ensuring compliance with planning permissions and conditions, including monitoring and taking enforcement action if necessary. National planning guidance makes clear that where flood risk management infrastructure such as flood defences form part of the strategy for addressing flood risk, strategic and site-specific flood risk assessments should identify how this infrastructure will be operated, funded and maintained.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to help grow the forestry sector in Bedfordshire.

Defra is funding a significant package of grants and activity across England to increase tree coverage and support the forestry sector. This includes funding a national network of fifteen Community Forests. These Forests are planting thousands of hectares of new trees and woodland in and around our towns and cities providing social, economic and environmental transformation. The Forest of Marston Vale is one of this network with tree planting sites in Bedfordshire. On 27 February 2025 the Government also relaunched the Timber in Construction Roadmap. The Roadmap will boost the forestry sector across England by encouraging the use of sustainable, low carbon building materials, fulfilling Government’s commitment to 1.5million homes, creating a circular economy and accelerating economic growth. These actions will go alongside recommitting to existing plans such as promoting timber as a construction material, boosting skills and capacity across the supply chain and increasing the supply of sustainable timber products.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees he plans to plant in Bedfordshire as part of plans to increase woodland cover.

Tree planting grant schemes are demand led so it is not generally possible to state where the trees will be newly planted, although a range of sensitivities will prevent permission to plant being granted in some locations. Additional planting will be dependent on future applications. The Forestry Commission publishes statistics on new planting of woodland, and trees outside woodland, in England. These can be found in Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators. These statistics are reported for each financial year in thousands of hectares. This government has not set specific targets for individual constituencies and the reporting statistic the hon. Member has requested is not currently available. The statistics are produced annually and show recorded new planting from administrative records and grant schemes with estimates for planting without grant aid.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's guidance entitled, Plan for Neighbourhoods: prospectus, updated on 12 March 2025, whether there will be further rounds of funding available for towns not selected in this round.

The new £1.5 billion Plan for Neighbourhoods will deliver up to £20 million of funding and support over the next decade into 75 communities across the UK, a long-term commitment to building the foundations to kickstart local growth and drive-up living standards.Through the Plan for Neighbourhoods, the locations and associated funding will remain the same as under the Long-Term Plan for Towns. We are delivering on what places were promised by the previous government, during the last Parliament.There are no plans to expand the programme at this time, this would be a decision for the upcoming Spending Review. The Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Minister have been clear that the Spending Review will need to support the delivery of the government’s plan for a decade of national renewal and raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department’s Plan for Neighbourhoods: prospectus, updated on 13 March 2025, on what basis local authorities in Bedfordshire were excluded from selection.

The Plan for Neighbourhoods was launched on 4 March. The 75 places across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were chosen via a selection methodology that has been published in the Plan for Neighbourhoods prospectus. The metrics used for selection included indices of multiple deprivation, healthy life expectancy, skill level, and Gross Value Added per hour worked. As well as this, eligible places had to have a population size of between 20,000 and 100,000.All 75 towns across the UK that were originally selected to receive Long-Term Plan for Towns funding will receive the Plan for Neighbourhoods package. We are making good on those commitments, giving each of the 75 places the certainty that they will receive up to £20 million of funding and support over the next decade.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2025 to Question 26862 on New Towns Taskforce, how the taskforce will work in partnership with local leaders and communities.

The Taskforce is reviewing responses to its December call for evidence and will be working with local partners to consider potential new town locations ahead of making its recommendations to ministers this summer.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions the New Towns Taskforce has had with relevant stakeholders on access to banking services in new towns.

The government recognises the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets across the UK and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority.As set out in its Terms of Reference, which can be found on gov.uk here, the New Towns Taskforce has been tasked with identifying the infrastructure, public and private services, and green space required to enable the creation of well-connected new towns in potential locations.The taskforce has developed draft principles which should provide the building blocks for every new town. These were published in the Building new towns for the future policy paper published on 12 February which can be found on gov.uk here.The Taskforce also plans to undertake a series of engagement events to understand what the public think the core components of new towns should be and to further test the design and placemaking principles published in the policy paper.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Forestry and Arboriculture Training Fund will support courses available in Bedfordshire.

The Forestry and Arboriculture Training Fund is currently closed for applications. The Forestry Commission is collecting feedback from those who have attended the course and will be working with key stakeholders to deliver the Forestry Sector Skills Plan.

With reference to her Department's news story entitled New powers for police to tackle neighbourhood crime, how many of the 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing roles will be in Bedfordshire.

The Government has committed to restoring neighbourhood policing through the delivery of a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee. This includes putting 13,000 more police personnel on the beat in neighbourhood policing roles up and down the country. Every part of the country needs to benefit from this pledge, including Bedfordshire, who have been allocated £1,803,234 funding in 2025/26 to bolster their neighbourhood policing teams.Our approach to delivery in 2025/26, which will be year 1 of a 4-year programme, is designed to deliver an initial increase to the neighbourhood policing workforce in a manner that is flexible, and can be adapted to the local context and varied crime demands. This means the precise workforce mix is a local decision.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 28604 on Construction: Employers' Contributions, whether he has held discussions with the construction industry on the potential impact of changes to employers’ National Insurance contributions on the workforce available to that industry.

The vast majority of firms in the construction sector are small or microbusinesses, which will see no gain or change overall. The Government has protected small businesses and charities from the impact of the increase to Employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, and 865,000 employers will pay no NICs in 2025-26. Eligible employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.

Communities and Local Government, whether changing the minimum voting age would necessitate a change in the minimum age for voter registration.

The government is committed to delivering on the manifesto commitment to give 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote in all elections during this Parliament, strengthening our democracy, empowering young people to participate and building an informed and empowered electorate. We want young people to find their voice and exercise their right to vote – registering to vote is a vital first step towards doing that.This will be a major change to the electoral franchise. We are working across government and with a wide range of stakeholders to design and implement the change effectively. We are considering what other measures may be required in the implementation of this change to ensure young people have the tools they need and feel empowered to both register to vote and to vote, including the minimum age for voter registration.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of changes to employers’ National Insurance contributions on the armed forces.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 February 2025 to Question 27805 to the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe).