Written questions by Rankin.

Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to publish a consultation on the funding formula for flood defences.

The Government launched a consultation on 3 June on proposals to reform the way we fund flood and coastal defences. Our proposals will help ensure funding is distributed more effectively across the country – protecting properties across all communities including in rural, coastal and poorer areas. The consultation also includes a call for evidence on alternative sources of funding to enable Government funding to go further and opportunities for English devolution to support flood risk management.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Government’s housebuilding target on funding for flood defences after 2026.

We are investing a record £2.65 billion over two years to March 2026. We’ll maintain the highest levels of flood protection, taking decisive action to fix our broken planning system and deliver 1.5 million homes through our Plan for Change. Funding decisions for after 2026 will be made at the Spending Review.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on implementing Schedule 3 of the Water and Flood Management Act 2010.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues. The Government is strongly committed to requiring standardised Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in new developments. These should be to designs that cope with changing climatic conditions as well as delivering wider water infrastructure benefits, offer reuse opportunities, reduce run off and help to improve water quality, amenity, and biodiversity. It is also important to ensure appropriate adoption and maintenance arrangements are in place.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing support for smart thermostats as part of the Warm Homes Plan.

The Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock into comfortable, low-carbon homes that are fit for the future. We will upgrade up to 5 million homes across the country by accelerating the installation of efficient new technologies like heat pumps, solar, batteries and insulation. By enabling consumers to utilise electricity when it is cheaper, deploying smart electric heating can help reduce consumer bills.Further details on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out in due course.

What discussions his Department has had with Ofgem on enforcing the new capital adequacy requirements on energy suppliers following the end of the transition period in April 2025.

Details of Ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Published declarations include the purpose of the meeting and the names of any additional external organisations or individuals in attendance.

What assessment she has made of the impact of disbanding the Border Force team for illegally imported cash at Heathrow Airport in August 2024.

Border Force have redistributed the teams in question to join other Detection commands. This was done in order to share expertise and thereby increase capability to carry out this important area of work.

How much cash was seized by Border Force at Heathrow Airport for the latest month for which data is available.

The requested information is not available from published statistics.

Pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 41380 on Asylum: Hotels, how many hotels used for the housing of asylum seekers have closed between 21 January 2025 and 31 March 2025.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer he received on the 31 March 2025 to UIN 41380.

Pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 41380, how many asylum hotels have closed between 4 July 2024 and 31 March 2025.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Answer he received on the 31 March 2025 to UIN 41380.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the government of Pakistan on the delivery of a potential international airport in Mirpur, Pakistan.

The delivery of a potential international airport in Mirpur is an internal matter for Pakistani government authorities. Whilst the UK supports the aim of economic development in the region, it is not for the UK to influence decisions around specific infrastructure projects. This issue has not been raised by the Foreign Secretary with Pakistani counterparts.

What steps her Department is taking to increase the availability of driving tests in Windsor.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times. On the 18 December 2024, DVSA set out further plans to reduce driving test waiting times across the country. These steps include recruiting 450 driving examiners (DEs). Full details of these steps can be found on GOV.UK. DVSA continues recruitment for DEs at driving test centres (DTCs) that serve customers in the Windsor constituency and is currently working through the recruitment process from recent campaigns. As part of this, DVSA has had four candidates successfully pass training, with a further four potential new DEs booked-on training programmes. There are also another four potential new DEs currently undergoing checks as part of the recruitment process. DVSA has also been running a recruitment campaign in March and has fourteen vacancies for the area as part of this.

Whether her Department holds data on noise readings from Heathrow Airport on (a) 21 March 2025 and (b) average on other days.

The Department does not hold data on individual noise readings from Heathrow Airport. We expect airports to help local communities understand their noise impacts through monitoring, provision of information and communication. Heathrow publishes a wide range of noise data on its website including real time data from its noise monitors and annual reports which detail its noise impacts.

Representing the House of Commons Commission, if the Commission will make an estimate of the costs of (a) staff time, (b) facilities and (c) any other costs required to host the Youth Select Committee in the House of Commons in the most recent year for which information is available.

To support the running of the Youth Select Committee (YSC), £10k is provided to an external delivery partner. Staff from the House of Commons support the YSC in addition to their existing responsibilities so it is not possible to disaggregate staff time in this way. Facilities used for the YSC were on the parliamentary estate so no additional costs were incurred.

What steps he is taking to encourage transparency from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities when allocating funds for the Horse Race Betting Levy.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is not involved in the allocation of funds from the Horserace Betting Levy (HBL). The HBL is administered by the Horserace Betting Levy Board, an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

With reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Border Security and Asylum of 13 January 2025 on Asylum Hotels, Official Report, column 13, what progress his Department has made on closing nine asylum hotels by end of March 2025.

It remains our absolute commitment to end the use of hotels over time, as part of our reduction in overall asylum accommodation costs.  We do not provide a running commentary on hotel numbers, but by the end of March there will be fewer hotels open than when this Government took office.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the closure of the Border Inspection Post at Stansted Airport on the British horseracing industry; and whether he plans to take steps to ensure horses are able to continue travelling to and from the UK by air.

Defra is aware that Stansted has signalled an intention to relocate its Border Inspection Post to another site and that the timing of this remains uncertain. This is a commercial decision for the airport’s owners. No application to de-designate the existing site or designate a new site has been received. The Department stands ready to help progress such applications when received.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) help ensure food is not contaminated with horsemeat and (b) improve the traceability of horses in Great Britain.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the national authority responsible for food safety and food hygiene across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The FSA ensures that official controls and legislation for meat safety and traceability are met by deploying staff in every slaughterhouse. The FSA also conducts risk-based, intelligence driven surveillance to monitor food safety and authenticity. It also has a National Food Crime Unit to prevent, detect and investigate food crime. The Government recognises the importance of improving equine traceability. Defra is engaging with industry to consider improvements to this.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to implement a national Digital Equine ID system to ensure the traceability of all horses.

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only. The Government recognises the importance of the equine sector to the UK economy and to improving equine identification and traceability. We have no current plans to implement mandatory digital identification, but we remain in close touch with the industry to look at potential improvements.

Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on reducing barriers to cross-border travel without physical checks for thoroughbred horses since 6 February 2025.

There have been no changes to the rules for importing thoroughbred horses into Great Britain since 6 February 2025. Imports of thoroughbred horses from the European Union do not currently need to enter Great Britain via a Border Control Post and are not subject to physical checks at the border. Guidance on importing horses into Great Britain is available on gov.uk

Media and Sport, what steps the Gambling Commission has taken to ensure compliance with the Growth Duty under Section 108 of the Deregulation Act 2015; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Commission's (a) policies and (b) regulatory activities on economic growth.

The Gambling Commission is required by its statutory functions to strike a balance between supporting the growth of regulated businesses and providing protection for consumers and society. The Commission’s statement of principles for licensing and regulation includes ensuring that unnecessary regulatory burdens are not placed on businesses, prioritising the least intrusive regulatory tools to achieve compliance and ensuring that any regulatory action is proportionate. It also states that the Commission will have regard to promoting economic growth, insofar as it thinks it is consistent with pursuit of the licensing objectives.