Written questions by McMurdock.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his decision letter to council leaders in Essex on local government reorganisation, dated 25 March 2026, when the legislation to cancel Basildon’s 2027 local election will be brought before Parliament.

Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Government intends to implement its decision to create five new unitary councils in Essex through a Structural Changes Order. It is anticipated that this Order will be considered by Parliament in the autumn. As set out in the summary of the local government reorganisation process published in July 2025, and consistent with previous reorganisations including the approach taken for Surrey, that Order will make transitional and electoral arrangements. This will include replacing scheduled elections to councils that are to be abolished with elections to the new unitary councils. Where elections would otherwise take place, councillors’ terms are instead extended for a short, defined period, ensuring continuity of democratic representation while avoiding elections that would result in very short terms of office. Replacing those elections with all‑out elections to the new councils supports an orderly transition and provides clarity about future governance arrangements. Until the Structural Changes Order comes into force and the existing councils are abolished on 1 April 2028, current councils will remain responsible for services in their areas, and the usual arrangements, including for by‑elections where vacancies arise, will continue to apply. In taking these decisions, the Secretary of State had regard to all representations received, including consultation responses, and all other relevant information available.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his decision letter to council leaders in Essex on local government reorganisation, dated 25 March 2026, if he will list who he consulted before deciding to cancel the 2027 Basildon council election.

Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Government intends to implement its decision to create five new unitary councils in Essex through a Structural Changes Order. It is anticipated that this Order will be considered by Parliament in the autumn. As set out in the summary of the local government reorganisation process published in July 2025, and consistent with previous reorganisations including the approach taken for Surrey, that Order will make transitional and electoral arrangements. This will include replacing scheduled elections to councils that are to be abolished with elections to the new unitary councils. Where elections would otherwise take place, councillors’ terms are instead extended for a short, defined period, ensuring continuity of democratic representation while avoiding elections that would result in very short terms of office. Replacing those elections with all‑out elections to the new councils supports an orderly transition and provides clarity about future governance arrangements. Until the Structural Changes Order comes into force and the existing councils are abolished on 1 April 2028, current councils will remain responsible for services in their areas, and the usual arrangements, including for by‑elections where vacancies arise, will continue to apply. In taking these decisions, the Secretary of State had regard to all representations received, including consultation responses, and all other relevant information available.

Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, whether she plans to take steps to ensure that the Local News Fund is not disproportionately allocated to large media groups.

As part of Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan, the Government is launching a Local News Fund worth £6m in 2026/27 and up to a further £6m in 2027/28, to help ensure the long term provision of local news. Local media faces a complex range of challenges, and funding represents just one aspect of our approach. It will help the industry adapt in the short-medium term, before longer term measures set out in the Plan begin to take effect in helping enable a free, plural and thriving online local media ecosystem. Funding will be distributed to local media outlets in print, online, radio or television, according to the outcomes of a competitive bidding process. Prospective bidders will need to meet specific qualifying criteria, central to which will be that the provision of local news is a primary purpose of the organisation. Funding decisions will be supported by an independent Steering Board of external industry experts, to ensure a degree of independence in government decisions about funding media outlets. In accordance with the Government’s wider support for freedom and plurality of local media, we will not be linking grant awards to the provision of certain types of coverage or political impartiality. Further detail on the Fund will be announced in the coming weeks.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the press release entitled Ministers rip up consultation culture, published on 26 March 2026, what differences will exist between Environmental Impact Assessments and Environmental Outcomes Reports in terms of scope and scrutiny.

I refer the hon. Member to the Environmental Outcomes Reports: Roadmap to reform published on 13 March 2026, which can be found on gov.uk here, and the response to the previous government’s March 2023 consultation on Environmental Outcomes Reports, which can be found on gov.uk here.

Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, what criteria will be used to determine which outlets receive Government advertising under the action plan.

The Government understands that many news publishers, particularly at the local level, are operating in a challenging advertising environment. In our recently published Local Media Action Plan, we announced plans to support local media outlets across the UK. This included our commitment to make the best use of local media in government advertising campaigns, where this helps us reach our target audience and is a good fit for each campaign.We are planning a package of measures to fulfil this commitment, including supporting independent local radio and smaller online news publishers to develop standards to better measure their audiences, so they can compete more effectively in the advertising market and carry government advertising, and championing local media as a high quality channel for commercial advertising, by demonstrating its value to the government marketing community through case studies and allowing these to be shared more widely. Government Communications takes an audience first approach and carefully considers which platforms can help us reach those we need to speak to. It may be the case that these audiences are reachable through existing channels. We keep our approach to reaching audiences under regular review, and undertake assessments of platforms as needed.

Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, what proportion of funding she expects to be allocated to independent, hyperlocal or start-up news organisations.

As part of Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan, the Government is launching a Local News Fund worth £6m in 2026/27 and up to a further £6m in 2027/28, to help ensure the long term provision of local news. Local media faces a complex range of challenges, and funding represents just one aspect of our approach. It will help the industry adapt in the short-medium term, before longer term measures set out in the Plan begin to take effect in helping enable a free, plural and thriving online local media ecosystem. Funding will be distributed to local media outlets in print, online, radio or television, according to the outcomes of a competitive bidding process. Prospective bidders will need to meet specific qualifying criteria, central to which will be that the provision of local news is a primary purpose of the organisation. Funding decisions will be supported by an independent Steering Board of external industry experts, to ensure a degree of independence in government decisions about funding media outlets. In accordance with the Government’s wider support for freedom and plurality of local media, we will not be linking grant awards to the provision of certain types of coverage or political impartiality. Further detail on the Fund will be announced in the coming weeks.

Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, whether she has assessed the risk that action plan funding could reinforce existing market concentration in the local media sector.

As part of Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan, the Government is launching a Local News Fund worth £6m in 2026/27 and up to a further £6m in 2027/28, to help ensure the long term provision of local news. Local media faces a complex range of challenges, and funding represents just one aspect of our approach. It will help the industry adapt in the short-medium term, before longer term measures set out in the Plan begin to take effect in helping enable a free, plural and thriving online local media ecosystem. Funding will be distributed to local media outlets in print, online, radio or television, according to the outcomes of a competitive bidding process. Prospective bidders will need to meet specific qualifying criteria, central to which will be that the provision of local news is a primary purpose of the organisation. Funding decisions will be supported by an independent Steering Board of external industry experts, to ensure a degree of independence in government decisions about funding media outlets. In accordance with the Government’s wider support for freedom and plurality of local media, we will not be linking grant awards to the provision of certain types of coverage or political impartiality. Further detail on the Fund will be announced in the coming weeks.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his decision letter to council leaders in Essex on local government reorganisation, dated 25 March 2026, what assessment he made regarding the expected effectiveness of the delivery of council-run services under the proposed five-council model of Essex compared to its current council structure.

A summary of the decision on local government reorganisation in Essex, Southend-on Sea and Thurrock has been provided. The Department has no plans to publish the advice to Ministers, or minutes of meetings. All proposals were considered carefully, on a case-by-case basis, against the criteria, alongside the responses to the consultation, representations made and all other relevant information. This includes evidence to support the delivery of high-quality public services and estimated costs/benefits of each proposal. The Government has made an unprecedented in-principle commitment of £200m to support Thurrock’s debt repayment and is confident that the five unitary model will be delivered on a financially sustainable basis.

Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the school newspaper initiative.

The Government is committed to ensuring a healthy and plural local media for the benefit of communities and citizens across the UK, and recognises the vital role that local press plays in scrutinising local institutions, and reflecting communities’ views and perspectives. Our recently published Local Media Action Plan will support local media organisations across the country to innovate and adapt their business models for the online world, while incentivising and encouraging the production of high quality, trustworthy news. Our overarching goal is to empower communities through a thriving local media which highlights the issues that matter to them, helping to drive community wellbeing, social cohesion and local growth. In the Action Plan we have made a series of commitments which will help local media, including: investing up to £12m in a new Local News Fund, which will help local media outlets adapt to commercial and technological changes and revive a local news presence in areas where it has retreated; more than doubling community radio funding to £1m a year; launching a new campaign starting in the North West to encourage more young people into journalism careers; and creating a new Regional Media Forum in the West of England, to develop a framework for best practice in scrutiny of local decision-making and public services. We are not planning any initiatives relating to the production of school newspapers. However, we do want to ensure that young people continue to have access to trustworthy and high quality news online from a range of sources. We are working with industry to promote and improve the ‘Newspapers for Schools’ News Library, an existing platform offering digital access to 150 local and national news titles for all state-funded primary and secondary schools in the country.

Media and Sport, pursuant to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, whether she plans to publish an evaluation of the initiative, including participation rates and outcomes for pupils.

The Government is committed to ensuring a healthy and plural local media for the benefit of communities and citizens across the UK, and recognises the vital role that local press plays in scrutinising local institutions, and reflecting communities’ views and perspectives. Our recently published Local Media Action Plan will support local media organisations across the country to innovate and adapt their business models for the online world, while incentivising and encouraging the production of high quality, trustworthy news. Our overarching goal is to empower communities through a thriving local media which highlights the issues that matter to them, helping to drive community wellbeing, social cohesion and local growth. In the Action Plan we have made a series of commitments which will help local media, including: investing up to £12m in a new Local News Fund, which will help local media outlets adapt to commercial and technological changes and revive a local news presence in areas where it has retreated; more than doubling community radio funding to £1m a year; launching a new campaign starting in the North West to encourage more young people into journalism careers; and creating a new Regional Media Forum in the West of England, to develop a framework for best practice in scrutiny of local decision-making and public services. We are not planning any initiatives relating to the production of school newspapers. However, we do want to ensure that young people continue to have access to trustworthy and high quality news online from a range of sources. We are working with industry to promote and improve the ‘Newspapers for Schools’ News Library, an existing platform offering digital access to 150 local and national news titles for all state-funded primary and secondary schools in the country.

Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, what metrics she will use to assess the school newspaper initiative.

The Government is committed to ensuring a healthy and plural local media for the benefit of communities and citizens across the UK, and recognises the vital role that local press plays in scrutinising local institutions, and reflecting communities’ views and perspectives. Our recently published Local Media Action Plan will support local media organisations across the country to innovate and adapt their business models for the online world, while incentivising and encouraging the production of high quality, trustworthy news. Our overarching goal is to empower communities through a thriving local media which highlights the issues that matter to them, helping to drive community wellbeing, social cohesion and local growth. In the Action Plan we have made a series of commitments which will help local media, including: investing up to £12m in a new Local News Fund, which will help local media outlets adapt to commercial and technological changes and revive a local news presence in areas where it has retreated; more than doubling community radio funding to £1m a year; launching a new campaign starting in the North West to encourage more young people into journalism careers; and creating a new Regional Media Forum in the West of England, to develop a framework for best practice in scrutiny of local decision-making and public services. We are not planning any initiatives relating to the production of school newspapers. However, we do want to ensure that young people continue to have access to trustworthy and high quality news online from a range of sources. We are working with industry to promote and improve the ‘Newspapers for Schools’ News Library, an existing platform offering digital access to 150 local and national news titles for all state-funded primary and secondary schools in the country.

Media and Sport, pursuant to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, what steps will be taken to ensure that participation in the initiative does not place additional workload burdens on teachers.

The Government is committed to ensuring a healthy and plural local media for the benefit of communities and citizens across the UK, and recognises the vital role that local press plays in scrutinising local institutions, and reflecting communities’ views and perspectives. Our recently published Local Media Action Plan will support local media organisations across the country to innovate and adapt their business models for the online world, while incentivising and encouraging the production of high quality, trustworthy news. Our overarching goal is to empower communities through a thriving local media which highlights the issues that matter to them, helping to drive community wellbeing, social cohesion and local growth. In the Action Plan we have made a series of commitments which will help local media, including: investing up to £12m in a new Local News Fund, which will help local media outlets adapt to commercial and technological changes and revive a local news presence in areas where it has retreated; more than doubling community radio funding to £1m a year; launching a new campaign starting in the North West to encourage more young people into journalism careers; and creating a new Regional Media Forum in the West of England, to develop a framework for best practice in scrutiny of local decision-making and public services. We are not planning any initiatives relating to the production of school newspapers. However, we do want to ensure that young people continue to have access to trustworthy and high quality news online from a range of sources. We are working with industry to promote and improve the ‘Newspapers for Schools’ News Library, an existing platform offering digital access to 150 local and national news titles for all state-funded primary and secondary schools in the country.

Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, whether she is taking steps to ensure that Government advertising is allocated in an (a) equitable and (b) transparent manner.

The Government understands that many news publishers, particularly at the local level, are operating in a challenging advertising environment. In our recently published Local Media Action Plan, we announced plans to support local media outlets across the UK. This included our commitment to make the best use of local media in government advertising campaigns, where this helps us reach our target audience and is a good fit for each campaign.We are planning a package of measures to fulfil this commitment, including supporting independent local radio and smaller online news publishers to develop standards to better measure their audiences, so they can compete more effectively in the advertising market and carry government advertising, and championing local media as a high quality channel for commercial advertising, by demonstrating its value to the government marketing community through case studies and allowing these to be shared more widely. Government Communications takes an audience first approach and carefully considers which platforms can help us reach those we need to speak to. It may be the case that these audiences are reachable through existing channels. We keep our approach to reaching audiences under regular review, and undertake assessments of platforms as needed.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Drones using AI to spot explosive dangers and help keep soldiers safe, published on 2 April 2026, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for UK defence exports of successful development of AI-enabled drone systems for explosive ordnance detection.

We will not go into specifics on our assessments as this could compromise our ability to successfully take action against these ships, only benefitting our adversaries.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled UK crackdown on vile scam centres steps up with sanctions on illicit crypto network, published 26 March 2026, which Southeast Asian governments, other than Cambodia’s, have the UK government been working with to combat scam centres.

The UK is working with international partners to tackle the threat of cyber-enabled fraud emanating from scam centres in Cambodia, Myanmar, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. We have used sanctions to disrupt the networks behind these illicit activities and, where appropriate, we are providing technical assistance to strengthen the capacity of governments and law enforcement to address this issue. Nevertheless, it is important that we continue to go further, which is why strengthening international cooperation is at the heart of the Government's Fraud Strategy for 2026-29, published on 9 March.We are supportive of actions taken by Governments in Southeast Asia to tackle the threat of scam centres, including most recently in Cambodia. We continue to monitor these efforts and regularly review the latest evidence of the threat of cyber-enabled fraud. This includes assessing emerging trends of displacement into other jurisdictions and our ongoing work to address the issue at a regional level. In regards to funds lost by UK victims of fraud linked to foreign-based scam centres, I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to question 21153 on 18 December 2024.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled UK crackdown on vile scam centres steps up with sanctions on illicit crypto network, published 26 March 2026, whether any diplomatic or economic measures are being considered against countries that fail to act against scam centres targeting British citizens.

The UK is working with international partners to tackle the threat of cyber-enabled fraud emanating from scam centres in Cambodia, Myanmar, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. We have used sanctions to disrupt the networks behind these illicit activities and, where appropriate, we are providing technical assistance to strengthen the capacity of governments and law enforcement to address this issue. Nevertheless, it is important that we continue to go further, which is why strengthening international cooperation is at the heart of the Government's Fraud Strategy for 2026-29, published on 9 March.We are supportive of actions taken by Governments in Southeast Asia to tackle the threat of scam centres, including most recently in Cambodia. We continue to monitor these efforts and regularly review the latest evidence of the threat of cyber-enabled fraud. This includes assessing emerging trends of displacement into other jurisdictions and our ongoing work to address the issue at a regional level. In regards to funds lost by UK victims of fraud linked to foreign-based scam centres, I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to question 21153 on 18 December 2024.

Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, whether recipients of action plan funding will be required to maintain political neutrality.

As part of Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan, the Government is launching a Local News Fund worth £6m in 2026/27 and up to a further £6m in 2027/28, to help ensure the long term provision of local news. Local media faces a complex range of challenges, and funding represents just one aspect of our approach. It will help the industry adapt in the short-medium term, before longer term measures set out in the Plan begin to take effect in helping enable a free, plural and thriving online local media ecosystem. Funding will be distributed to local media outlets in print, online, radio or television, according to the outcomes of a competitive bidding process. Prospective bidders will need to meet specific qualifying criteria, central to which will be that the provision of local news is a primary purpose of the organisation. Funding decisions will be supported by an independent Steering Board of external industry experts, to ensure a degree of independence in government decisions about funding media outlets. In accordance with the Government’s wider support for freedom and plurality of local media, we will not be linking grant awards to the provision of certain types of coverage or political impartiality. Further detail on the Fund will be announced in the coming weeks.

Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, whether action plan funding will be linked to agreements to cover (a) Government policy, (b) public information campaigns or (c) civic messaging.

As part of Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan, the Government is launching a Local News Fund worth £6m in 2026/27 and up to a further £6m in 2027/28, to help ensure the long term provision of local news. Local media faces a complex range of challenges, and funding represents just one aspect of our approach. It will help the industry adapt in the short-medium term, before longer term measures set out in the Plan begin to take effect in helping enable a free, plural and thriving online local media ecosystem. Funding will be distributed to local media outlets in print, online, radio or television, according to the outcomes of a competitive bidding process. Prospective bidders will need to meet specific qualifying criteria, central to which will be that the provision of local news is a primary purpose of the organisation. Funding decisions will be supported by an independent Steering Board of external industry experts, to ensure a degree of independence in government decisions about funding media outlets. In accordance with the Government’s wider support for freedom and plurality of local media, we will not be linking grant awards to the provision of certain types of coverage or political impartiality. Further detail on the Fund will be announced in the coming weeks.

Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Future of news is local, says Culture Secretary, as she launches the first action plan to back local news in a generation, published on 17 March 2026, what proportion of overall central Government advertising expenditure will be redirected to local media by the Local Media Action Plan.

The Government understands that many news publishers, particularly at the local level, are operating in a challenging advertising environment. In our recently published Local Media Action Plan, we announced plans to support local media outlets across the UK. This included our commitment to make the best use of local media in government advertising campaigns, where this helps us reach our target audience and is a good fit for each campaign.We are planning a package of measures to fulfil this commitment, including supporting independent local radio and smaller online news publishers to develop standards to better measure their audiences, so they can compete more effectively in the advertising market and carry government advertising, and championing local media as a high quality channel for commercial advertising, by demonstrating its value to the government marketing community through case studies and allowing these to be shared more widely. Government Communications takes an audience first approach and carefully considers which platforms can help us reach those we need to speak to. It may be the case that these audiences are reachable through existing channels. We keep our approach to reaching audiences under regular review, and undertake assessments of platforms as needed.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his decision letter to council leaders in Essex on local government reorganisation, dated 25 March 2026, what were the reasons for his decision to cancel the 2027 local elections in Basildon.

Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Government intends to implement its decision to create five new unitary councils in Essex through a Structural Changes Order. It is anticipated that this Order will be considered by Parliament in the autumn. As set out in the summary of the local government reorganisation process published in July 2025, and consistent with previous reorganisations including the approach taken for Surrey, that Order will make transitional and electoral arrangements. This will include replacing scheduled elections to councils that are to be abolished with elections to the new unitary councils. Where elections would otherwise take place, councillors’ terms are instead extended for a short, defined period, ensuring continuity of democratic representation while avoiding elections that would result in very short terms of office. Replacing those elections with all‑out elections to the new councils supports an orderly transition and provides clarity about future governance arrangements. Until the Structural Changes Order comes into force and the existing councils are abolished on 1 April 2028, current councils will remain responsible for services in their areas, and the usual arrangements, including for by‑elections where vacancies arise, will continue to apply. In taking these decisions, the Secretary of State had regard to all representations received, including consultation responses, and all other relevant information available.