Written questions by Riddell-Carpenter.

How much his Department plans to spend on military accommodation in Suffolk Coastal constituency in each of the next five financial years.

The Defence Housing Strategy includes an extensive review of our entire Service Family Accommodation (SFA) portfolio to determine how we will utilise our properties. I expect we will be able to provide details of our future intentions when the review is completed. There are 225 SFA properties located in the Suffolk Coastal constituency of which, 60 (27%) are currently unoccupied. 41 of these SFA are ready to be occupied by families and 19 require improvement works before they can be allocated to Service families.

How many and what proportion of military accommodation units are unoccupied in Suffolk Coastal constituency; and whether his Department plans to bring them back into use.

The Defence Housing Strategy includes an extensive review of our entire Service Family Accommodation (SFA) portfolio to determine how we will utilise our properties. I expect we will be able to provide details of our future intentions when the review is completed. There are 225 SFA properties located in the Suffolk Coastal constituency of which, 60 (27%) are currently unoccupied. 41 of these SFA are ready to be occupied by families and 19 require improvement works before they can be allocated to Service families.

What the annual running costs were for Army sites located in Suffolk Coastal constituency in each of the last five financial years; and how much funding his Department plans to provide for those sites in the next five financial years.

The data requested for the previous five financial years can be found below. These costs relate to MOD Woodbridge (Rock Barracks and Woodbridge Airfield), as the only Army owned site within the hon. Member’s constituency: Year£ millionFY2024-254.416FY2023-244.528FY2022-234.723FY2021-223.799FY2020-213.768 Note: These figures represent the total actual costs for the Hard and Soft Facilities Management of the establishment. Funds are allocated appropriately to deliver strategic objectives. In advance of the conclusions of the Strategic Defence Review , I hope the hon. Member will understand that I cannot anticipate future budgetary allocations.

Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to extend the boundary of Freeport East.

The boundaries of Freeport tax sites are defined in law. They were agreed, after careful deliberation, by the Government and local Freeport partners, including the relevant local authorities. The Government currently has no plans to amend the boundaries of Freeport tax sites.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of mandating the installation of defibrillators in all (a) visitor attractions and (b) entertainment venues in the UK that accommodate over a specified number of visitors annually.

No assessment has been made and there are no plans to mandate the installation of defibrillators at such locations, in light of the rapid expansion of automated external defibrillators across the United Kingdom.There are now over 100,000 defibrillators in the UK registered on The Circuit, which represents an increase of 30,000 since September 2023. 58.6% of the over 100,000 defibrillators are accessible on a 24/7 basis.The Circuit is operated independently by the British Heart Foundation, in partnership with the Resuscitation Council UK, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, and the National Health Service.

What steps her Department is taking to (a) ensure adequate in-person police access for older people seeking to report scam phone calls in communities where police stations have closed and (b) tackle the impersonation of police officers for fraudulent purposes.

The Home Office is committed to tackling the threat of fraud, which is why this Government has committed to publishing a new and enhanced Fraud Strategy that addresses the full range of harm that UK citizens face from fraud, including tackling the impersonation of police officers for fraudulent purposes. Reporting of scam calls should be done to Action Fraud, via either their website https://www.actionfraud.police.uk or via telephone on 0300 123 2040. There is also a variety of other ways the public can contact the police about fraud. For example, by phoning 101 at any time for non-emergency enquiries and concerns. There are also opportunities for in-person contact, particularly with neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs.The Government is committed to strong neighbourhood policing and by the end of parliament (2029) there will be 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles. As the Prime Minister announced on 10 April, by July, every community will have named and contactable officers dedicated to addressing the issues facing their communities as part of the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.Every force will ensure that neighbourhood teams spend the majority of their time in their communities providing visible patrols and engaging with local communities and businesses and local people will also have ongoing opportunities raise concerns at regular local beat meetings. It is up to Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (or equivalents) to make decisions on local police resourcing and estates. They are best placed to make these decisions based on their local knowledge and experience.

What steps her Department is taking to help older people report scam phone calls.

The Home Office is committed to tackling the threat of fraud, which is why this Government has committed to publishing a new and enhanced Fraud Strategy that addresses the full range of harm that UK citizens face from fraud, including tackling the impersonation of police officers for fraudulent purposes. Reporting of scam calls should be done to Action Fraud, via either their website https://www.actionfraud.police.uk or via telephone on 0300 123 2040. There is also a variety of other ways the public can contact the police about fraud. For example, by phoning 101 at any time for non-emergency enquiries and concerns. There are also opportunities for in-person contact, particularly with neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs.The Government is committed to strong neighbourhood policing and by the end of parliament (2029) there will be 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood policing roles. As the Prime Minister announced on 10 April, by July, every community will have named and contactable officers dedicated to addressing the issues facing their communities as part of the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.Every force will ensure that neighbourhood teams spend the majority of their time in their communities providing visible patrols and engaging with local communities and businesses and local people will also have ongoing opportunities raise concerns at regular local beat meetings. It is up to Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (or equivalents) to make decisions on local police resourcing and estates. They are best placed to make these decisions based on their local knowledge and experience.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of developing an accessible food labelling system to improve transparency.

The availability and accessibility of essential food information to all consumers is vitally important. It is already a requirement that mandatory food information must be easily visible, clearly legible and where appropriate indelible, in addition to there being a required minimum font size for mandatory information. We are aware of moves by some retailers to provide information on food in braille format, and the government is interested in seeing how this works.

What steps he is taking to help people in rural communities who use oil to heat their homes to transition to low carbon heating systems.

The Warm Homes Plan will support investment in households, including oil-heated homes, to install energy efficiency measures and low carbon heating to save families money on their bills. The Government has committed £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency. This includes the new Warm Homes: Local Grant, which will provide support for low-income households living in privately owned EPC band D-G homes, including in rural communities, in England. We are taking steps to make heat pumps more efficient and easier to install which includes increasing funding for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme to £295 million for the 2025-26 financial year, removing outdated planning rules and consulting on product efficiency standards.

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of legislation on the inheritance of Individual Savings Account allowances from a deceased (a) spouse and (b) civil partner.

The Individual Savings Account (ISA) regulations allow the surviving spouse or civil partner of a deceased ISA saver an additional ISA allowance, equal to the value of the deceased saver’s ISA holdings on their date of death, subject to certain conditions. These are referred to as ‘Additional Permitted Subscriptions’ To ensure these rules are as simple as possible, surviving spouses and civil partners can benefit from this allowance, up to 3 years after the death of the spouse or 180 days after the completion of the estate administration, whichever is later, and irrespective of who inherits the former ISA assets. This means individuals are free to make any bequests they wish in their will, for example by leaving some or all their ISA assets to children of their current or former marriage or civil partnership, without affecting the additional ISA allowance that will be available to the person who was their spouse or civil partner at the time of death. Further detailed information on Additional Permitted Subscriptions is available at www.gov.uk/guidance/manage-additional-permitted-subscriptions-into-an-isa

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to (a) improve responsible access to nature and (b) increase the right to roam.

Our countryside and green spaces are a source of great national pride and boost public health and wellbeing, but too many across the country are left without access to the great outdoors. That is why the last Labour Government expanded public access by introducing the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which provided the public a right of access to large areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, registered common land and coastal margin in England. We are continuing to increase access to nature for families to enjoy, for example through our ambitious manifesto commitments to create nine new National River Walks, plant three new National Forests, and empower communities to create new parks and green spaces in their communities with a new Community Right to Buy. In addition, the Government has made the decision to repeal the cut-off date for the registration of historic rights of way, preventing the loss of hundreds of miles of unregistered paths. This will ensure that these paths remain available to the public for future generations.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to University of Central Lancashire's report entitled Minimising firefighters’ exposure to toxic fire effluents, published in November 2020, what steps she is taking to protect firefighters.

The University of Central Lancashire’s report was helpful in highlighting this particular issue. This must be considered alongside other relevant academic research and study in this area.We are continuing to review the evidence around risks to firefighters posed by contaminants and will determine a policy position.Responsibility for firefighters’ health and safety sits with fire and rescue authorities, This responsibility includes, but is not limited to, ensuring that firefighters receive the appropriate equipment and training they need to safely respond to the wide range of incidents that they attend.

How much additional funding for special educational needs and disabilities has been allocated to Suffolk County Council since July 2024.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.In July 2024, the government announced that an additional core schools budget grant (CSBG) would be allocated to local authorities to help special and alternative provision (AP) schools with the costs of the 2024 teacher and support staff pay increases. Suffolk County Council was allocated a 2024/25 financial year CSBG amount of over £1.5 million.Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to over £12 billion. Of that total, Suffolk County Council is being allocated over £124 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £10.3 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 9% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.In addition to the DSG, local authorities will also receive a separate CSBG in the 2025/26 financial year. This CSBG continues the 2024/25 CSBG and other separate grants payable in 2024/25, which were to help special and AP schools with the costs of teachers’ pay and pension increases and other staff pay increases, and now includes additional funding to help those schools with the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions. The department plans to publish individual local authorities’ allocations of this funding for 2025/26 in May 2025.Decisions on funding for SEND for the years beyond 2025/26 will be taken following the forthcoming spending review.

What steps she is taking to improve the educational support system for post-16 students who missed GCSE examinations due to unforeseen circumstances.

If a student is unable to sit an exam or assessment for a qualification for an acceptable reason, but has completed at least one other exam or assessment in that subject, schools and colleges may be able to apply for special consideration.When in post-16 education, students can agree a study programme with their institution that meets their needs. 16 to 19 funding is flexible in supporting a wide range of study programmes, though these need to include English and mathematics if students have not yet achieved a GCSE grade 4 in these subjects.The 16 to 19 funding formula allocates additional funding to support students who need to continue with English and mathematics, and funding to help with the more general additional costs incurred for teaching and supporting students who have low prior attainment.When learning programmes are designed to enable students to re-sit or retake examinations and assessments these are not generally eligible for funding as the activity has already been funded. However, when there are exceptional circumstances outside the control of the student or institution then the retake delivery hours for individual students may be included in the funded study programme hours.In the guidance ‘16 to 19 funding: information for 2025 to 2026’, published 5 March 2025, the department announced additional 16 to 19 education funding in the 2025/26 financial year on top of the £300 million announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-information-for-2025-to-2026. This means that we will be spending over £400 million more to ensure enough funding is available given the very significant increase in student numbers and other pressures on the system.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of the average time taken to receive building control decisions on applications to carry out works on higher risk buildings on the costs of those works.

Our priority with the new regime is to ensure buildings are safe and decent. The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has 12 weeks to determine a building control approval application for new higher-risk buildings and 8 weeks to determine the applications for building work to existing higher-risk buildings. This is longer than had previously been the case. It is expected that dutyholders will consider and plan for any additional costs and adjust their programme of works to ensure that building work is carried out in a cost effective and efficient manner. However, we recognise there are delays in processing building control approval applications for higher-risk building work and that these may have associated costs for developers. We are currently working to address delays within the higher-risk regime through a range of measures. The sector must also play its part in ensuring building control applications are of a good quality, extensive guidance is available on gov.uk. As the higher-risk regime was introduced in October 2023, it is too soon to provide an impact assessment for the time it takes to get building control approval from the BSR. Under the Building Safety Act, the Secretary of State must appoint an independent person to review the effectiveness of the BSR and the higher-risk regime by 28 April 2027, which may include the cost impacts of the higher-risk regime on developers.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to review the types of building work that can be undertaken through (a) competent person schemes and (b) third party certification schemes.

The Building Safety Regulator is responsible for oversight of the competent person schemes and has committed in its Strategic Plan 2023-2026 to carry out a review of the conditions of authorisation, which must be met by all competent person schemes to ensure they are fit for purpose. In addition, the department is always looking to improve public and building safety and intends to review the operation of competent person schemes to identify whether improvements can be made, working with the Building Safety Regulator. This will include reviewing the types of work that can be carried out under the competent person schemes. We will consider whether and how this review might touch on third party certification schemes.

Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of the time spent by the Building Safety Regulator to (a) determine and (b) issue a decision on an application for a building assessment certificate on costs for accountable persons.

The Building Safety Act 2022 (“the Act”) requires the Principal Accountable Person to apply for a Building Assessment Certificate when directed to do so by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). Under the Act, accountable persons may pass on costs they incur in meeting their building safety obligations to leaseholders via the service charge. The government recognises that there will be costs associated with implementing building safety requirements and considers these to be vital to ensuring fire and structural risks in higher-risk buildings are properly managed to ensure residents are and feel safe in their homes. The assumptions for the Building Assessment Certificate process do not distinguish between "Determine" and "Issue". The Regulator operates independently of MHCLG and the BSR have advised that their initial estimates range from £7,488 to £20,736 per assessment depending on the complexity and quality of the submission. The BSR have stated that they consider it too early to assess how many buildings will fall into each category or whether they will need to update these assumptions over time.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to review provisions within the Building Safety Act 2022 on removing the leasehold protection provisions for shared ownership leaseholders who staircase to 100% ownership and lose the statutory protections provided in their original lease.

The Building Safety Act ensures that those who built defective buildings take responsibility for remedying them, that the industry contributes to fixing the problem, and that leaseholders are protected in law from crippling bills for historical safety defects. These leaseholder protections came into force on 28 June 2022, with new financial protections for leaseholders in relevant buildings with relevant historical safety defects. Schedule 8, paragraph 6(5) of the Building Safety Act provides that any contributions required towards remediation costs are capped according to the share of the lease the leaseholder owned at the time the lease became qualified for the protections. This position does not change should a shared owner later increase their share by staircasing, including up to 100%. Further information on this can be found in the explanatory notes on the legislation, starting with note 1731: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/30/notes/division/18/index.htm.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to review authorised competent person schemes providers.

The Building Safety Regulator is responsible for oversight of the competent person schemes and has committed in its Strategic Plan 2023-2026 to carry out a review of the conditions of authorisation, which must be met by all competent person schemes to ensure they are fit for purpose. In addition, the department is always looking to improve public and building safety and intends to review the operation of competent person schemes to identify whether improvements can be made, working with the Building Safety Regulator. This will include reviewing the types of work that can be carried out under the competent person schemes. We will consider whether and how this review might touch on third party certification schemes.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to review it's guidance on competent person schemes: conditions of authorisation.

The Building Safety Regulator is responsible for oversight of the competent person schemes and has committed in its Strategic Plan 2023-2026 to carry out a review of the conditions of authorisation, which must be met by all competent person schemes to ensure they are fit for purpose. In addition, the department is always looking to improve public and building safety and intends to review the operation of competent person schemes to identify whether improvements can be made, working with the Building Safety Regulator. This will include reviewing the types of work that can be carried out under the competent person schemes. We will consider whether and how this review might touch on third party certification schemes.