Written questions by Cocking.

What recent discussions he has had with industry on the expansion of manufacturing sites for glioblastoma treatment development.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 22 December 2025 by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, to Question 99356.

What her Department's policy is on supporting schools with falling pupil numbers.

Local authorities hold the statutory place planning function, ensuring there are sufficient schools in their area to meet the needs of pupils. It is for local authorities, in collaboration with academy trusts and other local partners, to balance the supply and demand of school places.The department recognises the pressures caused by demographic changes in some areas. The lagged funding system, where schools are funded on the basis of their pupil numbers in the previous October census, helps to give schools more certainty over funding levels, and is particularly important in giving schools with falling rolls time to re-organise their staffing and costs.Where falling pupil numbers results in spare space becoming available, primary schools have been able to apply for capital funding to create or expand school-based nurseries. We have just announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30, on top of the £740 million this year, to create special educational needs units and resourced provision, including where there is spare space, and to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of the school environment.

If she will make an estimate of the potential impact of traffic congestion on the economy.

The Department for Transport publishes transport analysis guidance to help assess the economic cost of congestion associated with different policy interventions. It also regularly publishes statistics on speeds, delay and reliability on different types of roads. However, it does not routinely assess the economic cost of congestion on the road network as a whole.

With reference to the Autumn Budget 2025, published on 26 November, HC 1492, on what evidential basis she estimated the saving arising from the abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners and re-organising local government structures.

The Government is committed to cutting the cost of politics. The figures were calculated based on estimated savings from the potential reduction in local councillors through local government reorganisation and from the abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners. These estimates are built from a range of sources including Local Government Boundary Commission data; salaries; office costs; election costs; sampling of councillor expenditure data from current authorities.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2024 to Question 90424 on New Towns, in which sections of the New Towns Taskforce: Report to government and the Initial government response - September 2025 are references made to consultations with neighbouring local authorities before new towns are built.

The independent New Towns Taskforce final report and the government’s initial response to it stress the importance of community engagement and working with local partners in delivering the New Towns programme. The government will publish draft proposals and a final Strategic Environmental Assessment for consultation early next year, before confirming the locations that will be progressed as new towns later in the Spring. At that point, we will publish a full response to the New Towns Taskforce’s report including details of what relevant consultations will take place in respect of each new town location.

Communities and Local Government, what his Department's policy is on local authorities who do not wish to engage in local government reorganisation.

On 5 February 2025, the Government invited two-tier authorities and their neighbouring small unitary councils to develop proposals for unitary local government. All areas have engaged with their invitation although not all councils have submitted proposals. I am grateful for the vast amount of work undertaken by councils to develop proposals, which have now been received from every area invited, and expect local leaders to continue working collaboratively and proactively with each other as we go through the next stages of this process. It was for councils to decide whether to submit a proposal in response to the invitation by the deadline that was specified. Whether they submitted a proposal or not, they will be a named consultee in the Government’s statutory consultations. This Government is determined to streamline local government by replacing the current two-tier council system with new single-tier unitary councils. Empowered local government, based on unitary councils and strategic authorities, is the foundation for growth across the country – the government’s number one mission.

Pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2024 to Question 88403 on Social Security Benefits: Foreign Nationals and with reference to the Universal Credit statistics, 29 April 2013 to 12 June 2025, published on 15 July 2025, what progress his Department has made on producing Immigration and Nationality statistics for (a) Universal Credit and b) other benefits.

Since first publishing the Universal Credit statistics by immigration status and nationality group on 15 July 2025, the Department has published regular updates, with the latest, published on 11 November 2025, covering statistics to October 2025. The Department checks immigration status when assessing eligibility for benefits, but this information is not collated centrally across all benefit lines and hence is not readily available.

What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of palliative care services in Broxbourne constituency.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England, due to be published in Spring 2026. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. St Clare Hospice, which cares for patients from the Broxbourne constituency, is receiving £579,780 from this funding.We are also providing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients. Haven House Children’s Hospice and Noah’s Ark Children's Hospice near Broxbourne will both benefit from this funding.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to make it easier for local planning authorities to decline repeat applications for development that has already been refused.

Under Sections 70A and 70B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, local planning authorities already have powers to decline to determine applications if they have previously refused permission for two or more substantially similar applications on the same site, or if a substantially similar application has been rejected by the Secretary of State on appeal or following call-in, within the past two years.

Communities and Local Government, whether it is his Department's policy that neighbouring local authorities will be consulted before new towns are built.

I refer the hon. Member to the independent New Towns Taskforce final report as well as the government’s initial response to it. Both can be found on gov.uk here.

How much funding has been provided to schools to support pupils for whom English is an additional language in each of the last three years.

Schools attract additional funding through the English as an additional language (EAL) factor in the schools national funding formula (NFF), for pupils recorded as having entered state education in England during the last three years, and whose first language is not English.The below table sets out the proportion of funding provided through the EAL factor in the NFF from 2023/24 financial year to 2025/26 financial year.YearProportion of total funding through NFF2025/26 financial year1.1%2024/25 financial year1.1%2023/24 financial year1.0%The NFF is used to allocate funding to local authorities. How much individual schools receive depends on their local authority’s local funding formula.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) illegal waste dumping and (b) fly-tipping on rural communities.

While no recent assessment has been made, we appreciate the difficulty that illegal waste dumping and fly-tipping poses to rural communities. We work with a wide range of parties through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group, which involves the Environment Agency (EA) and National Farmers Union, to promote and disseminate good practice, including how to prevent fly-tipping on private land. We are making policy and regulatory reforms to close loopholes exploited by criminals - fundamentally reforming the waste carriers, brokers and dealers system, tightening waste permit exemptions and introducing digital waste tracking. We have increased EA’s budget for waste crime enforcement by over 50% this year to £15.6m enabling the EA to increase its frontline criminal enforcement resource in the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and area environmental crime teams by the equivalent of 43 full-time staff. We encourage local authorities to make good use of their enforcement powers which include prosecution. On conviction, a cost order can be made by the court so that a landowner’s costs can be recovered from the perpetrator. We are also reviewing local authority powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help councils make better use of this tool.

What estimate she has made of the number of individuals working without the legal right to do so in each of the last five years.

The Home Office does not hold an estimate of the number of individuals working without the legal right to do so. Details of Immigration Enforcement activity to tackle illegal employment in the UK can be found in the Home Office’s published transparency data: Illegal working and enforcement activity to the end of September 2025 - GOV.UK

Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of offering publicly funded (a) services and (b) activities to asylum seekers on local community cohesion.

The Home Office are responsible for asylum policy and the support provided to asylum seekers while they await the outcome of their asylum claim. The department has not carried out an assessment of the impact of providing publicly funded services and activities to asylum seekers. On community cohesion more broadly, we are committed to bridging divisions between communities and challenging hatred, and we continue to work closely with community groups, charities, and public sector partners to achieve this. That is why MHCLG has launched a landmark £5 billion Pride in Place programme — backing the true patriots who build their communities up and choose unity over division.

What assessment she has made of the projected fiscal impact of net migration on public spending over the next five years.

The OBR is the government’s official economic and fiscal forecaster. Box 4.5 of the OBR’s published Economic and Fiscal Outlook in March 2024 sets out estimated impacts of migration on the fiscal forecast. The OBR will produce updated economic and fiscal forecasts in its Economic and Fiscal Outlook, which will be published alongside the Budget on 26 November.

Whether her Department plans to publish more detailed statistics on criminal convictions among people with pending asylum claims.

The requested data on offences involving asylum-seekers is not currently published by the Home Office.As explained in this note published in April, systems for collecting and compiling data related to foreign national offenders in the immigration system are currently undergoing a redesign. The Home Office is currently working towards a release of this data. At this stage, we are not in a position to detail what this will contain or the exact timing of the release.Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.

Communities and Local Government, what data his Department holds on the number of newly built homes purchased by non-UK nationals in each of the last five years.

My Department does not hold data on new built homes purchased by non-UK nationals.Overseas entities who want to buy, sell, or transfer property or land in the UK, must register with Companies House and declare who their registrable beneficial owners or managing officers are.Data on property ownership by overseas companies in England and Wales is published by HM Land Registry and is publicly available on gov.uk.

How much was spent on benefit payments to foreign nationals in the 2024-2025 financial year.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

How many prisoners released early under automatic release provisions have subsequently been reconvicted.

This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We have had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.Whilst this change provided the intended medium-term relief, it was only ever a temporary change to bridge to a more sustainable solution. The Sentencing Bill has now been introduced to ensure we never run out of prison space again.Our initial operational insights suggested there was not a significant change to the use and application of recall since the implementation of SDS40. We will, however, continue to monitor this.Proven reoffending rates are published regularly on an annual and quarterly basis. The most recent rates are available at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics

How many recorded offences involved individuals with pending asylum applications in the last 12 months.

The requested data on offences involving asylum-seekers is not currently published by the Home Office.As explained in this note published in April, systems for collecting and compiling data related to foreign national offenders in the immigration system are currently undergoing a redesign. The Home Office is currently working towards a release of this data. At this stage, we are not in a position to detail what this will contain or the exact timing of the release.Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.