Written questions by Wrigley.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to prohibit landlords from requiring more than one month's rent in advance.

The Renters’ Rights Bill already makes such provision. I refer the hon. Member to the Report Stage proceedings on 14 January 2025.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help (a) support women in the workplace and (b) help tackle (i) pregnancy and (ii) maternity discrimination.

Women’s equality is at the core of this Government's missions. As part of the Employment Rights Bill, we are introducing robust measures to support and safeguard working women. This includes strengthening protections against workplace sexual harassment and requiring employers to develop gender pay gap and menopause action plans. The Employment Rights Bill will also make it unlawful to dismiss pregnant women, mothers on Maternity Leave, and mothers who return to work for a six-month period after they return – except in specific circumstances. The Bill will also make Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave ‘day one’ rights and ensure flexible working is the default, except where it is not reasonably feasible. These changes will provide further support for both men and women balancing work and care.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make it his policy to introduce a requirement that a minimum proportion of large developments should be social rented housing.

The revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) published on 12 December includes new Golden Rules for development on the Green Belt. Prior to development plan policies for affordable housing being updated in accordance with the revised NPPF, the affordable housing contribution required to satisfy the ‘Golden Rules’ is 15 percentage points above the highest existing affordable housing requirement that would otherwise apply to the development, subject to a cap of 50%. We estimate that under this model, the median Green Belt local planning authority affordable housing requirement will be 50%.Outside of the Green Belt, it is for local authorities to assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those who require affordable housing, and to reflect this in their planning policies. However, the government have made clear that authorities should consider the particular needs of those who require Social Rent homes when undertaking needs assessments and setting policies on affordable housing requirements.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with the National Park Authorities on the English Devolution White Paper.

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has not met with any National Park Authorities in relation to the English Devolution White Paper. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will continue to work with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, other Government Departments and local government as we take forward the commitments in the English Devolution White Paper.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support the building of social housing in Devon.

I refer the hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 11383 on 31 October 2024.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to introduce mandatory labelling on animal products.

The UK maintains high standards on the information that is provided on food labels, whether that be mandatory or voluntary, so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy. All food sold on the UK market must comply with food labelling rules. A public consultation on fairer food labelling was undertaken last year by the previous government. This sought views on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling for certain pork, chicken and egg products. The consultation also sought views on whether new rules should be introduced on country-of-origin labelling. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.

Communities and Local Government, how she plans to roll out additional funding for social homes announced in the Autumn Budget 2024.

At the Budget on 30 October 2024, the Chancellor announced a one year top up of £500 million to the Affordable Homes Programme. Bidding is already open to local authorities and other social landlords through Homes England and the Greater London Authority. In addition, at the multi-year Spending Review, the government will set out details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for Social Rent.

When he plans to reply to correspondence of 19 November 2024 from the hon. Member for Newton Abbott on his constituent Hall. A.

I replied to the hon. Member’s letter on 12 December 2024 with Departmental reference PO-1548072.

Innovation and Technology, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to oblige generative AI developers to disclose detailed information on creative works used in AI training.

The Government published a consultation on Copyright and AI in December 2024. This consultation seeks views on a number of issues relating to copyright and AI. It sets a clear objective of achieving proportionate transparency from AI developers over the creative content that is used to train their models. The consultation closes on 25 February.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to devolve further powers to (a) town and (b) parish councils.

Local authorities act independently of central government. Town and parish councils can work with other tiers of local government to determine how they can best serve their communities in their area. The English Devolution White Paper was clear that we know people value the role of governance at the community scale, and that this can be a concern when local government is reorganised. We will therefore want to see stronger community arrangements when reorganisation happens in the way councils engage at a neighbourhood or area level.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she plans to take to (a) consult and (b) integrate Dartmoor National Park Authority into future local government reorganisation around Devon.

We will invite councils to prepare proposals for reorganisation and when developing these proposals it will be essential for councils to work with local partners, including National Park Authorities, to develop plans for sustainable unitary structures capable of delivering the high-quality public services that residents need and deserve. We will consult a range of stakeholders in areas where we receive proposals for reorganisation as required by statute.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on preventing interventions by hostile actors on new (a) AI and (b) data centres.

The National Security & Investment Act 2021 gives the government powers to scrutinise and intervene in business transactions, to protect national security. AI and data infrastructure, which includes data centres, are considered sensitive sectors of the economy where this Act applies in certain circumstances. The Act is administered by the Investment Security Unit in Cabinet Office and the decision maker is the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on individual cases.The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) works with allies to mitigate the risks from AI and maximise its benefits, working with international partners, they have published guidelines for secure AI system development. In September 2024, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) confirmed its intention to introduce the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill that will strengthen the country's cyber defences.

What steps she is taking to make it easier for parents to obtain Education, Health and Care plans.

For too long the education system has not met the needs of all children, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with parents struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve.This government knows that parents have struggled to get the right support for their children, particularly through long and difficult education, health and care (EHC) plan processes. We will work with children, young people, parents, local authorities, schools and colleges and their partners in delivering improvements so that children and young people can access the support they need.The department wants to ensure that, where required, EHC plan assessments are progressed promptly and, if needed, plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they need.Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to assess whether children and young people have special educational needs that require an EHC plan. EHC plans must be issued within twenty weeks of the needs assessment commencing so that children and young people can access the support they need. In 2023, there were 138,200 initial requests for an EHC plan and 90,500 assessments took place. 50.3% of new EHC plans in 2023 were issued within twenty weeks.The department knows that local authorities have seen an increase in the number of assessment requests and that more needs to be done to ensure that local areas deliver effective and timely services. This includes better communication with schools and families.The department continues to monitor and work closely with local authorities that have issues with EHC plan timeliness. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, we help the local authority to identify the barriers and put in place an effective recovery plan. This includes, where needed, securing specialist SEND adviser support to help identify the barriers to EHC plan process timeliness and put in place practical plans for recovery.

Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of proposed AI data centres on UK (a) security and (b) defence.

The government recognises the critical role of AI and data centre infrastructure in supporting the UK’s security and defence. AI Growth Zones will help develop domestic AI capabilities, ensuring the UK can harness AI to strengthen national security and defence capabilities. The UK must also have sufficient domestic data centre capacity to support our digital economy and ensure we are not overly reliant on international markets for storing and processing sensitive data.

Whether she plans to respond to the Freedom of Information Act request by Mr Langton of 21 December 2024.

Mr Langton’s Freedom of Information request was made electronically and was received by the Department on 21 December 2024. The request has been given the reference FOI2024/105315. The statutorily defined deadline to respond to any Freedom of Information request is to do so on or before the 20th working day following receipt of the request. The deadline for this request is 23 January 2025 and we aim to respond on or before that date.

Whether her Department plans to provide a formal response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report entitled Women’s State Pension age: our findings on the Department for Work and Pensions’ communication of changes, published on 19 July 2021.

We provided a formal response to the Ombudsman’s findings on the State Pension age investigation on 17 December 2024. This can be found in the library of both houses and is publicly available on GOV.UK. Government response to Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s Investigation into Women’s State Pension age communications and associated issues - GOV.UK

What steps his Department is taking to help support (a) elderly and (b) other vulnerable people with heating costs in winter 2024-25.

The impact of the energy crisis is still being felt by people across the country, and the Government and energy suppliers are working together to help vulnerable households this winter. In November, Energy UK, in collaboration with the Government, published a Winter 2024 Commitment which promises £500 million of industry support to billpayers this winter. It also outlines how 15 energy suppliers representing almost the entire market will continue to provide a range of financial support tailored to the needs of their customers. In the short-term, the Government continues to deliver the Warm Home Discount which provides an annual £150 rebate off energy bills for eligible low-income households. We expect around 3 million households to receive this support this winter. The Government has also extended the Household Support Fund in England by a further year until 31 March 2026 with an extra £742 million in support, with additional funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula.

If he will have discussions with NICE on the potential merits of offering Givinostat for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

There are no plans to have discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on offering givinostat for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The NICE makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS independently, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by the NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance. The NICE is currently evaluating givinostat, and its Appraisal Committee will meet to consider its recommendations in May 2025.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of creating new unitary authorities on district council housing allocations in the South West.

Strategic policy making authorities, which are normally district councils (in two tier areas), metropolitan districts councils and unitary authorities, are responsible for planning for local housing needs.The government intends to legislate to create a universal system of strategic planning throughout England. Once this system is established, it is anticipated that Spatial Development Strategies (SDS) will distribute housing needs across the strategic planning area in line with existing or planned infrastructure.In all areas, local plans will need to be in general conformity with the SDS.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will have discussions with President-Elect Trump on comments made by Elon Musk via social media posts about the UK Government.

The Foreign Secretary is looking forward to meeting President-elect Trump again at the earliest opportunity. It would be wrong to pre-empt the detail of those conversations. The UK-US relationship is built on a foundation of our deep security, military and intelligence links, as well as our unique cultural and people-to-people ties. And this close relationship between the US and the UK means that where we disagree, we can have frank and open conversations. The Foreign Secretary has said he disagrees with Elon Musk's comments about Security Minister Jess Phillips. No one has done more to protect women and girls.