Blake Stephenson MP: written questions
665 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Planning (Flooding) BillDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 13 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 81537More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Planning (Flooding) Bill on the risk of flooding in (a) England and (b) Wales.
Answer: Protecting communities around the country from flooding is a priority for Government. That is why the Government is making a record £10.5 billion investment, delivering the largest flood and coastal investment programme in history. Flood risk management i...
Answered 21 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordEast West Rail Line: Railway StationsDepartment for TransportTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79887More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if stations on East West Rail will have step-free access.
Answer: All new and refurbished stations as part of the East-West Rail (EWR) project will have step-free access for users once the full route between Oxford and Cambridge opens in the mid-2030s and will meet robust accessibility requirements set out by EWR Co’s i...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government: ConstituenciesSpeaker's Committee on the Electoral CommissionTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79886More
Question: To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of the reviews by the Local Government Boundary Commission of (a) distri
Answer: The Local Government Boundary Commission for England typically starts 25 reviews a year. With each review taking approximately 15 months to complete, around 50 can be in progress at any time.In February 2025, following the issuing of a statutory invitatio...
Answered 15 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Rented Housing: ConstructionMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79885More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many social houses have begun construction since 4 July 2024 in (a) England, (b) the East of England and (c) Bedfordshire.
Answer: Data on new social and affordable housing supply, including starts, for the period between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 has been pre-announced for publication in November/December 2025 and can be found on gov.uk here. The pre-announcement will be update...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordHousing: ConstructionMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79884More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of local authorities have a five year housing land supply based on current delivery given the Government's housing targets.
Answer: The National Planning Policy Frameworks sets out that local authorities should identify and update annually a five-year housing land supply (5YHLS) of deliverable housing sites (with appropriate buffer) for decision making. This should be calculated again...
Answered 24 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordHousing: ConstructionMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79883More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of local authorities have a five year housing land supply.
Answer: The National Planning Policy Frameworks sets out that local authorities should identify and update annually a five-year housing land supply (5YHLS) of deliverable housing sites (with appropriate buffer) for decision making. This should be calculated again...
Answered 24 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordHousing: AsylumMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79882More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of housing asylum seekers in military bases on his Department’s policies to build more houses on disused public land.
Answer: The government is committed to close all asylum hotels, and to achieve this the Home Office is looking at a range of more appropriate sites including disused accommodation, industrial and ex-military sites to reduce the impact on communities. These effort...
Answered 22 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordAffordable Housing: FinanceMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79881More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an estimate of the amount of Section 106 funding that was not drawn down and subsequently lost in each of the past ten years.
Answer: I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 54059 on 6 June 2025.
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordSewers: Planning PermissionMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79880More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to allow local authorities to reject planning applications from developers on the basis of previous failures to (a) build and (b) maintain sustainab
Answer: The government is committed to securing the delivery of high-quality sustainable drainage systems to help manage flood risk and adapt to the effects of climate change. The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that developments of all sizes shoul...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordPlanning Permission: Flood ControlMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79879More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to direct local authorities to always reject planning applications which the lead local flood authority deem would increase the risk of flooding for
Answer: The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at highest risk (whether existing or future). Where development is necessary in such ...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordHousing Associations: FinanceMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79878More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the financial sustainability of housing associations.
Answer: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given Question UIN 76512 on 16 September 2025.
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordAllotmentsMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79877More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the value of allotments to local communities.
Answer: We recognise the significance of allotments and the valuable contribution they make to the health, wellbeing, and spirit of communities. Local Authorities have a duty to provide allotments if there is sufficient demand, and we believe they are best placed...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordFloods: PlanningDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79876More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Public First report entitled From risk to resilience - the case for flood-resilient communities, econ
Answer: This Government is investing at least a record £10.5 billion until 2036 – the largest flood programme in history which is projected to benefit nearly 900,000 properties. This demonstrates the Government’s commitment to long-term funding as recommended by ...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordPlanning PermissionMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79875More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many planning permissions were granted in each of the past five years.
Answer: My Department publishes the number of planning applications granted permission per quarter in our quarterly planning applications statistical release which can be found on gov.uk here. England level data can be found in live table 120 for all planning dec...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordPlanning: ApprenticesMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79874More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61255 on Planning: Apprentices, if he will make it his policy to collect data on the number of planners with a Level 7 Chartere
Answer: My Department currently has no plans to collect data on the number of planners with a Level 7 Chartered Town Planner Apprenticeship qualification employed by local authorities or developers.
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordGreen Belt: MapsMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79873More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61248 on Green Belt: Maps, if he will list the local authorities that have received funding.
Answer: The government has provided 133 local planning authorities with £70,000 of pump priming funding each to contribute towards the costs of carrying out Green Belt reviews in their areas. Eligible local authorities submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI) fo...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government: BedfordshireMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79872More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what is his planned timetable for implementing local government re-organisation in Bedfordshire.
Answer: The English Devolution White Paper announced that we will facilitate a programme of local government reorganisation for two-tier areas, and for unitary councils where there is evidence of failure or where their size or boundaries may be hindering their ab...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordMigrant Workers: SponsorshipHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79871More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 73359 on Visas: Migrant Workers, on how many occasions her Department received such a notification by visa type since 4 July 2024; and how many
Answer: The information requested is not available from published statistics and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Answered 22 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordVisasHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79870More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of visa applications were rejected by visa type since 4 July 2024.
Answer: The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas by visa route, including Religious Worker, and applicant type in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the outcomes of visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of t...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordMigrant Workers: SponsorshipHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79869More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the guidance entitled Register of licensed sponsors: workers, published on 26 September 2025, how many and what proportion of organisations on the register have received an in-person
Answer: Routine reviews of the register of licensed sponsors are undertaken to check that sponsors are still classified as active.It is normal practice to contact a sponsor if we have any concerns over any individuals they have sponsored or are seeking to sponsor...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordVisas: StudentsHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79868More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many student visas have been issued to people studying at each university in the 2025-26 academic year.
Answer: The Home Office does not publish information on how many student visas have been issued to people studying at each university. The Home Office does publish data on sponsored study visas by course level in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Relea...
Answered 22 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordUndocumented WorkersHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79867More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of people whose visa expired since 4 July 2025 who have not (a) renewed their visa and (b) left the UK; and how many and what proportion of those people have
Answer: Removals of those with no right to be here have risen significantly under this government, with over 35,000 people removed - 13% more than the same period 12 months prior. Of the total returns since 5 July 2024, 10,191 were asylum related returns. This is...
Answered 7 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordSkilled Workers: PayHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79866More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what step her Department is taking to ensure that Skilled Worker visa holders are earning an income above the qualifying threshold for that visa.
Answer: Our compliance officers regularly check workers salary particulars, including bank statements detailing payments made to them by their employer, as well as the payment documentation provided by sponsors. In addition, routine checks are carried out with OG...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordMigrant Workers: PayHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79865More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the average salary earned by (a) all and (b) skilled worker visa holders.
Answer: An estimate of the average salary earned by all visa holders is not available, as the information is not held.HMRC and Home Office have introduced a data sharing process to match visa data to administrative tax data. The Home Office published a research r...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordVisas: Personal RecordsHome OfficeTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79864More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of visa holders her Department holds a UK residential address for.
Answer: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.People applying for UK visas may provide a UK residential address on their application but large proportions of visa holders coming to the UK on a short-term basis such as a visitor...
Answered 22 Oct 2025
Original Parliament record
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