Blake Stephenson MP: written questions
865 published records · newest first.
Written questions
New Towns: Mid BedfordshireMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42674More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2025 to Question 36227 on New Towns, whether any sites submitted as part of the call for evidence are in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency.
Answer: The New Towns Taskforce will submit its final report this summer. As there may be political or commercial sensitivities to information submitted regarding prospective developments, the New Towns Taskforce will not be sharing information about the evidence...
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government: Public RecordsMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42673More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2025 to Question 35438 on Tree Preservation Orders: Bedfordshire, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that locally held records l
Answer: The implementation of local government reorganisation will be a matter for local authorities to consider as they develop their proposals for reorganisation and establish new unitary authorities. It is essential that councils continue to deliver their busi...
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament record5G: InfrastructureDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42672More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of Net Neutrality Regulations in England on the rate at which new (a) 5G and (b) 5GSA infrastructure is rolled out.
Answer: The Government’s ambition is for the UK to have nationwide coverage of high-quality standalone 5G in all populated areas by 2030. From 2023 onwards, operators began deploying standalone 5G in locations across all four nations and are continuing to upgrade...
Answered 8 Apr 2025
Original Parliament record5G: InfrastructureDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42671More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the time taken for decisions on planning applications to be made on the rollout of new (a) 5G and (b) 5GSA infrastructure.
Answer: The Government’s ambition is to deliver nationwide coverage of standalone 5G to all populated areas by 2030. Most wireless infrastructure, including ground-based masts and rooftop antennas, benefit from permitted development rights. This means that mobile...
Answered 8 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government: Public RecordsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42670More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for local record centres.
Answer: Biodiversity data is essential for informed planning decisions, with Local Environmental Records Centres (LERCs) and national platforms like the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) providing key species data. However, access to, and use of, Biodiversity d...
Answered 16 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPlanning: Information SharingMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42669More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to increase levels of data sharing between developers and local authorities.
Answer: The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) runs a Digital Planning Programme which aims to enable a modern and efficient planning system in England. Core objectives of the Programme include providing better access to planning data, i...
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPrivate Education: Business RatesMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 26 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41519More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Impact Note on removal of eligibility of private schools for business rates charitable relief, published on 30 October 2024, for what reasons the Government
Answer: Policies and legislation concerning tax and tax administration fall outside the meaning of regulatory provisions and, therefore, are not required to be accompanied by an Impact Assessment. Nevertheless, the government has conducted detailed analysis of th...
Answered 3 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordMotor Vehicles: Dangerous Driving and NoiseDepartment for TransportTabled 25 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41375More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2025 to Question 35021 on Motor Vehicles: Dangerous Driving and Noise, if she will make an assessment of the potential connection between excessively noisy vehicles and danger
Answer: The Department does not have plans to carry out an assessment of the potential connection between excessively noisy vehicles and dangerous driving.The Department takes the impact of excessive noise on health, wellbeing and the natural environment seriousl...
Answered 31 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordEast West Rail Line: PassengersDepartment for TransportTabled 25 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41374More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of the number of passengers expected to interchange onto East-West Rail services at Cambridge South whose journeys began at London Stansted Airport in the next 12 months.
Answer: No estimate has been made of the number of passengers using Cambridge South station as an interchange to change from East-West Rail services to connecting services to Stansted Airport.
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordMathematics: Mid BedfordshireDepartment for EducationTabled 25 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41373More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of proposed reductions in the funding for the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme on children in Mid Bedfordshire constituency.
Answer: I refer the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire to the answer of 28 April to Question 40352.
Answered 28 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordSpecial Educational NeedsDepartment for EducationTabled 25 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41372More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing children to attend specialist education settings in a different local authority to the one in which they reside.
Answer: Children and young people can attend specialist provision in any local authority, not just the one in which they reside.Children and young people will be placed in special schools through the statutory process which the Children and Families Act 2014 pres...
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordSchools: GrantsDepartment for EducationTabled 25 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41371More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of equalising dedicated school grants for schools.
Answer: Every year the department uses the schools national funding formula (NFF) to distribute core funding for 5- to 16-year-old pupils in mainstream state-funded schools in England. In the current NFF, the vast majority of funding is distributed on the basis o...
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPupils: FinanceDepartment for EducationTabled 25 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41370More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether children who attend school in a different local authority area to the one in which they reside are funded at the level of (a) the local authority their school is in or (b) the local authority where they
Answer: The schools national funding formula (NFF) allocates funding for mainstream schools. The funding levels vary between local authority areas, and the funding that mainstream schools receive is determined by the local authority that they are in, rather than ...
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPrivate Education: VATTreasuryTabled 25 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41369More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to HMRC's policy paper entitled Private school fees — VAT measure, last updated on 15 November 2024, for what reasons the Government didn't model the potential impact of the policy on economic growth
Answer: At the Budget the Government published the costing methodology for the measure. This included thorough analysis of the static costing and behavioural effects of the measure. In addition, the economic impact of the measure is included in the Tax Informatio...
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPupils: BedfordshireDepartment for EducationTabled 25 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41368More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the equity of per pupil school funding in Bedfordshire.
Answer: Every year the department uses the schools national funding formula (NFF) to distribute core funding for 5- to 16-year-old pupils in mainstream state-funded schools in England. In the current NFF, the vast majority of funding is distributed on the basis o...
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordBroadband: Rural AreasDepartment for Science, Innovation and TechnologyTabled 25 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41367More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department plans to take to help deliver gigabit broadband in rural villages of fewer than 200 houses.
Answer: We do not have a specific category of villages with fewer than 200 houses, but as part of Project Gigabit, over £2 billion of contracts have been signed to connect over a million premises with gigabit-capable broadband. These contracts are targeted at rea...
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordEast West Rail LineDepartment for TransportTabled 24 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 40821More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of East West Rail on Thameslink services (a) from London to Bedford, (b) from Bedford to London, (c) northbound on the East Coast Main Line and (d) southbo
Answer: EWR Co’s proposals to use six tracking north of Bedford have been designed to mitigate impact on Thameslink services from Bedford to London. EWR trains will provide an interchange at Tempsford with East Coast Main Line services but will not run on the Eas...
Answered 1 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordGovia Thameslink Railway and London Northwestern Railway: NationalisationDepartment for TransportTabled 24 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 40820More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 February 2025 to Question 30410 on Govia Thameslink Railway and London Northwestern Railway: Nationalisation, what the relevant circumstances considered are.
Answer: A range of factors will be taken into consideration as Ministers go through a process of decision-making on further transfers into public ownership, following the transfers of SWR’s services in May, c2c’s in July and Greater Anglia’s in autumn 2025. We ex...
Answered 1 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordEast West Rail Line: Stansted AirportDepartment for TransportTabled 24 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 40819More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of running East-West Rail to Stansted Airport.
Answer: There are currently no plans to extend the EWR service outside of its core scope, but through services may be an option in the future.
Answered 1 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordIncome Tax: PensionersTreasuryTabled 24 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 40818More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of pensioners will pay income tax in each of the next five years.
Answer: The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve, and the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people. The Government is committed to the Triple Lock for the duratio...
Answered 1 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPension Credit: Take-upDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 24 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 40817More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Nearly fifty thousand extra pensioners receiving vital Pension Credit support following surge in claims processed, published on 27 February 2025
Answer: The Pension Credit campaign budget is £5m for the 2024/25 financial year. This supported the development of an expanded Pension Credit campaign encouraging all eligible pensioners to claim. Activity has included TV and video on demand; radio; national and...
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 24 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 40816More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the press notice entitled Nearly fifty thousand extra pensioners receiving vital Pension Credit support following surge in claims processed, published on 27 February 2025, if she will
Answer: The Department does not have this data for the period up to March 2025. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics cover the financial year 2022 to 2023 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending...
Answered 31 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSick Leave: ProductivityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 24 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 40815More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 February 2025 to Question 30412 on Sick Leave: Productivity, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of workplace sickness on productivity.
Answer: The Department published an estimate of the overall cost to the economy due to sickness absence in The cost of working age ill-health and disability that prevents work on 18 March 2025. The analyses do not estimate the specific impact of workplace sicknes...
Answered 1 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordGeneral Practitioners: FinanceDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 24 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 40812More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press notice entitled New deal for GPs will fix the front door of the NHS, published on 28 February 2025, whether the funding announced in that notice is in addition to fundin
Answer: We have made necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. Resource spending for the Department will be £22.6 billion more in 2025/26 than in 2023/24, as part of the Spending Review settlement.As a part of this al...
Answered 31 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordAccident and Emergency Departments and Urgent Treatment CentresDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 24 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 40810More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the level of geographic detail available on the number of (a) A&E and (b) Urgent Care Centre admissions.
Answer: NHS England publishes accident and emergency admission data for a range of different geographical footprints. This includes at an integrated care board, regional, and provider level. We will continue to keep the range of data available to support the impr...
Answered 31 Mar 2025
Original Parliament record
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