Will Forster MP: written questions 2025
198 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Land BankingMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 18 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 101688More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking tackle developers who bank land instead of building homes, such as the 2,000 new homes with planning permission in Woking where construction h
Answer: In May 2025, the government published a Planning Reform Working Paper: Speeding Up Build Out inviting views on further action the government should take to speed up homes being built. It can be found on gov.uk here. On the same day, we launched a technica...
Answered 7 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordRescue Services: English ChannelDepartment for TransportTabled 18 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 101687More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, given the forthcoming report of the Cranston Public Inquiry into the tragic loss of 27 lives in the English Channel in November 2021, has she undertaken a review of Channel small boat search and rescue operatio
Answer: The Cranston Public Inquiry will shortly be publishing its report into the tragic loss of 27 lives in the English Channel in November 2021. Operational risks are assessed daily by the joint HM Coastguard and UK Border Security Command teams tasked with th...
Answered 9 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordUndocumented Migrants: English ChannelHome OfficeTabled 18 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 101686More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, given the forthcoming report of the Cranston Public Inquiry into the tragic loss of 27 lives in the English Channel in November 2021, has she undertaken a review of Channel operations, and the search
Answer: It would be wrong to pre-empt the findings and recommendations of a public inquiry, but it should be noted that considerable improvements had been made in how UK authorities detect and respond to these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary crossing attempts ...
Answered 7 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordUndocumented Migrants: English ChannelHome OfficeTabled 18 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 101685More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many migrants crossing the Channel in small boats present with either pre-existing medical conditions or injuries, or with injuries sustained from the crossing itself.
Answer: These records are not held in a readily retrievable form, and it would only be possible to provide the information being sought at a disproportionate cost. Migrants who have made dangerous, illegal, and unnecessary crossings of the Channel by small boat d...
Answered 7 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordLocal Government Finance: WokingMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 18 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 101684More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking following the publication of BDO’s audit report of Woking Borough Council’s accounts from 2019/20 to 2022/23, published on 8 December 2025.
Answer: Commissioners were appointed to Woking Borough Council in 2023 following historic commercial mismanagement and major governance failures. While Woking continues to undergo an extensive change programme to support the improvement of its financial position,...
Answered 12 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordSouth Western Railway: StandardsDepartment for TransportTabled 18 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 101683More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many trains were (a) cancelled and (b) delayed on the South Western Railway network in August 2025.
Answer: Information on train cancellations and punctuality is published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). The relevant links are below.https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/table-3124-trains-planned-and-cancellations-...
Answered 9 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordSouth Western Railway: NationalisationDepartment for TransportTabled 18 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 101682More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many trains have been delayed on the South Western Railway network since nationalisation.
Answer: Information on train cancellations and punctuality is published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). The relevant links are below.https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/table-3124-trains-planned-and-cancellations-...
Answered 9 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordSouth Western Railway: NationalisationDepartment for TransportTabled 18 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 101681More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many trains have been cancelled on the South Western Railway network since it was nationalised.
Answer: Information on train cancellations and punctuality is published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). The relevant links are below.https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/performance/passenger-rail-performance/table-3124-trains-planned-and-cancellations-...
Answered 9 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordSouth Western Railway: KPMGDepartment for TransportTabled 18 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 101680More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much South Western Railway has spent on KPMG’s services to develop a business case for the infrastructure investment.
Answer: Expenditure on external consultants is a matter for train companies to manage. The Department has agreed challenging budget targets with every train operating company, including South Western Railway, and officials discuss spending against these budgets o...
Answered 5 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordSouth Western Railway: ConsultantsDepartment for TransportTabled 18 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 101679More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much South Western Railway has spent on external consultants since May 2025.
Answer: Expenditure on external consultants is a matter for train companies to manage. The Department has agreed challenging budget targets with every train operating company, including South Western Railway, and officials discuss spending against these budgets o...
Answered 5 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordPublic Transport: WokingDepartment for TransportTabled 18 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 101678More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential economic impact of improving transport connections from Woking.
Answer: Under public ownership, South Western Railway will be undertaking a complete redesign of their timetable which will include reviewing connections from Woking. In the assessment of options, wider economic impacts will be a consideration, alongside other fa...
Answered 5 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordPensioners: ExerciseDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 16 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 100738More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to promote active and healthy lifestyles among pensioners, including through access to affordable physical activity and active travel.
Answer: The Government recognises that reducing physical inactivity and promoting active, healthy lifestyles in people of all ages, including among pensioners, is important in helping people live longer, healthier lives, and is a key part of the Department’s shif...
Answered 14 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordListed Places of Worship Grant SchemeChurch CommissionersTabled 9 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98646More
Question: To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the end of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme on (a) Christ Church in Woking and (b) other community services run b
Answer: The Church of England continues to await proposals from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport for the future of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme and has not seen the results of the Department’s recent evaluation. These proposals will have an...
Answered 18 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordVashi: ClosuresAttorney GeneralTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 97964More
Question: To ask the Solicitor General, what recent discussions she has had with the Serious Fraud Office on the closure of Vashi jewellers.
Answer: To assist with my oversight of the Serious Fraud Office, I hold regular superintendence meetings with the SFO’s executive team to keep me appraised of relevant SFO casework matters.The SFO is a relatively small, highly specialised government department th...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordNatural Gas: MetersDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 97963More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if the Department has reviewed charges from energy suppliers on households wishing to have gas meters removed.
Answer: Ofgem recently launched a “Gas Disconnections Framework Review” — a “Request for Information” gathering stakeholder views and data on the wider disconnections process are how they are handled for domestic and small-business consumers. The conclusions of t...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordPark Homes: SalesMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 8 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 97962More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2025 to Question 69040 on Park Homes: Sales, when he plans to seek further evidence from the sector on the rationale for the commission.
Answer: The government recognise that there are longstanding concerns about the requirement to pay site owners a commission upon sale of a park home. The previous government published a report in June 2022 on the impact of a change in the maximum park home sale c...
Answered 15 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: Artificial IntelligenceHome OfficeTabled 4 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 97481More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her department has considered the use of AI to help tackle the backlog of asylum applications.
Answer: The Asylum Case Summarisation (ACS) tool uses artificial intelligence (AI) to summarise asylum interview transcripts. The Asylum Policy Search (APS) tool is an AI search assistant that finds and summarises country policy information. The tools were design...
Answered 12 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordSolar Power: Feed-in TariffsDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 2 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 96432More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, for what reason the consultation on changes to Feed in Tariffs offers two ways of calculating payments for the generation of solar power at home and selling spare electricity back to the grid
Answer: The consultation sets out two possible approaches for adjusting Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) to transition from the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). These options are an immediate switch to CPI indexation or a temporary freeze of ind...
Answered 10 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordFixed PenaltiesMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 25 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 94596More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will consider consulting on increasing Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) which have not increased since their introduction in 2004.
Answer: The responsibility for local authority penalty charge notice caps is shared between my department and the Department for Transport. The Government will be looking at penalty charge notice caps outside London. The findings from the parking sector’s own res...
Answered 3 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordCoronavirus: VaccinationDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 17 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 91857More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how frequently his Department and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation review eligibility criteria for the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
Answer: The Government’s policy on the groups eligible for vaccination programmes, including for the COVID-19 vaccination programme, is based on the advice of the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI meets ...
Answered 25 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordUK Border Force: TrainingHome OfficeTabled 17 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 91854More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of the Maritime Skills Allowance on Border Force officers; and whether it will review remuneration arrangements.
Answer: Border Force and the Border Security Command work tirelessly to keep our borders safe and secure. Our maritime assets and the officers who crew them are a key capability in our mission.We have been in close dialogue with our maritime officers and their Tr...
Answered 25 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordCivil Servants: Workplace PensionsCabinet OfficeTabled 12 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 90604More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential risks of using (a) Capita, (b) Equiniti and (c) other private providers for pension administration; and whether he plans to review the 2023 procurement exercise.
Answer: Prior to the 2023 procurement for the Civil Service Pensions Scheme (CSPS), the Cabinet Office conducted a formal, evidence-based Delivery Model Assessment. This assessment was carried out in line with Public Sector Procurement legislation and the Sourcin...
Answered 20 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordDental Services: Pilot SchemesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 11 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 89980More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department will assess the effectiveness of the urgent care dental pilot project.
Answer: We have asked the integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent dental needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from April 2025.These...
Answered 9 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordDental Services: WokingDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 11 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 89975More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients have been supported (a) nationally and (b) in Woking constituency by the urgent care dental pilot project.
Answer: We have asked the integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent dental needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from April 2025.These...
Answered 9 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordChild Maintenance Service: Information SharingDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 10 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 89346More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to improve information sharing between (a) the Child Maintenance Service, (b) HM Revenue and Customs and (c) his Department to help enable accurate income assessments
Answer: The CMS maintains the accuracy of child maintenance calculations by using verified income information from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and benefit systems.The department legally relies on data from HMRC and its own benefits data to assess 90% of people’...
Answered 18 Nov 2025
Original Parliament record
Published records only — not a full account of an MP’s work. How we work →