I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 122112 on 27 March 2026.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements.

The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available.

As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements.

The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available.

As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements.

The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available.

As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements.

The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available.

As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements.

The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available.

As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements.

The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available.

As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements.

The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available.

As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements.

The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available.

As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements.

The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available.

As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements.

The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available.

As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025.

In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements.

The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available.

As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

This government recognises the importance of a fair commercial leasehold market for the health of the high street. We are legislating to ban the use of upwards-only rent reviews, which make high street businesses uncompetitive if the market declines. We have also tasked the Law Commission, in addition to their ongoing review of the Landlord and Tenant Act (1954), with considering the law governing the maintenance, repair and upgrading of leased commercial buildings, including service charges.

The Government is committed to fostering the conditions to reduce vacancy, including in our high streets and shopping centres. We have introduced legislation to ban upwards-only rent reviews in commercial leases to make tenancies more affordable, and will introduce lower business rates multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties from 2026. As set out in the recent Pride in Place strategy, we have also introduced High Street Rental Auctions, empowering councils to bring vacant units back into use, and other measures to support revitalisation of vacant space including a new Community Right to Buy for valued assets, such as shops and pubs, and streamlined compulsory purchase orders. This is alongside up to £5 billion investment in 244 of the most deprived neighbourhoods which can be used to tackle high street vacancy.

To improve patients' survival rates following out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, the Government committed to improving access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces and reducing inequalities in access to these life-saving devices. Following the depletion of the existing AED fund, launched in in September 2023, the Government approved a further £500,000 in August 2024 to fulfil existing applications to the fund.

Funding was allocated where there was the greatest need, for example: remote communities with extended ambulance response times; places with high footfall and high population densities; hotspots for cardiac arrest including sporting venues and venues with vulnerable people; and deprived areas.

There are no plans to undertake further work on improving access or provide additional support for AEDs, in light of the rapid expansion of AEDs across the United Kingdom. According to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), there are now over 110,000 defibrillators in the UK registered on The Circuit, the independently operated national AED database.

We recognise the important work the BHF has undertaken in identifying communities with limited access to a defibrillator. The BHF undertook this work as part of its 2025 community defibrillator fund programme.

The BHF is urgently encouraging areas eligible to apply to its 2025 scheme to do so. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life/defibrillators/apply-for-a-free-defibrillator-for-your-community

Like the BHF, several other UK charities provide and support access to AEDs, and in some cases provide support for their maintenance and running costs. London Hearts, AED Donate, and Community Heartbeat Trust are prominent examples working to increase the availability of AEDs.

If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 12 February.

Government meets regularly with representatives of both landlord and tenant sector bodies including those with interests in regional shopping centres. These meetings have informed Government policy towards the commercial property sector throughout the pandemic and continue to do so.

The Government is committed to supporting the retail sector and we are working closely with industry through these unprecedented times. To support businesses through the next stage of the pandemic, the Government is extending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme until the end of September 2021, will continue to provide eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties in England with 100% business rates relief until 30 June 2021, and will provide additional one-off ‘Restart Grants’ for businesses in England in the non-essential retail and hospitality, leisure, personal care and accommodation sectors.

The Government has also announced a call for evidence from the wider commercial property industry, including lenders, investors and industry professionals, to help monitor the overall progress of negotiations on rent and other matters between landlords and tenants and to ensure that the voices of the harder to reach businesses in the sector are heard.

The reasons for the Secretary of State's decision are set out in full in his decision letter of 12 November, which is available to view online at (attached) the following address:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/planning-applications-called-in-decisions-and-recovered-appeals

This Government is fully committed to supporting the businesses and communities that make our high streets and town centres successful as the nation responds to the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak. Now more than ever, it is vital that we continue to help our local economies by supporting town centres and high streets to recover, adapt and evolve.

We have worked with local authorities to make grants of over £11 billion to more than 890,000 businesses via three funds to support small businesses as well as businesses in hard hit sectors such as retail, hospitality and leisure.

In addition to these funds, in May government announced the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund which is providing £50 million from the European Regional Development Fund to councils across England to support the safe reopening of high streets and other commercial areas. This new money will support practical measures so businesses can re-open quickly when they are allowed to, staff get back to work and customers return to shops confident it is safe.

Government is also delivering the £3.6 billion Towns Fund to re-energise local economies, which includes the accelerated £1 billion Future High Streets Fund competition. The fund will support local areas in England to renew and reshape town centres and high streets. Government announced in September £80m from the Towns Fund would be delivered to over 100 places to kick start regeneration projects; and we will make an announcement on places receiving funding via the Future High Streets Fund in Autumn.

Government is also providing support to places through the High Streets Task Force. Over five years this is providing hands-on support to local areas like Coventry to develop data-driven innovative strategies to tackle issues such as empty properties and connect local areas to relevant experts. The Task Force will be rolling out its expert, training and data offer across the country in due course and has already launched a range of online support.

We have also set out our plans to reform the planning process in the Planning for the Future consultation, open until 29 October. As part of this, we seek to streamline and modernise the planning process, meaning places across the country are able to respond to the needs of their communities and best utilise the land available for more homes in and around town centres and high streets, levelling up the economic and social opportunities available to our communities.

Finally, since March the Government has implemented a range of measures to support commercial property tenants and landlords. The objective of these measures was to preserve tenants’ businesses through the Covid-19 lockdown and to give time and space to landlords and tenants to agree reasonable adjustments to rent and lease terms, including terms for the payment of accumulated rent arrears. This included a moratorium on the landlord’s right of forfeiture for non-payment of rent, restrictions on the service of statutory demands and winding-up petitions and publishing a voluntary Code of Practice to encourage constructive dialogue between tenants and landlords.