theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Mark Garnier:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the the Financial Services Compensation Scheme deposit protection limit for registered businesses. \p Emma Reynolds: Eligible deposits held by UK banks, building societies and credit unions that are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £85,000. This limit is set by the PRA and applies to eligible retail accounts as well as accounts of eligible registered businesses. The PRA is required to independently review the limit every five years.

On 31 March, the PRA launched a consultation on the outcome of its most recent review and proposed an inflation-based increase in this limit to £110,000. Any changes to the limit must be approved by the Treasury and the Government would carefully consider any changes proposed by the PRA following the conclusion of this consultation.
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Mark Garnier:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the annual cost to the Exchequer of the Lifetime ISA in terms of (a) reduced tax revenue and (b) value paid bonus payments in (i) 2024–25 and (ii) 2025–26. \p Emma Reynolds: The cost of the tax relief element of the Lifetime ISA is included within tax relief cost of all ISAs, which can be found in the Non-structural tax relief statistics publication, specifically table 5.16.

A forecast of estimated bonus paid is published within the OBR’s Economic and fiscal outlook, in the ‘detailed forecast tables: expenditure’ table. Specifically, this can be found within the detailed table breakdown in tab 4.11, row 7.

Links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/main-tax-expenditures-and-structural-reliefs/non-structural-tax-relief-statistics-december-2024

https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2025/
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of future rates of Air Passenger Duty on levels of economic growth. \p James Murray: The Government published Tax Impact and Information Notes (TIINs) assessing the impacts of the 2025/26 and 2026/27 APD rates, which can be found at GOV.UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-air-passenger-duty-rates-from-1-april-2025/air-passenger-duty-rates-from-1-april-2025-to-31-march-2026

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-air-passenger-duty-rates-from-1-april-2026/air-passenger-duty-rates-from-1-april-2026-to-31-march-2027

These measures are not expected to have any significant macroeconomic impact.
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Robin Swann:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Barnett consequential for Northern Ireland from the recent trade deal with India will be. \p Darren Jones: The UK-India Free Trade Agreement will make it easier for British businesses to trade with the fastest growing economy in the G20. The government estimates that it will increase bilateral trade by £25.5 billion, add £4.8billion a year to our economy and boost wages by £2.2 billion every year in the long run.

The Barnett formula is applied when UK Government departmental budgets change. Any future changes to UK Government department funding as a result of the UK-India Free Trade Agreement will have the Barnett formula applied in the normal way.
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Mr Lee Dillon:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing full compensation to Equitable Life policyholders. \p Emma Reynolds: The Equitable Life Payment Scheme has been fully wound down and closed since 2016 and there are no plans to reopen any decisions relating to the Payment Scheme or review the £1.5 billion funding allocation previously made to it. Further guidance on the status of the Payment Scheme after closure is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equitable-life-payment-scheme#closure-of-the-scheme.
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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Financial Conduct Authority's redress scheme in relation to the collapse of the Woodford Equity Income Fund. \p Emma Reynolds: On 19 April 2023, the FCA published a statement on their investigation into the circumstances leading up to the suspension of the Woodford Equity Income Fund, and the role of Link Fund Solutions. The statement set out a proposed settlement scheme for this investigation, where Link Fund Solutions and Link Group would provide a redress payment of up to approximately £230 million. This scheme would mean investors recovering up to 77p in the pound for the losses attributable to Link Fund Solutions.

The FCA considered that the scheme was the quickest way for investors to obtain a better outcome than might otherwise be achieved. In December 2023, investors voted by an overwhelming margin to endorse the scheme.

On 9 February 2024, the High Court issued a judgment approving the scheme, and the first redress payments of over £185 million were distributed by April 2024.
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Munira Wilson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether funding for climate adaptation will be included in the spending review. \p Darren Jones: The Government recognises that preparing for the future means adapting to the effects of climate change. Without action, flooding, coastal erosion and other climate hazards will pose greater risks to lives, livelihoods and people’s wellbeing.

As set out in the Autumn Budget, the Government is investing in climate adaptation to protect the economy from the impacts of climate change, confirming investment of £2.4 billion over two years to support flood resilience and over £400 million for tree planting and peatland restoration, which will contribute to resilience.

The allocation of funding beyond 2025-26 will be confirmed through Phase 2 of the Spending Review in June.
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Shaun Davies:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much money is held in dormant bank accounts, broken down by (a) bank and (b) region. \p Emma Reynolds: HMT does not hold information on the level of dormant assets across UK bank accounts as this would be client information held by the banks themselves.

However, the Government does have information on the level of funds pertaining to the UK’s official Dormant Assets Scheme. The Dormant Assets scheme – legislated for in 2008, and updated in 2022 – creates a voluntary mechanism for taking dormant funds transferred from the financial sector to spend on charitable causes. The scheme was designed as a public/private partnership. The transferred funds come largely from the UK’s banking and building society sectors and are administered by a body called Reclaim Fund Limited (RFL).

Total transfers into the scheme since inception, from across the financial services sector, was £1.98bn as of March 2024. Of this total, £241m was transferred to the scheme in the financial year 2023/2024 alone, of which £219m came from the banking and building societies sectors, demonstrating the large amount of Dormant Assets held by these institutions.

There are currently 36 banks and building societies participating in the Dormant Assets Scheme, including many large banks.
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Mark Garnier:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating guidance on the lifetime ISA scheme to clarify the cost of early withdrawal penalties. \p Emma Reynolds: The Lifetime ISA supports younger people saving for their first home or later life by offering a generous government bonus on up to £4,000 of savings each year. These funds, including the government bonus, can be used to purchase a first home up to the value of £450,000, in the case of terminal illness or from age 60.

Any other withdrawals are subject to a 25% charge on the amount withdrawn. This recoups the government bonus, any interest or growth arising, and a proportion of the individual’s subscriptions to discourage such withdrawals and protect the long-term nature of the account.

While the Government’s website ‘gov.uk’ already explains the rules behind the Lifetime ISA, and includes a worked example of the withdrawal charge, we will consider whether any improvements can be made to that guidance.

Lifetime ISA managers also have a responsibility for ensuring that communications with their customers are clear and concise as part of consumer duty requirements. As part of that communication the manager will normally provide details of the scheme, including the rules around withdrawing funds, whether any charge applies and how that charge is calculated.
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Mark Garnier:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with social media and telecommunication companies on reducing Authorised Push Payment Fraud on online platforms. \p Emma Reynolds: The government is committed to ensuring that all key sectors play their part to better protect the public and businesses from fraud.

In November, building on existing pledges to prevent fraud, the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Chancellor wrote to signatories of the Online Fraud Charter and Telecommunications Fraud Sector Charter calling for technology platforms and telecoms providers to go further and faster in their efforts to tackle the fraud that exploits their services.

The government will publish a fraud prevention strategy in due course, which will ensure a unified and coordinated response from government, law enforcement and industry.
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Mel Stride:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the forecast level of (a) public sector net debt, (b) public sector net debt excluding Bank of England and (c) public sector net financial liabilities was at the time of the Autumn Budget 2024 in (i) cash terms, (ii) real terms and (iii) as a proportion of GDP on a (A) pre and (B) post measures basis in each financial year to 2029-30. \p Darren Jones: At Autumn Budget 2024, the government put the public finances on a sustainable path by strengthening the fiscal framework, including announcing new fiscal rules, and taking difficult decisions on tax, welfare and spending.

The information requested is all  published explicitly, or calculable from information published, in the AB24 Economic and Fiscal Outlook and the OBR’s Public Sector Finances aggregates databank ,  with the exception of the information related to public sector net debt excluding Bank of England on a pre-measures basis, which is not published by the OBR.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the scheduled local council elections in Surrey in 2026 will be (a) postponed and (b) cancelled. \p Jim McMahon: The government considered requests to postpone local elections from May 2025 to May 2026 where it could be shown to help deliver both reorganisation and devolution to the most ambitious timeframe.

The government will work with areas to hold elections for new unitary councils as soon as possible as is the usual arrangement in the process of local government reorganisation. For Surrey, our expectation is that the only elections that will take place in May 2026 are elections to new shadow unitary local government, with a view to going live in April 2027.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has a target number of people to be supported under the Communities for Afghans phase 2 scheme. \p Alex Norris: Communities for Afghans phase 2 aims to accommodate 500 Afghan households (approximately 2,750 individuals) on Afghan resettlement schemes by the end of March 2031.

Further detail on the scheme is here.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the (a) Supreme Court judgement in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025 and (b) the document by the Equality and Human Rights Commission entitled Interim update on the practical implications of the UK Supreme Court judgment published on 25 April 2025 on the guidance published by her Department entitled Toilet accommodation: Approved Document T, published on 1 October 2024. \p Alex Norris: The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are currently updating their Code of Practice to reflect the Supreme Court ruling of 16 April 2025. The Government will consider the EHRC’s updated guidance as necessary once it is published.

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) have a duty under the Building Safety Act 2022 to keep the safety and standard of buildings under review in England. The BSR continually reviews the suite of Approved Documents to ensure the statutory guidance remains relevant, as well as advising government on the safety and standards of all buildings.

This Government is always keen to receive feedback on the real-world application of the Building Regulations and will consider comments received, monitor stakeholder experience, and keep the new Approved Document T under review.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure whistleblowing protections are in place for staff who report (a) misconduct and (b) discriminatory behaviour in the West Midlands Fire Service. \p Alex Norris: I am responding as the Minister now with responsibility for Fire. It is the government’s priority to drive meaningful culture change across the fire and rescue sector.  Our fire professionals work under significant pressure and in challenging circumstances, so it is important that Fire and Rescue Authorities and the Fire and Rescue Services create a culture where every member of the team can thrive. This of course includes the staff at West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service.

In December 2024, the Home Secretary decided to commission a ‘Best Value Inspection’ of the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority to ascertain whether the authority is meeting its Best Value obligations or if it is failing to do so, particularly regarding governance. We will ensure partners are kept updated on the development of this Best Value Inspection.

On 13 July 2023, the Home Office commissioned HMICFRS to undertake a thematic inspection of the handling of misconduct in fire and rescue services in England, building on the outcomes of the spotlight report. This report was published on 1 August 2024 and made 15 recommendations, including one to ensure all staff understand how to raise a concern and use grievance and whistle-blowing processes and feel safe in doing so. MHCLG is working closely with services to determine the level of progress made against these recommendations and if there are any systemic barriers to progress that government may be able to offer support for.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Regulatory Policy Committee's report entitled the Status of Post Implementation Reviews published on 24 April 2025, for what reason the post-implementation review of The Planning (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2015 was delayed. \p Matthew Pennycook: The government will meet the statutory requirement for a review of the Planning (Hazardous Substances Regulations) 2015.
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James Naish:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department has taken to provide clarity to local planning authorities on the classification of dog grooming parlours. \p Matthew Pennycook: The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 groups together uses which have similar land use impacts into classes, allowing flexibility to change between uses within each class.

It is for the local planning authority to consider the use of a particular property based on the specific details of the individual case.

We have not issued guidance on dog grooming parlours.
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Tom Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Renters Rights Bill on landlords with fewer than five properties. \p Matthew Pennycook: 83% of landlords own fewer than five properties, representing 51% of tenancies. It is essential that our Renters’ Rights Bill provides confidence for good landlords, whether they have small or larger portfolios.

The government values responsible landlords who provide quality homes to their tenants and believes they must enjoy robust grounds for possession where there is good reason to take their property back.

The Department published an Impact Assessment on 22 November 2024. It received a ‘Green’ rating from the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC), indicating that it is ‘fit for purpose’.
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Carla Denyer:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 6 May 2025 to Question 47931 on Tenants' Rights, what steps she plans to take to raise awareness among renters in rent-to-rent schemes of their new rights following passage of the Renters' Rights Bill. \p Matthew Pennycook: The government intends to provide tenants and landlords – including those operating within rent-to-rent arrangements – with a full suite of guidance to help them prepare for the commencement of the Renters’ Rights Bill.

We expect our guidance to be sufficiently comprehensive that all landlords affected by the reforms it contains will know what their responsibilities are, and tenants across the sector will feel empowered to hold landlords to account when things go wrong.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the guidance entitled Funding to support local authorities with the costs of Green Belt reviews: Successful local authorities, published on 27 February 2025, what changes have been made to the (a) allocations and (b) funding for Green Belt review since 27 February 2025. \p Matthew Pennycook: The government has awarded 134 local authorities a share of £9.38 million of Green Belt review funding. A full list of LPAs in receipt of funding is available on gov.uk here.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has recused herself from matters relating to licensing in the hospitality sector. \p Alex Norris: All ministers are recused from policy decisions where there are competing interests. The Deputy Prime Minister has declared her interests in the usual way.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of crash mat availability in (a) Dorset and (b) other rural fire services. \p Alex Norris: It is the responsibility of fire and rescue authorities to ensure that firefighters receive the equipment and training they need to safely respond to incidents, and to do so in light of their individual areas’ risk profiles and Community Risk Management Plans. We work closely with the National Fire Chiefs Council to ensure that the fire and rescue sector has sufficient resource to keep the public safe.

The government does not hold any data or publish any statistics on equipment used at incidents.
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Ellie Chowns:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 April 2025 to Question 44831 on Property Development: Recreation Spaces, whether she plans to limit the number of open public spaces in new housing developments that are owned by private companies. \p Matthew Pennycook: The government remain committed to protecting residential freeholders on private and mixed-tenure housing estates from unfair charges. This year we will consult on implementing the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act’s new consumer protection provisions for the up to 1.75 million homes that are subject to these charges, and bring these measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter. These include ensuring that homeowners who pay an estate management charge have better access to information they need to understand what they are paying for, the right to challenge the reasonableness at the First-tier Tribunal (in England), and to go to the tribunal to appoint a substitute manager.

The government is determined to end the injustice of ‘fleecehold’ entirely and we will consult this year on legislative and policy options to reduce the prevalence of private estate management arrangements, which are the root cause of the problems experienced by many residential freeholders. This consultation will help gather further data on this matter.

The Department do not hold specific information on the number of open public spaces in new housing developments that are owned by private companies.
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Tom Rutland:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that chalk streams are protected in planning policies. \p Matthew Pennycook: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 45390 on 23 April 2025.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much her Department has spent on (a) domestic and (b) international flights since 4 July 2024. \p Alex Norris: MHCLG has spent £39,114.79 on domestic flights and £68,513.31 on international flights since 4 July 2024.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data her Department holds on (a) the number of charitable independent schools which received 20% discretionary business rate relief in 2024-25 and (b) the number of local authorities offering such discretionary rate relief; and whether her Department holds information on the number of local authorities which are continuing to provide such discretionary business rate relief in 2025-26. \p Jim McMahon: The government does not collect data on discretionary rates relief awarded to charities at property level. As part of the annual National Non-Domestic Rates return, data is collected for total discretionary relief for all charitable occupation. The published forecast data shows an estimate of 281 Billing Authorities providing £48.7 million in discretionary relief for charitable occupation in 2024-25, and 280 Billing Authorities providing £48.9 million in 2025-26.
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Vikki Slade:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when her Department will publish the response to the consultation entitled Enabling remote attendance and proxy voting at local authority meetings, which closed on 19 December 2024. \p Jim McMahon: Our consultation on remote attendance and proxy voting closed on 19 December, and results will be published in due course. The consultation aimed to consider how to support the local government sector to modernise democratic engagement and remove unnecessary barriers to participation.
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Brian Mathew:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to increase the amount of social housing in Melksham and Devizes constituency. \p Matthew Pennycook: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 41721 on 3 April 2025.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she plans to publish interests of Departmental board members. \p Alex Norris: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published an updated register of board members’ interests on Gov.uk on 07 May 2025.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding is available to police forces for the purchase of inflatable rescue mats used to prevent injuries from high-level jumps. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Home Office does not hold the requested information.

Decisions around procuring this type of equipment is a matter for operationally independent Chief Constables, Police and Crime Commissioners or their Mayoral equivalents, to be taken in line with the needs of their local force.
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Ben Lake:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with the Welsh Government on the potential impact of the situation in Kashmir on (a) policing and (b) community relations in Wales. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Home Office has been sharing up to date information with Welsh partners on emerging risks and issues in relation to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in India-administered Kashmir and will continue to work with those partners to monitor any local reactions and tensions.

Whilst community cohesion is a devolved area, officials from the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government also continue to support the Devolved Governments in best practice for monitoring and alleviating any community tensions.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2025 to Question 46271 on Hospitality Industry: Licensing, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the introduction of alcohol licensing fees on licensed (a) pubs and (b) restaurants that want to operate pavement licences. \p Dame Diana Johnson: I refer the Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement I made to the House on 27 February.

In addition, he will be aware that in early April the Department for Business and Trade announced a licensing policy taskforce to explore and evaluate options to create a licensing system that better supports business growth while ensuring public safety and community interests remain adequately protected under the Government’s Safer Streets Mission.

The Home Office is playing an active role in that taskforce, further details of which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/licensing-policy-taskforce/terms-of-reference-and-taskforce-member-list
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Prevent referrals related to Islamic extremism resulted in (a) prosecutions and (b) removals from the country in the last three years; and what steps her Department is taking to improve the enforcement of removal orders. \p Dan Jarvis: Prevent aims to intervene early to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The Prevent Duty sits alongside long-established safeguarding duties on professionals to protect people from a range of harms. It helps to ensure that people who are susceptible to radicalisation are supported as they would be under safeguarding processes. A Prevent referral does not amount to an accusation of criminality.
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Liz Jarvis:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to (a) collect and (b) publish annual statistics on the number of animals bred for scientific purposes but not used in scientific procedures. \p Dan Jarvis: The Home Office is presently reviewing the collection and publication of additional statistics on animals that were bred but not used in scientific procedures.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to secure five-year guaranteed full-rent deals from private landlords to house asylum seekers. \p Dame Angela Eagle: I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 2nd April to question 41060.
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Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which hotels are being used to house asylum seekers in Mid Leicestershire constituency; and how many asylum seekers there are in each hotel. \p Dame Angela Eagle: I refer the Hon Member to the Answer he received on the 14 January 2025 to UIN 22515.
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Chris Coghlan:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of gathering data on time taken between immigration appeals tribunal decisions and the receipt of resulting deportation notices to appellants. \p Dame Angela Eagle: Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has issued guidance to (a) immigration officers and (b) caseworkers on the compatibility of an asylum claimant's (i) views on (A) democracy, (B) free speech and (C) gender equality and (ii) other (1) cultural and (2) religious views with long-term residence in the UK. \p Dame Angela Eagle: All asylum decision-making guidance, including our policy on extremism (contained within Exclusion (Article 1F) and Article 33(2) of the Refugee Convention guidance), is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/asylum-decision-making-guidance-asylum-instructions.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_138

Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people claimed asylum by religion in each of the last five years. \p Dame Angela Eagle: The Home Office publishes available data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum claims is published in table Asy_D01 of the ‘Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to 2024. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_139

Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what accommodation in Cambridgeshire is used to house people that have arrived in the UK illegally. \p Dame Angela Eagle: Data, published quarterly, on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation can be found within the Asy_D11 tab for our most recent statistics release. The data can be broken down by local authority and accommodation type. Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_140

Claire Hanna:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Migration Advisory Committee's report entitled Graduate route: rapid review, published 14 May 2024. \p Seema Malhotra: The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under review, in consultation with a wide range of experts and other stakeholders.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_141

Liz Saville Roberts:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of routes available to people in Gaza to join families in the UK. \p Seema Malhotra: I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 13 March to Question 35970.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_142

Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has considered establishing a dedicated National Crime Agency unit to investigate institutional failings in cases of group-based child sexual exploitation. \p Jess Phillips: The Government continues to focus on delivering meaningful change for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation, including group-based child sexual exploitation.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) and police forces can investigative any criminal activity, including offences that have occurred in relation to institutional failings in cases of group-based child sexual exploitation. We have significantly strengthened the National Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce to support police investigations into group-based child sexual exploitation across the country, and we have asked all 43 police forces in England and Wales to work with the Taskforce to review historic cases where 'No Further Action' was taken and to pursue new lines of inquiry, where appropriate, to get justice for more victims and to get more perpetrators behind bars.

We are awaiting Baroness Casey's national audit into group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and will set out any further work in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_143

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to support victims of modern slavery. \p Jess Phillips: The Government has developed a Modern Slavery Action Plan which reinforces our commitment to working across Government and with civil society, businesses, and international partners to prevent exploitation, protect victims, and pursue those responsible for these heinous crimes.

In England and Wales, the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC) provides victims safe accommodation, financial support and a support worker to help them access other support such as NHS medical care. We will soon be tendering for the new Support for Victims of Modern Slavery (SVMS) contract to replace the MSVCC when it ends. The SVMS contract has been informed by engagement with survivors and key organisations across the modern slavery sector.

In addition to the statutory support local authorities provide to children in need in their areas, the Government's Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship (ICTG) service is available in two-thirds of local authorities in England and Wales. The ICTG service provides an additional source of advice and support for potential child victims of modern slavery and exploitation and advocates on a child's behalf to ensure their best interests are reflected in the decision-making of the public authorities involved in their care.

An ICTG's advocacy and involvement throughout the decision-making process is intended to ensure the child is protected from further harm, to promote their recovery and prevent them from possible repeat victimisation, re-trafficking or going missing.

The Government intends to go out to tender for the contract for the roll out of a national ICTG service that will cover the whole of England and Wales in Summer 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_144

Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase security for online shopping to tackle cyber attacks. \p Dan Jarvis: The Home Office continues to work closely with enforcement partners and industry representatives to assess the risk of cyber attacks across a range of platform, and take action both to mitigate those threats, and hold perpetrators to account.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_145

Ellie Chowns:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing the Holiday Activities and Food programme on a permanent basis. \p Stephen Morgan: The government is committed to the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme and the impact it has on children, young people and families. We are very pleased that the overall funding for the HAF programme in 2025/26 is again more than £200 million, with delivery across England taking place at Easter, summer and Christmas.

Funding beyond March 2026 is subject to the multi-year Spending Review and any decisions will be made as part of the Review taking place later this year.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_146

Richard Fuller:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average cost per pupil was to construct a special educational needs school in the last five years. \p Stephen Morgan: New school buildings are delivered by the department, local authorities, and other bodies.

The average cost of building a special educational needs school can be found on pages 25-29 in the national cost benchmarking study published at: https://documents.hants.gov.uk/property-services/NationalSchoolDeliveryBenchmarkingreport.pdf.

This report contains cost information on local authority delivered schools and department-delivered schools, the data has been collected since 2012.

Standards for new school buildings change over time, for example to increase sustainability requirements, so care should be taken in comparing costs directly year to year.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_147

Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of the new school-based nurseries will be in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire. \p Stephen Morgan: Under the school-based nurseries capital grant for 2024 to 2025, schools could apply to create or expand school-based nursery provision. This first phase funded 300 projects to make high-quality childcare more available and accessible for families, delivering on our Plan for Change to ensure a record proportion of children start school ready to learn. Seven schools received funding in the Lincolnshire local authority. Four schools will be opening new, school-run nurseries. There will be two in South Holland and The Deepings, one in Sleaford and North Hykeham, and one in Lincoln. The remaining funded projects are for expansions of existing nurseries. One in Boston and Skegness, one in Rutland and Stamford, and one in Gainsborough. The published list of successful projects is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-based-nursery-capital-grant-application-outcomes?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications-topic&utm_source=fe34fce2-3673-4d46-9ff6-d06d1c0d1cf8&utm_content=immediately.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_148

Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the long-term development of (a) speech, (b) language and (c) social skills for early years children. \p Stephen Morgan: Substantial work has been conducted on the impact of the pandemic on child development and the department recognises the impact of the pandemic on critical speech, language and social skills.

That is why, as part of the early years education recovery programme, the department provided funding of over £20 million to deliver Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI), which is an evidence-based programme for children needing extra support with their speech and language development.

The department is also continuing to improve access to speech and language therapy by funding the Early Language and Support for Every Child pathfinder project, in partnership with NHS England. This programme aims to improve capacity and knowledge among the workforce who support children in early years and school settings with mild to moderate speech, language and communication needs, by utilising therapy support assistants.

In addition, the department has launched some online child development training, which includes modules dedicated to supporting children’s personal, social and emotional development and early language. More information on the training can be found here: https://child-development-training.education.gov.uk/.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_149

Claire Young:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to section 23 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, whether the proposed limit of three branded items refers to the (a) overall number of items or (b) the individual types of items. \p Catherine McKinnell: The proposed limit of three branded items relates to the individual types of items. For example, a school can include a branded blazer, jumper and book bag within its policy.

Schools will only be able to require pupils to have up to three types of compulsory branded uniform items for use during the year. Secondary schools and middle schools will have the option of requiring an additional compulsory branded item if it is a branded tie.

The limit will apply to any compulsory branded items in the school’s uniform policy, including PE kit. This includes any bags, such as book bags or rucksacks, and any items only suitable for particular times of year, such as summer dresses. It will be for individual parents to decide how many of each type of branded item they may wish to buy, but the limit on branded items will allow parents to purchase more uniform items from various retailers, including high street stores, helping them manage uniform costs more effectively.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-05-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-05-13 conversation_150

Claire Young:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to support school uniform providers in complying with the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. \p Catherine McKinnell: The department knows that school uniform providers play an important role for parents and communities by providing year-round guaranteed supply, a diversity of sizes and specialist advice to schools and parents.

We intend for the limit to come into effect in September 2026. This grace period will give suppliers enough time to renegotiate their existing contracts with schools in order to align with the new legislative requirements and wind down stock levels as appropriate.

Parents should have choice over where they shop, rather than having to buy expensive branded uniform items. Departmental research shows that the average cost of uniform is significantly lower when parents are allowed to buy items from a range of outlets.