Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the reduction in the level of real-terms funding since 2010 on schools in Rochdale constituency; and if she will make it her policy to increase the level of real-term funding for schools in Rochdale constituency to 2010 levels.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to providing a world class education system for all children and has invested significantly in education to achieve that. Overall school funding, including the recently announced additional pensions funding, is rising to £60.7 billion in 2024/25, which is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil. This means that real terms funding for schools in England has increased rather than decreased since 2010.
Through the National Funding Formula (NFF), funding is distributed fairly based on the needs of each school and their pupils and all schools attract a per pupil increase in funding. Mainstream schools in the Rochdale Constituency are attracting an extra £1 million in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24 through the schools NFF, which is an increase of 1.9% per pupil in their pupil-led funding. This means schools in the Rochdale Constituency will attract over £112.1 million, based on the schools NFF. Constituency figures are based on an aggregation of school-level allocations through the NFF, and final allocations will depend on the local authority’s funding formula.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2024 to Question 25444 on Political Parties: Registration, if she will ask the Commission to make an assessment of the consistency of those rules with the approval of a description on a ballot paper of the Liberal Party that includes reference to Steve Radford's candidate.
Answered by Cat Smith
All applications to register new party descriptions are assessed against the criteria set out in law. The criteria are designed to ensure voters can mark the ballot paper with confidence.
The description referenced was registered 23 years ago. The Commission has since updated its approach to descriptions that feature individuals’ names, to ensure the statutory criteria which prevent voters from being misled or confused are met.
The Commission periodically reviews the registers of political parties to ensure registered details continue to meet the statutory tests. It will consider descriptions that include an individual’s name as part of its programme of future reviews.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing the two-child limit for benefits.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are no plans to make such an assessment.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to the public purse has been of the UK's (a) participation in Operation Prosperity Guardian and (b) military air strikes on Yemen.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Net Additional Costs of Military Operations will be identified and reported in the Annual Report and Accounts in due course.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, if she will hold discussions with the Electoral Commission on the reasons for which it rejected the application from (a) Kingston Independent Residents Group and (b) Workers Party Britain on registering a description that included the leaders of those parties.
Answered by Cat Smith
Parties have the option to register descriptions which can appear on the ballot paper, instead of the party name. As the registrar for political parties, electoral law requires the Commission to assess whether a party’s description meets the requirements set out in law. If it does not, the description cannot be registered.
If a person, other than the candidate, is named in a description and thus appeared on the ballot paper, it is likely to mislead a voter about the candidate standing in their area. It would not therefore meet the legal requirements for a description, and the Commission would be required to refuse it.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of mould in the (a) owner-occupied, (b) private rented and (c) social rented sector.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As set out in my answer to Question UIN 24168 on 3 May 2024, the English Housing Survey sets out levels of damp and mould in all tenures of residential accommodation. Details are available online.
For more information on the health impacts of damp and mould in homes, please see our consolidated guidance developed with the Department of Health and Social Care. It can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/damp-and-mould-understanding-and-addressing-the-health-risks-for-rented-housing-providers.
Following the tragic death of the two-year-old Awaab Ishak, due to the appalling housing conditions that Awaab Ishak and his family had to live in, the Secretary of State summoned the leadership of their landlord, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, to explain why such catastrophic failures had been allowed to happen. The Government has also legislated for ‘Awaab’s law’, introduced via the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023.
In his written statement of 9 January 2024 (HCWS174) the Secretary of State launched a consultation on how ‘Awaab’s law’ will operate in practice, including the specific requirements on social landlords. The consultation closed on 5 March 2024 and we are analysing the responses. Once this has been completed, we will bring forward secondary legislation as soon as possible.
The department, last year, provided £15 million of funding to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to tackle the worst cases of damp and mould. They have now completed improvements to around 4,000 homes.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will meet the hon. Member for Rochdale to discuss (a) maternity and (b) accident and emergency services at Rochdale Infirmary.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
I would be happy to meet with the hon. Member for Rochdale to discuss maternity services at Rochdale Infirmary.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will meet representatives of Women Against State Pension Inequality to discuss the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman's findings and recommendations in its report entitled Women’s State Pension Age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March 2024.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will have discussions with Royal Mail on the allocation of the RO postcode to Rochdale.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The allocation of postcodes is an operational matter for Royal Mail as an independent business. The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail’s operational decisions.
Asked by: George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain - Rochdale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, of which country's intelligence agencies the official arrested in Turkey in connection with the British girls who ran away from home to join ISIS is a member; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Lidington
We are grateful to Turkey for the close cooperation on all aspects of counter-terrorism work. We continue to work closely with the Turkish National Police Force and Turkish Embassy on this case. It is the long-standing policy of successive governments not to comment on intelligence matters.