Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support London Councils who have reported a 120 per cent rise in requests by landlords for return of properties used as temporary homes and a 41 per cent reduction in the number of properties available for private rental since 2020.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This Government is investing over £1 billion into the Homelessness Prevention Grant between 2022 and 2025. In London, this includes over £350 million for 2023/24 and 2024/25 which funds local authorities to offer financial support for people to find a new home or to work with landlords to prevent evictions, among other preventative measures, or to provide temporary accommodation where needed.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Poverty Strategy Commission’s interim report A New Framework for Tackling Poverty, published on 5 September, and in particular the recommendations that a net rise in benefit awards by 5 per cent would reduce numbers in poverty by 725,000 and a net rise in earnings wound reduce poverty by 515,000.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has not undertaken any specific assessment but notes that the analysis included in the report is based on the Social Metric Commission’s (SMC) measure of poverty.
The Government accepts that the SMC’s approach offers a more expansive view of inescapable costs, and alternative income sources will add new insight to the understanding of poverty. In March 2023, the Department for Work and Pensions announced plans to resume work developing an experimental measure of poverty based on the SMC’s innovative work. The Government already publishes national statistics on low income using a range of measures.
The Government’s focus is firmly on supporting people into and to progress in work. Our approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. The latest statistics show that working age adults living in workless households were over 7 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than working age adults in households where all adults work. To help people into work our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance. We are also addressing progression barriers through our comprehensive package of childcare support, our in work progression offer, and changes to the administrative earnings threshold which ensure that more claimants can benefit from work coach support.
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help. Overall, we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of bills. From April 2023, everyone who receives a state benefit or pension will have seen their benefit rates increase by 10.1%.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with (1) international partners, and (2) the government of Azerbaijan, to encourage that country to lift its blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government has publicly highlighted the importance of re-opening the Lachin corridor and addressing related humanitarian issues, including at the United Nations Security Council in New York on 20 December 2022 and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Vienna on 17 January and 27 April 2023. Minister Docherty visited Baku on 22-23 February to meet with senior representatives of the Azerbaijani government and called for the re-opening of the Lachin corridor in those meetings. Minister Docherty reiterated these messages when he hosted Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Bayramov in London for the 5th UK-Azerbaijan Strategic Dialogue on 20 June. We will continue to support constructive dialogue in further contact with the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments in the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prosecutions were undertaken of people smugglers in each of the last three years for which data are available.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office works tirelessly, with other national and international law enforcement authorities, to tackle migrant smuggling gangs who organise and profit from illegal crossings and to bring to justice the ruthless criminals behind them.
We are determined to go after the callous people smugglers who exploit vulnerable people in difficult circumstances and put them in life-threatening situations.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to apprehend people smugglers operating routes into the UK.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
This Government remains focused on doing everything we can to disrupt the people-smuggling gangs responsible for the dangerous Channel crossings. Our law enforcement agencies work tirelessly to tackle the criminal networks who facilitate people smuggling from source countries to Europe and then the UK, knowingly putting people in life-threatening situations.
Since its inception in 2015, the UK’s dedicated Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) taskforce has achieved more than 1,400 arrests (both in the UK and overseas), with suspects sentenced to more than 1,300 years in prison.
Following the Prime Minister’s commitment on 13 December to stop the dangerous small boats crossings, co-ordinated by ruthless, organised criminals. And every single journey risks the lives of women, children and - we should be honest - mostly men at sea.
That is why we are doubling the funding for the Operation Invigor. The increased funding will aim to double the number of disruptions and enforcement activity against OIC and the criminal gangs that facilitate it.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Amnesty International published on 2 May into the use of the Israeli military facial recognition system, Red Wolf, in mass surveillance and whether they support the call by Amnesty International for an end to mass and targeted surveillance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has a regular dialogue with the Government of Israel on the conduct of its occupation of Palestinian territories. The UK respects the necessity of Israeli security measures as part of the occupation, but we continue to stress to the Israeli authorities that the impact of such security measures must not disproportionately impact the lives of ordinary Palestinians or their right to non-violent protest.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the diplomatic visit on 30 January to the Palestinian community of Khan Al Ahmar regarding the threat of demolition facing that village, what was the outcome of their meeting in London with the Israeli Foreign Minister about the future of Khan Al Ahmar.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary and I (Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon) met Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in London on 21 March and emphasised the need to de-escalate the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as we approach the convergence of several religious festivals. That included asking the Israeli Government to refrain from unilateral actions, such as demolitions, that make achieving this de-escalation more difficult. I know that the Prime Minister also echoed this message of de-escalation in his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on 24 March. We oppose the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, and we continue to urge Israel to cease evictions and demolitions of Palestinian property in Area C, which cause unnecessary suffering and in all, but the most exceptional circumstances are illegal under international law.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of their state of relations with the Palestinian Authority following the recall of the Head of Mission of the Palestinian Authority to the UK in response to the 2030 roadmap for UK-Israel bilateral relations, signed on 21 March.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Palestinian Head of Mission Zomlot and I (Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon) met on 31 March to discuss this issue, and I reaffirmed the UK's long-standing commitment to a two-state solution based on 1967 lines. The UK is a friend of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestinian people. We support Palestinians in realising self-determination through an independent sovereign, and unified Palestinian state, in the West Bank and Gaza.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what response they have received from the government of Israel regarding the joint call that they and diplomatic representatives from 16 other countries made on the 13 March to reverse the eviction of six Palestinian families from Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah, and the Old City of Jerusalem.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No such response was received, and I [Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon] have raised this matter with the Israeli ambassador separately. Demolitions and evictions from their homes cause unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians, call into question Israel's commitment to a viable two-state solution and, in all but the most exceptional of cases, demolitions by an occupying power are contrary to international humanitarian law. Officials from our embassy in Tel Aviv have repeatedly raised our apprehensions about demolitions with Israeli ministers and senior officials and we continue to support Palestinians through UK funding to legal aid programmes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Foreign Secretary has reinforced this message on 7 April when he called for de-escalation and made clear the need to avoid actions which escalate tensions and violence.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have received from, or on behalf of the governments of (1) Canada, (2) Australia, and (3) New Zealand, in the past 12 months on the subject of UK state pensions paid to individuals resident in their territories, and their annual uprating in line with those paid in the United Kingdom; and what representations have they received from non-governmental groups on the same subject.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government does not have a policy to increase the number of countries with which the UK has reciprocal agreements on state pensions. The government has no plans to change its social security relationship with these countries on state pensions.
Requests for social security agreements may be raised in formal and informal meetings and in correspondence at both ministerial and official level. The Department for Work and Pensions does not, as a matter of routine, maintain full records of such requests. The department can, however, confirm that a response was provided to the government of Canada in August 2022 on its request to conclude a reciprocal agreement to include state pension uprating, where the department outlined its longstanding position as stated above.