Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the impact of homelessness on local authorities’ resources and their capacity to meet their statutory duties.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness is too high and the Government recognises the impact this has on local authorities, including financial pressures.
We have increased funding for homelessness by £316 million this year to a total of more than £1 billion, and will publish our cross-Government homelessness strategy later this year.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are waiting for a decision on their Access to Work scheme claim.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of October 2025, there are 62,000 applications outstanding. We recognise the importance of reducing waiting times, which is why we have increased the number of staff working in this area by 27% in the last financial year.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he will make an assessment of the potential merits of linking Unique Property Reference Numbers to Universal Credit claims to help tackle fraud.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is considering external data sources, including Unique Property Reference Numbers, that could be used to help address fraud and error that occurs in Universal Credit.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Integrated Care Boards are implementing NICE guidance on intermediate care for patients experiencing homelessness.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises the importance of ensuring that people experiencing homelessness have access to appropriate intermediate care. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline NG214 on integrated health and social care for people experiencing homelessness sets out clear expectations for services to be accessible and tailored to the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness. This guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng214/chapter/Recommendations#intermediate-care
The intermediate care framework, published in 2023, stipulates that intermediate care services should be available to all eligible individuals, including those experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. The intermediate care framework is available at the following link:
Guidance on discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, published in 2024, further states that specialist and bespoke homeless intermediate care services should be developed in response to needs and should be integrated so that ‘mainstream’ and ‘specialist’ services work seamlessly together. The guidance on discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness is available at the following link:
The Better Care Fund supports local systems to integrate health, housing, and social care in ways that deliver person-centred care. One of the conditions is that Health and Wellbeing Boards are required to submit plans showing projected demand and planned capacity for intermediate care services with due regard to the need to reduce inequalities in access to and outcomes achieved by National Health Services.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing mandatory training for opticians and GPs to recognise Charles Bonnet Syndrome.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to implement mandatory training for opticians and general practitioners to recognise Charles Bonnet Syndrome. Healthcare professionals are responsible for ensuring their clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. The College of Optometrists has also published a number of resources providing information about Charles Bonnet Syndrome for optometrists and patients.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of introducing Sectioning Support Officers to the NHS to reduce police officer time spent in hospitals.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Any decisions relating to staffing in the NHS is a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England.
The Right Care Right Person approach is an approach designed to end inappropriate and avoidable police involvement in cases where people have health and/or social care needs and help ensure that people receive support from the right person, with the right skills, training, and experience to best meet their needs.
The National Partnership Agreement (NPA), signed in July 2023 by Government, NHS England and national policing bodies, sets out the principles of Right Care Right Person and how they can jointly deliver the best care to communities. The NPA sets out that local areas should work towards handovers of care between the police and mental health services taking place within one hour as specified in local plans. This one hour handover will reduce the amount of time spent by police officers with mental health patients in hospital.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps with the Metropolitan Police to move officers and staff out of the capital whose responsibilities are (a) national and (b) not wholly London-focused.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions on the location of officers and staff in the Metropolitan Police Service are an operational matter for the Commissioner. This includes resources that support existing national units.
Any future proposals on structural reform to policing in England and Wales will be set out in the upcoming white paper on police reform.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the causes of the reduction in foodbank use in this calendar year and (b) how this trend can be built upon.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to tackling poverty and ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels. We have already introduced the Fair Repayment Rate, reducing the Universal Credit overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s standard allowance, giving 1.2m households an average of £420 per year. In addition, we have also uprated benefit rates for 2025/26 in line with inflation, with 5.7 million Universal Credit households forecast to gain by an average of £150 annually.
The Government has also taken further action to support low-income households including through the increase in the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025, boosting the pay of 3 million workers.
Ahead of Child Poverty Strategy publication in the autumn, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament and a new £1 billion package to reform crisis support, including funding to ensure the poorest children do not go hungry outside of term time. We have also announced £600 million to extend the Holiday Activity and Food Programme.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of lowering VAT on restaurant customers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the significant contribution made by hospitality businesses to economic growth and social life in the UK.
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK's second largest tax, forecast to raise £180 billion in 2025/26.
Where restaurants incur VAT in producing the food they sell, this can be claimed back in the normal way, provided that they are registered for VAT. Businesses with a turnover below the £90,000 per year threshold may choose not to register for VAT, in which case they do not charge VAT on their sales and cannot reclaim it on their input costs.
HMRC estimate that the cost of a 5 per cent reduced rate for accommodation, hospitality and tourist attractions would be around £13 billion this financial year. If the scope were also to include alcoholic beverages, the cost would be approximately £3 billion greater.
More broadly, as announced at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government will introduce permanently lower business rates multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026/27. This permanent tax cut will ensure they benefit from much-needed certainty and support.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will take legislative steps to provide for an excluded contract waiver for charitable memberships in proposed secondary legislation on subscription contracts under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 to protect not-for-profit organisations from (a) undue administrative costs and (b) potential loss of fundraising revenue.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government consulted on the implementation of the new subscriptions contract regime and are analysing the responses, including submissions from the charity and not-for profit sector. Officials have met with relevant representatives and individual organisations to hear their views and we continue to engage with the sector.
The government is committed to ensuring that charities can comply with consumer law and claim Gift Aid on eligible payments. HMRC are working through the technical details and will continue to engage with the sector.