Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of freezing levels of Local Housing Allowance on future levels of homelessness, in the context of her membership of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex; they interact dynamically making it very difficult to isolate the relative importance of individual factors. We work closely with other departments, including MHCLG, to ensure the impacts of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) on homelessness and local government, are considered.
This included consideration in last year’s Autumn Budget not to increase LHA rates for 2025/26. Rental data, the impacts of LHA rates, rate increases in April 2024, and the wider fiscal context were all considered. The April 2024 one-year LHA increase cost an additional £1.2bn in 2024/25 and approximately £7bn over 5 years.
At last year’s Budget, funding for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) were maintained. These are available from local authorities and can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. The Autumn Budget also announced an increase in 2025/26 by £233 million compared to last year (FY2024-25) to grant funding for homelessness services. This increased spending will help prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025-26.
The government will also invest £2bn in social and affordable housing in 2026-27, to deliver up to 18,000 new homes. This will immediately allow housing associations and local councils to bring bids forward for new developments in every part of the country.
We continue to work across government, including on the development of MHCLG’s Long Term Housing and Homelessness and Rough-sleeping strategies to ensure that interactions and impacts between departments are considered. The Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough-sleeping, for example, brings together ministers from across Government to drive progress on the strategy development and get back on track to ending homelessness.
Any future decisions on LHA policy will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing, including as part of the strategies mentioned above, and considered for prioritisation within the challenging fiscal context.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of freezing Local Housing Allowance on other areas of public expenditure.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex; they interact dynamically making it very difficult to isolate the relative importance of individual factors. We work closely with other departments, including MHCLG, to ensure the impacts of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) on homelessness and local government, are considered.
This included consideration in last year’s Autumn Budget not to increase LHA rates for 2025/26. Rental data, the impacts of LHA rates, rate increases in April 2024, and the wider fiscal context were all considered. The April 2024 one-year LHA increase cost an additional £1.2bn in 2024/25 and approximately £7bn over 5 years.
At last year’s Budget, funding for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) were maintained. These are available from local authorities and can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. The Autumn Budget also announced an increase in 2025/26 by £233 million compared to last year (FY2024-25) to grant funding for homelessness services. This increased spending will help prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025-26.
The government will also invest £2bn in social and affordable housing in 2026-27, to deliver up to 18,000 new homes. This will immediately allow housing associations and local councils to bring bids forward for new developments in every part of the country.
We continue to work across government, including on the development of MHCLG’s Long Term Housing and Homelessness and Rough-sleeping strategies to ensure that interactions and impacts between departments are considered. The Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough-sleeping, for example, brings together ministers from across Government to drive progress on the strategy development and get back on track to ending homelessness.
Any future decisions on LHA policy will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing, including as part of the strategies mentioned above, and considered for prioritisation within the challenging fiscal context.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce musculoskeletal condition waiting times in Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of using chiropractors as regulated and qualified healthcare professionals already embedded in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) other constituencies to help reduce reduce those waiting times.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no current plans to have discussions with my Rt Hon. Friend, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the research specified, or for the Department for Health and Social Care to assess the use of chiropractors to reduce waiting times in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Cutting waiting lists forms a key part of the Government’s mission to reform the National Health Service.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the research entitled The Impact of Chiropractors on Workplace Productivity in NHS MSK Pathways, published on 19 March 2025, on the potential impact of the use of chiropractors on waiting lists for musculoskeletal conditions, in the context of increasing levels of people in employment.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no current plans to have discussions with my Rt Hon. Friend, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the research specified, or for the Department for Health and Social Care to assess the use of chiropractors to reduce waiting times in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Cutting waiting lists forms a key part of the Government’s mission to reform the National Health Service.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of disabled people in receipt of a means-tested benefit but not in receipt of Personal Independence Payment in (a) Staffordshire and (b) England.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are an estimated 1.7 million disabled people of working age who are in receipt of a means-tested benefit but not in receipt of Personal Independence Payment or an equivalent disability benefit in England, and an estimated 0.6 million of pension age.
With respect to (a) Staffordshire, no estimate can be made due to methodological constraints.
Source: These figures are modelled estimates from DWP’s Policy Simulation Model (PSM), and therefore should not be treated as official statistics.
The PSM is a tax/benefit static microsimulation model used widely throughout DWP and across Government to assess the impact of welfare policy. The PSM is based on a three-year pooled sample of the Family Resources Survey (FRS 19-20, 21-22 and 22-23). It is therefore subject to potential sampling error and respondent error. This is projected forwards to 2025/26 based on multiple assumptions about incomes for all households. The PSM corrects benefit under-reporting in the FRS by aligning the sample weights to benefit forecasts. The PSM is also calibrated to population data from the ONS and incorporates the OBRs economic forecast. The model does not yet take account of Spring Statement 2025 policy measures.
Notes:
1. Disability is defined as the Equality Act 2010 core definition, self-reported by survey respondents who report that they have a long-term physical or mental health condition, lasting or expected to last at least 12 months, that limits their daily activities either ‘a little’ or ‘a lot’.
2. Means-tested benefits includes any of the following: Universal Credit (UC), Income Support (IS), Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Working Tax Credit (WTC), Child Tax Credit (CTC), Housing Benefit (HB, or Northern Ireland equivalent), Council Tax Rebate (CTR, or Northern Ireland equivalent), or Pension Credit (PC).
3. Receipt of Personal Independence Payment includes other equivalent disability benefits: Disability Living allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA). Eligibility for these benefits is based on different criteria to the legal definition of disability (see Note 1).
4. Estimates for England relate to 2025/26 and are rounded to the nearest 0.1 million people.
5. The working age and pension age estimates for England are based on 2,557 and 1,421 individuals respectively, from a total national sample size of 78,192.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the (a) leadership and (b) management of the Rural Payments Agency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ministers meet with the leadership and management of the Rural Payments Agency regularly.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, where British passports are (a) printed and (b) produced.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Following a competitive tender process conducted under the previous government in 2017, the contract to manufacture passports was awarded to a company in mainland Europe, but the personalisation of those passports continues to be carried out within the UK to ensure that no personal data leaves the country.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent steps he has taken to reduce Government bureaucracy.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This Government is committed to creating a productive and agile state. This means reducing bureaucracy through adoption of digital technology and AI tools; stripping back duplication and inefficiency in arms-length bodies; streamlining approval processes; and improving accountability for Civil Service performance. The Cabinet Office will continue to drive and track delivery of this important programme of work.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the affordability of the cost of a British passport.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Home Office laid an amendment to the Passport (Fees) Regulations 2022 on 19 March 2025 which increased fees payable for passport applications from 10 April 2025.
An Economic Impact Assessment and Equalities Impact Assessment have been published in relation to those passport fee increases and can be found via the following links: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2025/55/pdfs/ukia_20250055_en.pdf and https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/363/pdfs/uksiod_20250363_en_002.pdf.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent meetings he has had with the Food Standards Agency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I meet regularly with the Food Standards Agency Chair Professor Susan Jebb.