Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for publishing the outcome of the technical consultation on the reform of planning committees.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are considering responses to the consultation in question and will publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken to support representations of developing nations in international discussions on global sovereign debt.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK government is committed to supporting and working closely with developing nations in international discussions on global sovereign debt. The UK government engages with our partners through various multilateral fora, including the G20, the Paris Club and the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable. Through the G20, we participate collaboratively in the Common Framework, helping to deliver coordinated and sustainable solutions for low-income countries facing debt vulnerabilities. We are committed to strengthening Global South voices across the Global Financial System in relation to sovereign debt. This was exemplified our support of the outcome document from the Fourth International Conference on Financing For Development (Compromiso de Sevilla) in July of this year, which called for the establishment of a platform for borrower countries with support from existing institutions.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which organisations will be represented at The London Coalition on Sustainable Sovereign Debt.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Steering Committee includes representatives from the banking sector, asset managers and legal experts, alongside members of the official sector from institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and African Union. The Committee is co-chaired by the UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury, who leads on the UK’s financial services policy, reform and regulation, and José Vinals, former Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank, who serves in his personal capacity bringing vast experience from both the public and private sectors.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for introducing the technical consultation on the M4(2) requirement in building regulations.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Housing is one of this Government’s top priorities. Everyone deserves to live in a decent home that is suitable for them and meets their needs. The revised National Planning Policy Framework, published on 12 December 2024, requires local planning authorities to assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those of older and disabled people, and to reflect this in planning policies. Where an identified need exists, plans are expected to help bring forward an adequate supply of accessible housing. The Government will shortly set out its policies on accessible new build housing, reinforcing our commitment to ensuring everyone has access to a safe, suitable home.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will publish an economic impact assessment on the potential impact of the National Insurance exemption for Indian nationals posted temporarily to the UK under the UK–India Free Trade Agreement on (a) wages, (b) employment opportunities and (c) recruitment practices in the UK information technology sector.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The OBR will certify the impact of the trade deal including the Double Contributions Convention in the usual way at a fiscal event, once the deal is finalised and ratified. The agreement to negotiate a Double Contributions Convention was made in the context of the wider deal, which will bring billions into the economy.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2025 to Question 56485 on Children: Maintenance, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of aligning the child maintenance responsibilities of those who receive the limited capability for work and work-related activity element of Universal Credit and people who receive comparable incomes through employment.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The child maintenance calculation is designed to be fair and proportionate and broadly represent an amount that the paying parent would spend on the child as if they were still living with them. The calculation takes the paying parent’s gross income into account – regardless of whether that income comes from earnings or benefits. Where a paying parent earns under £100 per week, or receives certain benefits including Universal Credit, they pay a flat rate of £7 per week. In those few instances where someone is eligible for the flat rate but has other income, that can be captured by means of a variation.
The Department has recently conducted a programme of strategic work to review the child maintenance calculation. The focus of the review is to explore options to update the calculation to reflect modern societal and economic changes, with the aim of making it fair, affordable and responsive to parents’ circumstances, but importantly, to avoid introducing complexities to the system. A consultation on proposed changes is planned for late 2025.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) capital and (b) revenue funding will be allocated for Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Janet Daby
Young Futures Hubs will build on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, with the government establishing a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. The multi-year Spending Review set overall resource departmental budgets until 2028/29 and overall capital departmental budgets until 2029/30. Departments are now working to determine allocations and further details will be provided in due course.
Young Futures Hubs will be co-designed using local knowledge to best serve their communities and will serve a core age range of 10-18, but with flexibility to support young people at each end of this age range in line with local needs.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to extend the Young Futures Programme to include young people up to the age of 25.
Answered by Janet Daby
Young Futures Hubs will build on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, with the government establishing a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. The multi-year Spending Review set overall resource departmental budgets until 2028/29 and overall capital departmental budgets until 2029/30. Departments are now working to determine allocations and further details will be provided in due course.
Young Futures Hubs will be co-designed using local knowledge to best serve their communities and will serve a core age range of 10-18, but with flexibility to support young people at each end of this age range in line with local needs.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of PIP claims are fraudulent; how many existing PIP claimants are expected to lose their allowance as a result of proposed changes to limit eligibility to those scoring at least four points on one domain; and what data her Department holds on how PIP claimants are spending their allowance for people who are (a) in work and (b) not in work.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on Fraud and Error in the Benefit System, including Personal Independence Payment, is published here.
Information on the impacts changes to PIP have been published here: Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament.
We will be making changes so no one currently on PIP will lose PIP as a result of the four-point change. The four point eligibility requirement will be implemented from November 2026 for new claims only, subject to Parliamentary approval.
The number of people currently on PIP who did not score 4 points in one category in their last assessment should not be equated with the number who are likely to not to be awarded the daily living component of PIP in future. Our intention is that changes will start to come into effect from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. After that date, people already in receipt of PIP will continue to be treated under the current rules, with only new claimants having the new criterion applied. As a result of behavioural responses to the change, we expect that a higher proportion of new claimants will score 4 points against at least one activity than happens currently.
We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including ensuring health and care needs are met. We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment to make it fair and fit for purpose, which I am leading. We are bringing together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this. We will provide further details as plans progress
Information on how claimants spend their benefit is published in The Uses of Health and Disability Benefits, and, for a subset in receipt of the Support Group rate of Employment and Support Allowance and its Universal Credit equivalent, in chapter 3.4 of The work aspirations and support needs of claimants in the ESA Support Group and Universal Credit equivalent.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, (a) which stakeholders he has consulted and (b) what data sources he has used to develop the basis of the adult social care resource formula.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is important that the Adult Social Care Relative Needs Formula accurately reflects the relative need for services to ensure funding is allocated to the places that need it most and to enable all local authorities to focus on improving adult social care outcomes.
The Department commissioned independent academics at the Adult Social Care Research Unit to develop an update to the current Adult Social Care Relative Needs Formula. This update reflects a more up to date assessment of relative adult social care need in England and is being consulted on as part of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Local Government Funding Reform consultation. The Adult Social Care Research Unit’s research report is available at the following link:
https://ascru.nihr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025_06_16_Revision-of-ASC-RNF-2024.pdf