Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle (a) insurance fraud and (b) ghost brokers in the motor insurance industry.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government recognises the harm caused by insurance fraud, including ghost broking. This is why we have launched an Insurance Fraud Charter with key firms setting out a series of voluntary measures to disrupt and deter insurance fraud. As part of the Stop! Think Fraud public communications campaign, the Government supported a campaign led by the Association of British Insurers, the City of London Police, and the Insurance Fraud Bureau to highlight the signs of Ghost Broking and encourage public reporting to CheatLine. We continue working with law enforcement and industry partners, including the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department, to combat this crime and protect consumers.
The Government also launched a cross-government motor insurance taskforce, co-chaired by the Department for Transport and His Majesty’s Treasury, to help drive down the costs of motor insurance and will consider related fraud as part of this. The taskforce is expected to publish its final report in the autumn.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of unsafe cladding on the ability of leaseholders to sell their flats; and what steps his Department plans to take to support those leaseholders.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Ten major mortgage lenders have pledged to consider lending on properties in buildings which are 11 metres or above even if there are unresolved building safety issues. The building must be in a remediation scheme, and/or the leaseholder must qualify for the protections in the Building Safety Act and have completed a ‘Leaseholder Deed of Certificate’ to evidence it. We engage with lenders to make sure they are upholding the pledge and gather supporting data.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her planned timetable is for the review of the child maintenance calculation.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This includes updating the underlying research and considering how to ensure the calculation reflects current and future societal trends.
Options for proposed reforms are currently being considered. Any changes made to the child maintenance calculation will be subject to an extensive public consultation, which we are planning to publish late in 2025, and if made, will require amendments to legislation so would be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny in the course of 2026.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for access to work applications.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As set out in the Green Paper, we are reforming Access to Work to improve the scheme so that it helps more disabled people into and on in work. We are committed to reducing waiting times for claims and we prioritise customers starting a job in four weeks. Nevertheless, Access to Work is demand-led and tailored to the needs of each customer.
We are continuing to streamline delivery practices and have increased the number of staff processing claims. Since May 2024, 118 additional staff have been redeployed to support Access to Work.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has independently reviewed the most recent Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls completed by Vistry for French Court, SO14 2DZ.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department has not commissioned an independent review of a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls for this building.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what options her Department is considering to reduce fatalities involving young drivers through the Road Safety Strategy; and when that strategy will be published.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government treats road safety seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. The Road Safety Strategy is under development and will include a broad range of policies. More details will be set out in due course.
We absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads and continue to tackle this through our THINK! campaign. We are considering measures to address this and protect young drivers, as part of our upcoming strategy for road safety - the first in over a decade.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the (a) results of the Remediation Programme Insurance Survey and (b) Government response to that survey will be published.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Remediation Programme Insurance Survey closed on 31 July. We are using the data collected to test the feasibility and scope of any future possible government intervention to reduce high insurance bills for some leaseholders while their building undergoes remediation for fire related defects. Due to the commercial sensitivity of the data, we will not be making the results public.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions his Department has had with insurance companies on costs for (a) residents and (b) leaseholders in buildings with (i) cladding and (ii) fire safety defects.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As set out in the Remediation Acceleration Plan published in July 2025, the department has been regularly engaging with the insurance industry to test the feasibility and scope of any potential options to reduce high insurance bills for some leaseholders while their building undergoes remediation for fire related defects.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recourse is available in situations where an employment tribunal award has been made but cannot be enforced because the company is no longer trading and has not gone into formal insolvency.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the absence of any formal insolvency proceedings, the Redundancy Payment Service, which is part of the Insolvency Service, can pay redundancy pay awarded by the Employment Tribunal to a former employee.
It is unable to consider payment of any other elements that may have been awarded, such as arrears of wages, holiday pay, compensatory notice pay or compensation for unfair dismissal.
Asked by: Darren Paffey (Labour - Southampton Itchen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support is available to leaseholders to meet the costs of remediating non-cladding related fire safety defects (a) of fire doors and (b) in general.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Qualifying leaseholders are protected from the costs of non-cladding defects, with the maximum amount that can be charged capped at £15,000 in Greater London (or £10,000 elsewhere in England). In certain circumstances that cap may be zero, such as when the landlord is (or is associated with) the developer.
Regarding Fire doors specifically, those which have been incorrectly installed, or which have degraded prematurely may meet the definition of a non-cladding relevant defect and the cost of replacing them will be covered by the leaseholder protections.
Fire doors need to be replaced due to wear and tear, however, are not covered by the leaseholder protections and costs can be passed to leaseholders via their service charge.