Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to take steps to help fund the repair and reopening of Dewsbury Sports Centre.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities which are great spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities.

The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level. We share your ambition to ensure that young people in Dewsbury get the opportunities to benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve, investing in sport and physical activity with a place-based approach, to meet the needs of individual communities.

We recognise that grassroots facilities are at the heart of communities up and down the country and are acting to support more people to get active wherever they live. On 21 March we announced £100 million funding to be delivered through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, supporting high-quality, inclusive facilities across the UK.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to help fund the repair and reopening of Dewsbury Sports Centre.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities which are great spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities.

The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level. We share your ambition to ensure that young people in Dewsbury get the opportunities to benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve, investing in sport and physical activity with a place-based approach, to meet the needs of individual communities.

We recognise that grassroots facilities are at the heart of communities up and down the country and are acting to support more people to get active wherever they live. On 21 March we announced £100 million funding to be delivered through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, supporting high-quality, inclusive facilities across the UK.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking to help ensure that Israel uphold its obligations under international law.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK strongly opposes Israel's recent resumption of hostilities. The Foreign Secretary has been engaged in intensive diplomacy since to restore a ceasefire, get hostages out and aid in. He has spoken to US Secretary Rubio, to EU High Representative Kallas, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, to his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa'ar and will shortly speak to Palestinian Prime Minister Mustafa. On international law the Foreign Secretary, with his French and German Counterparts, has publicly urged Israel to uphold its obligations and warned Israel that its block on aid to Gaza risks violating International Humanitarian Law.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time is to process a Personal Independence Payment appeal in Dewsbury and Batley constituency.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The average time to process a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeal for all PIP appeals registered in the Dewsbury and Batley constituency since PIP was introduced can be found below.

Source: PIP Administrative Data

Notes:

• The appeal processing time is calculated as the time between the date of appeal registration and date of appeal clearance.
• Figures include appeals related to initial decisions (including new claims and DLA reassessments), award reviews and changes of circumstance.
• Figures include time taken by His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to clear the case.

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 proposed changes to Personal Independence Payments on disabled people in the Dewsbury and Batley constituency.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course with some information published this week alongside the Spring Statement.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will suspend arms sales to Israel.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We have continued to review export licences for items to Israel and assess that there are no extant licences for items that might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of International Humanitarian law. This is subject to the specific measures set out to Parliament excluding exports to the global F-35 programme from the scope of the suspension. There are a number of export licences which we have assessed are not for use by the Israeli Defense Forces in military operations in Gaza and therefore do not require suspension. These include military items such as components for trainer aircraft or components for air defence systems, and other, non-military, items such as food-testing chemicals, telecoms and data equipment.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department plans to take to support vulnerable claimants through upcoming changes to the Personal Independence Payment assessment process.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

There will be no immediate changes. Our intention is that the new eligibility requirement in Personal Independence Payment in which people must score a minimum of four points in one daily living activity in to be eligible for the daily living component, will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval.

We recognise that as a department we come into contact with some claimants who have complex needs or are vulnerable. The department already has processes in place to support and safeguard people who use our services, and we will continue to provide this support as changes are taken forward. We want to go further so that there is a clear and transparent process in place to ensure vulnerable individuals are adequately supported. In the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working published on 18 March we have committed to undertaking a thorough review of our current approach to safeguarding, with the aim of developing and implementing a new departmental wide approach.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to publish algorithmic transparency records for (a) the Universal Credit Advances model and (b) other decision making algorithms used by her Department on the Algorithmic Transparency Reporting Standard Hub.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are working with colleagues in The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to finalise the publication of algorithmic transparency records for existing tools as well as tools being considered for future deployment in the DWP.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Israel on the rights of residents in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Government condemns settler violence, and we are clear that the Israeli government must crack down on settler violence, stop settlement expansion, halt demolitions of Palestinian homes and reject annexation of the West Bank. The Foreign Secretary continues to raise the rights of Palestinians and the need for Israel to hold settler violence to account in his engagements with Israeli counterparts. We have always been clear that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and harm prospects for a two-state solution. The demolitions of Palestinian homes causes unnecessary suffering to Palestinians. In all but the most exceptional of cases, demolitions by an occupying power are contrary to international law. Israel must cease its policy of demolitions and provide a clear route to construction for Palestinians in Area C.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to publish an assessment of the potential impact of the decision to means test the winter fuel payment on the number of excess deaths in winter 2024-25.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Targeting Winter Fuel Payments was a difficult decision, but the right decision given the challenging public finances. The Government is, however, protecting pensioners on the lowest incomes. Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households with someone receiving Pension Credit or other qualifying means-tested benefits or tax credits. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone aged 80 or over.

A very wide range of factors impact changes in mortality. Details of excess winter deaths in England and Wales can be found at: Winter mortality in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on (a) the enforcement of an immediate ceasefire and (b) unrestricted humanitarian access to aid in Gaza.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

As the Foreign Secretary said to the House on 20 March, we strongly oppose Israel's resumption of hostilities and urgently want to see a return to a ceasefire. We have been clear that Hamas must release all the hostages, negotiations must resume and in all scenarios Israel must allow the entry of humanitarian aid. We are appalled by recent attacks on aid workers and their premises - they must be protected and never targeted. The Government of Israel must urgently ensure that effective deconfliction mechanisms are in place to enable them to conduct their lifesaving work safely.  We've repeatedly called on Israel at the UN and elsewhere to immediately allow urgently-needed aid back into Gaza. The Foreign Secretary spoke to Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer on 20 March and to Israeli Foreign Minister Sa'ar on 21 March and pressed them to reopen humanitarian access, restore a ceasefire and work for a negotiated path forward, and has discussed the situation with UN leadership.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) grants and (b) other sources of funding are available for the repair of sports centres with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The issues with RAAC are longstanding and well known.

All building owners are responsible for managing building safety and performance risks of all kinds in their buildings, including RAAC, in a proportionate, risk-based, and evidence-based manner, and acting where they deem necessary. To do so, they should continue to follow guidance published by the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) to identify, assess, and manage RAAC.

Local authorities are responsible for managing their own budgets and delivering on their responsibilities, including their duty as building owners to manage risks in their buildings to keep the public safe. There are no current government schemes or funds available to address RAAC in sports centres. I look forward to meeting the Honourable Member soon to discuss this issue further.

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 additional number of benefits recipients who will be subject to eligibility verification notices under the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill as a result of her welfare reforms.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The reforms in the Green Paper are still the subject of consultation and will undergo further development once responses have been considered.

Pesticides in public spaces

International Day of the Midwife

Libraries in state primary schools

Fee waivers for ILR applications

Independent advisory panel on Department for Work and Pensions-related deaths

Reductions in welfare spending

Sustainable Farming Incentive

Provision of essential humanitarian supplies, electricity and water sanitation in Gaza

Adult education

Oversight of homelessness

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