Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to respond to her Department's consultation entitled Pavement parking: options for change, that closed on 22 November 2020.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has been carefully considering the responses to the consultation and working through the policy options and the appropriate means of delivering them. As soon as the Government has decided its preferred way forward, we will announce the next steps and publish our formal response. In the meantime, local authorities can make use of existing powers to restrict and enforce pavement parking.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 she has had with Homes England on building accessible homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Grant funding allocated through the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26, which is delivered by Homes England outside of London, can be used for supported housing, including specialist 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: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when her Department plans to open the technical consultation on the M4(2) requirement in building regulations.
Answered by Alex Norris - 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 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: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of suspending military training to members of the Israeli Defence Forces.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The UK has a long history of providing assistance to other nations in the security and justice fields and continues to do so around the world. The Ministry of Defence’s provision of such assistance is assessed carefully on a case-by-case basis.
Fewer than five Israel Defence Forces personnel are currently enrolled in non-combat military academic courses in the UK.
UK training courses promote British values, including human rights, democracy, and compliance with international humanitarian law.
We keep all education course participation of overseas nations under review.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he has taken to protect creatives from copyright infringements by Artificial Intelligence developers.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Copying protected material in the UK will infringe copyright unless it is licensed, or an exception to copyright applies.
The Government recently consulted on several topics relating to the interaction between copyright and artificial intelligence (AI), including seeking views on the use of copyright material in AI model development. This consultation closed on 25th February.
The Government’s priority now is to review all responses to the consultation, to help inform its next steps. The Government will continue to engage extensively on this issue and its proposals will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the autologous serum eyedrop service will continue following the abolition of NHS England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is a Special Health Authority, and is responsible for blood donation in England and organ transplantation services in the United Kingdom. It is also responsible for stem cell transplants, tissue, and eye services.
Autologous serum eyedrops (ASE) are manufactured by NHSBT and are supplied to patients who experience severe dryness of the eye and who do not obtain relief from conventional pharmaceutical eyedrops. As such, ASE is supplied to patients following a clinical request from a consultant.
The Government does not anticipate the changes to NHS England will have any impacton the service NHSBT provides regarding ASE.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure Homes England allocate appropriate funding for developments that provide new wheelchair accessible homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Capital funding guidance for the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26 sets out that certain categories of supported housing for older and disabled people should be built to be wheelchair accessible.
In July 2024, the government published targets for the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme which confirmed that 5% of homes delivered in the programme will be for supported housing.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of steps taken by his Department to (a) track the final destination of F-35 components and (b) ensure F-35 components are not used by the Israeli military.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Once parts are exported from the UK to the global F-35 programme, the UK does not have access to information about the movement of individual components, and does not have control over whether components in the global spares pool or aircraft assembly facilities are used for specific customer nations or not. However, the UK has suspended the export of F-35 components directly to Israel, where these are for use by Israel.
The only way to prevent UK-produced parts reaching Israel would therefore be for the UK Government to stop the export of parts to the entire F-35 programme, which would prejudice the security of the UK and our allies.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 the proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment in the her Department's Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, on levels of poverty among carers in Battersea.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made on this basis.
The government's impact assessment regarding Health and Disability Reform is available at Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts.
This government is committed to supporting unpaid carers, who provide invaluable support to elderly or disabled people.
As the Green Paper sets out, we will consider any impacts our reforms might have on benefits for unpaid carers as part of our wider consideration of responses to the consultation and as we develop our detailed proposals for change. We will also continue to work closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to ensure everyone’s health and care needs are met.
We are taking other action to improve Carer’s Allowance separate to the Green Paper. We have pegged the weekly Carer’s Allowance earnings limit to 16 hours’ work at National Living Wage (NLW) levels, and in future it will increase when the NLW increases. The Carer’s Allowance earnings limit increased to be £196 a week net earnings on 7 April 2025, compared to £151 in 24/25. This is the largest ever increase in the earnings limit since Carer’s Allowance was introduced in 1976 and the highest percentage increase since 2001.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help increase the number of black girls participating in sport.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government believes that opportunities to play sport and get physically active should be available to everyone.
We recognise that there are barriers which prevent some people from getting active with women and girls and those from ethnically diverse communities less likely to be active than other groups.
We are committed to breaking down the barriers that contribute to these persisting inequalities in participation and want to ensure that everyone can experience the physical, mental and social benefits that come with being active.
As part of this, our Arm's Length Body for grassroots sport, Sport England, prioritises tackling inequalities by targeting investment towards the most inactive groups.
Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign has inspired millions of women and girls to get active. The next phase of This Girl Can, Tackling Inequalities, primarily targets women who are most likely to be inactive in society, including those from black backgrounds.
Sport England anticipates that 1.6 million women who are less active will be active as a result of the campaign by 2028. This is in addition to already active women who may report being motivated by the campaign.