Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help Hastings Council (a) reduce their expenditure on temporary accommodation, (b) reduce housing pressures and (c) manage their financial stability.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government publishes statistics on local authority revenue expenditure and financing in England, which can be found here: Local authority revenue expenditure and financing England: 2023-24 budget - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Councils are ultimately responsible for the management of their own finances. At the last Local Government Finance Settlement, Government made available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23.
The Homelessness Advice and Support Team (HAST) in DLUHC are set up across the country to provide advice, support and challenge to Local Authorities to help them improve the delivery of homelessness services to families and single people. Each Local Authority has a dedicated adviser.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to require all integrated care boards to make reference to (a) homelessness and (b) rough sleeping populations in their local health strategies.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Health and Care Act 2022 promotes local area autonomy to allow local areas to develop their own priorities to meet their local area needs. The Secretary of State would like local areas to assess their own needs and make policies that work best for their local population.
To support local areas, NHS England has published guidance on the development of Joint Forward Plans and the Department has published guidance on the development of integrated care strategies. Both reference inclusion health groups, which includes people experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of closing train station ticket offices in the Liverpool Wavertree constituency on the (a) safety and (b) accessibility of passenger rail travel in the Liverpool City Region.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
When proposing major changes to ticket office opening hours, including closures, operators are required to take into account the adequacy of the proposed alternatives in relation to the needs of all passengers; and to include this in the notice of the proposal sent to other operators and passenger groups. We would also expect operators to consider other equality related needs and make this clear in the notice sent to other operators and passenger groups.
Together with industry, we want to improve and modernise the passenger experience by moving staff out from ticket offices to provide more help and advice in customer focused roles. No currently staffed station will be unstaffed as a result of industry changes, and train operators will ensure staff are well located to meet passenger needs in future.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect of decriminalising cannabis (a) possession, (b) supply and (c) manufacture on the prison population.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
No assessment has been made. The Government has no plans to decriminalise cannabis.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the differences in levels of (a) resources and (b) powers granted in devolution deals in England.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Our Devolution Framework sets out a clear menu of options for places in England that wish to unlock the benefits of devolution.
The devolution framework is designed to let areas deepen their devolution arrangements over time and at their own pace, recognising that, as institutions mature, they can gain greater responsibility.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress her Department has made on implementing the £100 million fund for frontline charities announced at the Spring Budget 2023; whether there will be deadlines for applications; and whether organisations in the violence against women and girls sector be able to apply for funding.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As announced in the Spring Budget, the Government will provide over £100 million of support for charities and community organisations in England.
Around three quarters of the £100 million funding package will be targeted this year towards those frontline organisations most at risk as a result of cost of living pressures, due to increased demand from vulnerable people and higher delivery costs. The other quarter will be used to provide investment in energy efficiency measures to help civil society organisations reduce their future operating costs.
Officials are working at pace to finalise the delivery time frames and eligibility criteria. Further details, including how to apply for funding, eligibility criteria and application deadlines, will be announced as soon as possible.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing (a) financial grants, (b) interest free and (c) lower interest loans to students in the context of rises in the cost of living.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government recognises the cost of living pressures that are impacting students. The department has made £276 million of student premium and mental health funding available for the 2023/24 academic year to support students who need additional help to succeed, including disadvantaged students.
We have continued to increase maximum loans and grants for living and other costs each year, with a 2.3% increase for the 2022/23 academic year, and a further 2.8% increase for 2023/24. In addition, students eligible for benefits, such as those who are responsible for a child, qualify for higher rates of loans to help them with their living costs at university.
Students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the 2022/23 tax year has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, have been able to apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.
The government has no plans to reintroduce maintenance grants, as it believes that income-contingent student loans are a fair and sensible way of financing higher education. In 2022, we had record numbers of 18-year-olds going to university, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. An English 18-year-old from a disadvantaged background today is 86% more likely to go to university than in 2010.
The student funding system must provide value for money for all at a time of rising costs. It is important that a sustainable student finance system is in place, that is fair to both students and taxpayers. Interest is an important part of this. If interest payments were removed altogether, it would increase the burden to taxpayers, not all of whom will attend university. The government does not plan to further reduce interest rates on student loans. In 2022/23, student loan interest reduced public sector net debt by around £4.8 billion according to published data from the Spring 2023 Office for Budget Responsibility Economic Outlook.
Student loans are different to commercial personal loans. Monthly student loan repayments are calculated by income rather than by interest rates or the amount borrowed. No borrower will be repaying more per month as a result of changes to interest rates. Borrowers are protected. If income is below the relevant repayment threshold, or a borrower is not earning, repayments stop. Any outstanding loan balance, including interest accrued, is written off after the loan term ends, or in case of death or disability, at no detriment to the borrower. Student loans are subsidised by the taxpayer, and the government does not make a profit from the loan scheme.
To further protect borrowers, where the government considers that the student loan interest rate is too high in comparison to the prevailing market rate, it will reduce the maximum Plan 2, Plan 3 and Plan 5 interest rate by applying a cap.
New students who start courses on or after 1 August 2023 will receive their loans on new Plan 5 terms. Students with Plan 5 loans will benefit from a reduction in the interest rate to Retail Price Index only. This change ensures that borrowers on the new Plan 5 terms will not repay more than they originally borrowed over the lifetime of their loans, when adjusted for inflation.
Decisions on student finance have had to be taken alongside other spending priorities to ensure the system remains financially sustainable and the costs of higher education are shared fairly between students and taxpayers, not all of whom have benefited from going to university.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of waiting times for MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound treatment on a patients quality of life.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made an assessment of the waiting times for patients (who are eligible) for Transcranial magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the provisions of the Renters (Reform) Bill on the stepping stone accommodation model.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I refer the Hon. Member to my answer to Question UIN 184765 on 17 May 2023.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what was the cost to the public purse of lecterns used by each Prime Minister since 7 May 2015.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to the Hon Member for Warwick and Leamington on 2 November 2022 (UIN 73117).