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Written Question
Shared Ownership Schemes: Older People
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many homes have been delivered through the Homes England Older People’s Shared Ownership scheme in each of the last ten years.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The figures in the table below represent the number of shared ownership homes aimed at older persons by shared ownership providers, the majority of which, but not all, will be provided through the Older Persons Shared Ownership (OPSO) scheme.

Year

Actual Completions

2013/14

235

2014/15

36

2015/16

253

2016/17

214

2017/18

170

2018/19

316

2019/20

224

2020/21

314

2021/22

270

2022/23

176


Written Question
Free School Meals: Eligibility
Monday 4th March 2024

Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)

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 permitting the proactive use of data by local authorities to identify and register children eligible for free school meals.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Maximising the take up of free school meals is important in ensuring that as many eligible children as possible benefit from a healthy and nutritious meal. The department aims to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility.

To support this, an Eligibility Checking System has been provided to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities.

The department has looked at this issue and considers there to be merit in local authorities exploring initiatives to maximise take up and to better understand the barriers that prevent such take up, whilst ensuring adherence to legal and data protection constraints.


Written Question
Fraud: Social Media
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential (a) merits of requiring social media platforms to contribute to the costs of reimbursing victims of fraud and (b) impact of such a requirement on tackling fraud.

Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government recognises that protecting the UK population from fraud, including is incredibly important. That is why we have agreed the Online Fraud Charter with the technology sector. Signatories, including some of the largest global tech companies, have committed to a number of actions to reduce fraud on their platforms and services including: blocking and reporting fraudulent activity, taking down fraudulent posts, and engaging with law enforcement.

More broadly, under the Online Safety Act, social media platforms will be required to establish systems and processes to remove both user generated fraudulent content and fraudulent advertising. If platforms do not comply, they may face fines of up to £18 million or 10% of their annual turnover, whichever is higher.


Written Question
Economic Crime: Disclosure of Information
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to mandate information sharing between (a) payment service providers, (b) social media platforms and (c) telecommunications companies for the purposes of (i) investigating, (ii) detecting and (iii) preventing economic crime.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

The Government strongly supports the sharing of information across sectors to tackle economic crime and has legislated to make this easier.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act contains new measures to provide greater comfort for firms working in the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulated sector to share relevant information for the purposes of tackling economic crime. Further information on these measures cane be found here: Factsheet: information sharing measures - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Act also includes the power for the Secretary of State to amend the offences covered, so that law enforcement and businesses can be responsive to future changes in the patterns of economic crime.

The Government is leading an ambitious Public-Private Economic Crime Data Strategy. This will build on the commitments in the Economic Crime Plan 2, Fraud Strategy, and from industry in the Online Fraud and Telecoms Charters to improve information sharing.

We are not currently considering further legislation.


Written Question
Electronic Funds Transfer: Fraud
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of authorised push payment scam cases that have originated online in the last five years.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

UK Finance analysis of nearly seven thousand authorised push payment (APP) scam cases shows that 70 per cent of scams originated on an online platform - highlighting the internet's significant role in enabling fraud. This includes data from UK Finance members only, for the whole of the UK. More details on this can be found here: https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/press/press-releases/over-two-thirds-of-all-app-scams-start-online-new-uk-finance-analysis

To protect victims against APP scams, ten of the UK’s largest banks are currently signed up to the voluntary Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) Code. In 2022, £248m of losses to APP scams were reimbursed to victims under the commitments of this code.

Recognising that more needed to be done to protect people from this devastating crime, through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, the government legislated to require the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to introduce mandatory reimbursement for APP scams within the Faster Payment System, where 98% of APP fraud takes place. This will come into force in October 2024.

The retail banking sector’s primary fraud concern was the rise of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud (where someone is tricked into sending money to a criminal). The sector therefore committed to the following key deliverables in the charter:

o Better utilise technology to share data to detect potential frauds.

o Capture and analyse data reported to them from victims of APP fraud.

o Provide customers with greater control over account features

The Online Safety Act (OSA) will mean that companies are held to account by an independent regulator if they fail to remove illegal content on their platforms.

Alongside the OSA, the Government has created the Online Fraud Charter: a voluntary agreement bringing together the largest companies in the tech sector, who have committed to a series of actions aimed at reducing fraud on their platforms and services. The Charter was signed on 30th November and will deliver a much quicker and more targeted response than regulation.

The OSA is an ambitious and forward-looking piece of legislation that will tackle online harms including fraud and fraudulent advertising.


Written Question
Energy: Meters
Friday 26th January 2024

Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent steps her Department has taken to help increase the take-up of smart meters.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Government is committed to enabling as many households and small businesses to benefit from smart meters as soon as possible. This is why we’ve set energy suppliers ambitious, but realistic minimum installation targets to deliver the rollout.

Energy suppliers are responsible for engaging their customers and encouraging them to upgrade to smart metering. Smart Energy GB, an independent not for profit organisation is responsible for national consumer engagement on the rollout in Great Britain.

Ofgem is responsible for regulating both energy suppliers and Smart Energy GB against their statutory obligations.


Written Question
Boilers: Public Consultation
Friday 26th January 2024

Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what her Department's expected timeline is to publish its response to the Improving boiler standards and efficiency consultation, published on 13 December 2022.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The consultation on Improving Boiler Standards and Efficiency launched on 13 December 2022 and closed on 22 March 2023. We have been analysing responses and plan to publish a government response in due course.


Written Question
Energy: Housing
Friday 26th January 2024

Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to case study six of research commissioned by her Department entitled Defining and identifying complex-to-decarbonise homes and retrofit solutions Annex C case studies, published on 3 January 2024, what steps her Department plans to take to help consumers with Victorian 'Eco Home' whole house retrofit work.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Government published the research report ‘Defining and identifying complex-to-decarbonise homes’ alongside the cross-Government review ‘Adapting historic homes for energy efficiency: a review of the barriers’ in January 2024. The review looks at the practical barriers to energy efficiency and low carbon heating measures in historic homes, and sets out the actions the Government is taking to overcome these barriers.

The Government is investing £6.6 billion over this Parliament on clean heat and improving energy efficiency in buildings, reducing our reliance on fossil fuel heating. In addition, £6 billion of new Government funding will be made available from 2025 to 2028.


Written Question
Special Educational Needs: Sign Language
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of education health and care plans included funding for courses in British Sign Language in each of the last five years.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department does not hold the data requested.

The department collects data from local authorities on the number of children and young people with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, but this does not include information on any specific education courses that are included in EHC plans.


Written Question
Sign Language: Training
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve pre-school communication for deaf children (a) in early years settings and (b) between family members.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department wants every child to receive a high standard of early education and we are committed to supporting children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), including in early years.

The early years foundation stage statutory framework states that all providers must have arrangements in place to support children with SEND, including deaf children. Maintained schools, maintained nursery schools and all providers who are funded by the local authority to deliver early education places must have regard to the SEND code of practice.

The government is also investing approximately £300 million to enable 75 local authorities to create family hubs, and to improve vital services to give every baby the best start in life, including those with SEND. Staff in family hubs should be knowledgeable about SEND services and be able to connect families to appropriate support and services. SEND information advice and support may be physically located within the hub buildings, and should be in an accessible format, addressing wider accessibility needs. Staff can make referrals to appropriate services within the hub network and make families aware of education, health and care request procedure.

Family hubs provide services for children of all ages (0-19 or 0-25 for families with children who have SEND), with a great start for life offer at their core. Family hubs are a way of joining up locally to improve access to services, the connections between families, professionals, services, and providers, and prioritise strengthening the relationships. On 10 January 2024, the government announced that every one of the 75 local authorities in the family hubs and start for life programme have now opened family hubs, creating a welcoming place where families with children aged 0-19, or 25 with SEND, can be connected to a wide range of services for families.

It is important that the government leads by example. The duties in the British sign language (BSL) Act encourage government departments to improve how they communicate with and meet the needs of the deaf community. The department is keen to ensure that every department is aware of, and understands, the legal requirements of the BSL Act. The department is also keen that, from one reporting period to the next, every department can show a steady and significant improvement in their use of BSL.