Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to use funds saved by the cancellation of HS2 Phase 2f to tackle problems on rail links between Birmingham and Manchester.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As announced in the Network North command paper, every penny of the £19.8 billion committed to the Northern leg of HS2 will be reinvested in the North; every penny of the £9.6 billion committed to the Midlands leg will be reinvested in the Midlands; and the full £6.5 billion saved through our rescoped approach at Euston will be spread across every other region in the country.
Network North provided £500m to improve rail capacity North of Birmingham and work is ongoing to develop value for money interventions using these funds. This includes upgrades around Handsacre, where the HS2 line joins the West Coast Mainline, and other potential enhancements on the network.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions a body was released more than seven days after the coroner's office was notified in (a) Birmingham and (b) Solihull in each of the last 12 months; and whether the coroner (i) collects information on someone's religion and (ii) takes into account the timeframe for religious beliefs and practices relating to death and dying.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Information is not held centrally on the release by coroners of the bodies of the deceased whose deaths are reported to them.
Coroners are judges and, as such, are independent in the decisions they make in conducting their investigations. They exercise their judicial discretion in accordance with the relevant statutory and regulatory framework.
The Chief Coroner has issued a suite of Guidance to assist coroners with the law and their legal duties, and to provide advice on policy and practice. His Guidance No.28 on Decision Making and Expedited Decisions is intended to be a practical guide to assist coroners in situations where a bereaved family has made a request to the coroner for urgent consideration of the death of a loved one and/or early release of their body; or where the coroner or coroner’s officers otherwise become aware of features of a particular death which may justify treating it as especially urgent.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to tackle disproportionate levels of unemployment of (a) women, (b) disabled people and (c) Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pension’s Jobcentre offer provides a range of options to those seeking employment, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance. In addition, there is specific support targeted towards young people, people aged 50 plus, ethnic minorities and disabled people and people with health conditions. There is also support for those with childcare costs through Universal Credit. The DWP Jobhelp pages [https://jobhelp.campaign.gov.uk/] provide fuller information of the help and support available. DWP also works in partnership with others, including working with the Department of Health and Social Care to provide support embedded within health systems, for example, Employment Advice in NHS Talking Therapies.
Due to rising levels of inactivity due to long-term sickness, a new package of support, building upon existing provision and the £2 billion investment announced at the Spring Budget 2023, was announced in Autumn Statement 2023. This includes:
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Cities Outlook 2024, published on 22 January 2024 by the Centre for Cities, what steps his Department is taking to reduce child poverty in Birmingham.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children.
Working age benefits will increase by 6.7% from April 2024, subject to Parliamentary approval, following a 10.1% increase in 2023/24. To further support low-income households, we are also raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents in April 2024, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.
With over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting parents to move into and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty. The latest statistics show that children living in workless households were around 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work.
To further support parents into work, we increased the Universal Credit childcare costs cap to £951 a month for one child and £1630 a month for two or more children in June 2023. We will also increase the National Living Wage by 9.8% to £11.44 for workers aged 21 years and over from this April - an annual increase in gross earnings of over £1800 for someone working full-time on the National Living Wage.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has had recent discussions with the BBC board on impartiality in its news coverage of the conflict in Gaza.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Ministerial team regularly meets with BBC leadership, including members of the Board, to discuss a range of issues.
The BBC has a duty to provide accurate and impartial news and information. In delivering that duty, the BBC is editorially and operationally independent and decisions around its editorial policies and guidelines are a matter for the BBC. Ofcom is the external independent regulator responsible for ensuring BBC coverage is duly impartial and accurate under the Broadcasting Code and BBC Charter.
The Secretary of State has repeatedly made clear that the BBC’s accuracy and impartiality is critical to viewer trust. It is particularly important when it comes to coverage of highly sensitive events, such as the terrorist acts committed in Israel on 7 October and the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The Secretary of State has regularly stated that point in meetings with the BBC.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact on patient safety of the regulation by the General Medical Council of (a) physician and (b) anaesthesia associates.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Regulation of Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) and Physician Associates (PAs) by the General Medical Council (GMC) will mean that individual AAs and PAs can be held to account if serious concerns are raised.
Regulation will provide set standards of practice, education, and training for AAs and PAs as well as requirements around continual professional development and conduct. The GMC set the standards required for entry to its register by approving the curricula and assessments for AA and PA courses. These standards will give assurance that AA and PA students have demonstrated the core knowledge, skills and professional and ethical behaviours necessary to work safely and competently in their areas of practice. Regulation will also help bring further clarity to patients and healthcare professionals on the nature of these roles and their remits.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the report entitled Relationship of Equals, published by the Housing Ombudsman on 23 January 2024, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a Royal Commission to create a long-term plan for social housing.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We welcome the Housing Ombudsman’s spotlight report on attitudes, respect, and rights and we will consider its recommendations. We urge social landlords to do the same, and for them to reflect on how best to support vulnerable residents.
The Social Housing Regulation Act is bringing in a tough new regulatory regime to support this Government’s commitment to driving up standards in social housing and holding landlords accountable for providing residents with decent homes.
We are currently consulting on further changes that will improve social housing. These include Awaab’s Law, which will set strict time limits on fixing reported health hazards in social housing, and on Competence and Conduct standards, which will require senior managers and executives in organisations that provide social housing to have or be working towards a relevant qualification.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that workers are not dismissed for their legal political opinions.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK has a longstanding tradition of ensuring individuals’ rights and liberties are protected. The right to freedom of expression is protected by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is given further effect domestically by the Human Rights Act 1998.
Employees who are dismissed and consider that their dismissal was unfair can complain to an employment tribunal, generally subject to a qualifying period of 2-years' continuous service.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many UK nationals unable to leave Gaza his Department has contacted.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The safety and security of all British nationals remains our utmost priority and we are doing everything we can to support all British nationals, including dual nationals in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We are still working to help a number of British Nationals get out of Gaza, but we cannot disclose numbers at this time. We can confirm that more than 270 people registered with us, including British Nationals and their dependants, have left Gaza, with onward support to Cairo. We are working with the Israeli and Egyptian authorities to ensure any remaining British nationals that want to leave are cleared and able to cross the Rafah Border.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 ensure that house building targets are met.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon Member to the written statement of 19 December 2023 entitled The Next Stage in Our Long Term Plan for Housing Update (HCWS161).