Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to establish a timeline of when the new private rented sector database will be implemented.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government intends to set out detailed implementation plans for the Renters’ Rights Act in the near future.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase support for the delivery of emergency care at the William Harvey Hospital.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years and is committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the National Health Service constitutional standard across England to support the delivery of emergency care, including at the William Harvey Hospital.
East Kent Trust, which the William Harvey hospital is part of, is receiving focused support as part of the National urgent and emergency care tiering programme, designed to support the most challenged trusts with urgent and emergency care.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that child maintenance calculations reflect the needs of children in the paying parent's home.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information about the paying parent's gross income is taken directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the latest tax year available. This allows maintenance calculations to be made quickly and accurately.
The amount of maintenance a paying parent must pay can be reduced if they have other children they provide care for. If the paying parent or their partner gets Child Benefit for children for whom they have financial responsibility, we can take them into account. We call these relevant other children. The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will reduce the paying parent’s weekly income by a percentage depending on the number of children they or their partner has responsibility for before the primary calculation rates are applied. If the Paying Parent’s liability is based on the basic or basic rate plus, their gross weekly income is reduced by 11% for one child, 14% for two children and 3 or more children by 16%.
This ensures the Child Maintenance Service fulfils its responsibility to consider the welfare of all children connected to a case. The Government is also conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will meet with representatives from the Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium to discuss their report entitled Lost Childhoods: The consequences of flawed age assessments at the UK border, published on 4 March 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Home Office officials are already engaging with stakeholders involved in the production of this report, and I look forward to hearing the outcome of these discussions. I am happy to meet the consortium for a discussion.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the equitability of service charge terms in TP1 documents for use by freeholders when purchasing properties from developers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has not conducted a specific assessment about the equitability of service charge terms in TP1 documents for use by freeholders when purhcasing properties from developers.
The level of charges that residential freeholders pay will vary based on several factors, including the types of facilities or services that estate managers need to maintain, and the number of properties required to contribute.
The government remain committed to protecting residential freeholders on private and mixed-tenure housing estates from unfair charges.
We will consult this year on implementing the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act’s new consumer protection provisions for the up to 1.75m homes that are subject to these charges, and bring these measures into force as quickly as possible thereafter. These include ensuring that homeowners who pay an estate management charge have better access to information they need to understand what they are paying for, the right to challenge the reasonableness at the First-tier Tribunal (in England), and to go to the tribunal to appoint a substitute manager.
The government is also determined to end the injustice of 'fleecehold' entirely and we will consult this year on legislative and policy options to reduce the prevalence of private estate management arrangements, which are the root cause of the problems experienced by many residential freeholders.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to implement stalking protection notices that would be issued by police officers pending a full application to court.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) are civil orders which can be imposed on anyone who has carried out acts associated with stalking and who poses a risk. They are available to the police on application to the court and can impose restrictions considered necessary. The police may also apply for an interim SPO, for example, if there is an immediate risk of harm but further investigation is required to meet the criteria for a full SPO, or when the court is unable to provide the full order in time.
We are legislating through the Crime and Policing Bill to enable the courts to impose SPOs on conviction and acquittal of their own volition.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support firefighters suffering from long-term health effects caused by their work.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The health and safety of firefighters is of paramount importance. Fire and rescue authorities, as employers, must take action to protect firefighter physical and mental health, this includes ensuring that firefighters receive the appropriate equipment and training they need. The Government continues to work closely with key partners, including the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and Health and Safety executive (HSE), to monitor emerging risks, share best practice, and advocate for the highest standards in firefighter health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of additional powers for local authorities to instigate stronger penalties against repeat illegal parking violations.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Local Authorities are empowered to determine their parking arrangements, as they are best suited to understand the best way of responding to local needs.
They must do so in a way which meets standards set by national government that parking policies should be proportionate, support town centre prosperity, and reconcile competing demands for kerb space, and ensure traffic moves freely and quickly on their roads and the roads of nearby authorities as required in the Traffic Management Act 2004.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of migrants are granted settlement after (a) five years and (b) ten years for which the latest data is available.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Home Office publishes data on how people move through the immigration system in the Migrant Journey report. Data on those granted indefinite leave to remain or citizenship by year of initial leave can be found in dataset MJ_D01. The latest publication includes those granted initial leave up to the end of 2024.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of people who come to the UK get citizenship after (a) five years and (b) ten years.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Home Office publishes data on how people move through the immigration system in the Migrant Journey report. Data on those granted indefinite leave to remain or citizenship by year of initial leave can be found in dataset MJ_D01. The latest publication includes those granted initial leave up to the end of 2024.