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 (Home Office)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
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 - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
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 of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
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 of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
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 HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the level of taxation on online gambling.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is currently consulting on proposals to simplify the gambling tax system by merging the three current taxes that cover remote (including online) gambling into one.
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, how much the NHS spent on sending letters to patients in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on National Health Service total spend sending letters to patients in the 2023/24 financial year in England is not held centrally, and will be held locally by individual trusts.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help tackle illegal extremist content on the social media platform X.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act gives online platforms, including X, new duties to take steps to reduce the risk their services are used to disseminate illegal extremist content. They also need to implement effective systems to remove this content when it does appear. This includes terrorist content and also illegal content which incites hatred. The illegal content duties are now in force. Ofcom is the regulator for the regime and has powers to enforce against platforms where they fail to fulfil their duties.