Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Person At Risk of Violence fee on victims of domestic violence; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making all personal details on the Individual Insolvency Register private.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The fees applied for Persons at Risk of Violence (PARV) orders should never have the effect of denying access to the courts. The government is presently reviewing the fee framework for PARV orders.

The government is also undertaking a wider review of the personal insolvency framework, which includes whether the Individual Insolvency Register should be private.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that families in all forms of temporary accommodation have access to adequate cooking facilities.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Our Homelessness Code of Guidance provides a summary of the homelessness legislation duties, powers and obligations on local housing authorities, including the quality standards of temporary accommodation.

Legislation is clear that temporary accommodation must be suitable for the needs of the household and that suitability of accommodation should be kept under review. Households may ask for a review of their accommodation if they feel it is unsuitable.

The Government will consult this year on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sectors. It is the government’s intention that the Decent Homes Standard should apply to as much of the temporary accommodation sector as possible. We will consult on the detail of the new standard in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the (a) quality, (b) suitability and (c) adequacy of the nutrition of food provided to (i) babies and (ii) children in contingency asylum accommodation.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office remains committed to ensuring the wellbeing and safety of those staying in asylum accommodation. There are mechanisms in place to allow asylum seekers to request assistance, provide feedback and/or report issues, including any related to the provision of food for themselves or their children.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding allocations for adult learning in the (a) 2025-26 and (b) 2026-27 financial years.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is facing a very challenging fiscal context. Fixing the foundations of the economy will take time and tough decisions are needed across the public sector to get finances back under control and ensure delivery on priorities through the Plan for Change.

The department will spend about £1.4 billion on the Adult Skills Fund (ASF) in the 2025/26 academic year to ensure that adult learners can access the education and training they need to get into employment or progress in work. Currently, 62% of the ASF is devolved to 9 Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) and Greater London Authority. ASF allocations to MSAs are based on 2017/18 learner data and these authorities are responsible for the allocation of the ASF to learning providers.

The department is responsible for the remaining ASF in non-devolved areas, and allocations are made on an academic year basis. Our allocation methodology for the 2025/26 academic year recognises where providers have delivered above their allocations. It also recognises priority courses at higher funding rates introduced in August 2024. We are choosing to prioritise those higher funding rates which recognise delivery in certain subjects, such as engineering or construction.

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 improve the (a) monitoring and (b) treatment of tuberculosis.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Tuberculosis (TB) is a statutorily notifiable disease in the United Kingdom. Surveillance data on all individuals diagnosed with TB is collected via the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) National TB Surveillance System (NTBS), which was launched in 2021 to replace older systems.

Scotland joined the NTBS in March 2025, bringing all four UK nations into a single system to improve TB control. Regular data and analysis to support TB control activities is published by the UKHSA, with both annual and quarterly analyses and updates available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tuberculosis-in-england-2024-report

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tuberculosis-in-england-national-quarterly-reports/national-quarterly-report-of-tuberculosis-in-england-quarter-3-2024-provisional-data

Annual data sorted by National Health Service and local authority geographies is also available publicly on the Fingertips website, which is available at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/tb-monitoring

The UKHSA and NHS England’s joint Tuberculosis (TB): action plan for England, 2021 to 2026 details actions to support prevention, detection, and control of TB. This includes actions targeted at improving treatment completion and ensuring effective management of drug-resistant TB.

The UKHSA routinely undertakes whole genome sequencing of all TB strains through the National Mycobacterial Reference Service to support treatment decisions based on resistance profiles and public health action with high resolution typing.

NHS England and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital’s Getting it Right First Time review of TB services reported in March 2025, with a series of recommendations to reduce unwarranted variation and improve care, including to underserved populations. Work is underway, including a call for evidence launched on 2 April 2025, to review and update the national action plan, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/tuberculosis-national-action-plan-2026-to-2031#:~:text=The%20government%20is%20developing%20the,for%20England%2C%20published%20in%202021

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the number of incidences of upskirting.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and we are committed to addressing all forms of VAWG, including non-contact sexual offences, such as exposure and voyeurism (such as so-called 'upskirting').

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, three new offences will be introduced, for the taking of intimate images without consent, alongside two offences for the installation of equipment with intent to enable these offences. This will cover a broader range of behaviour than the two existing voyeurism offences that they will replace.

We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that the right powers are available for the authorities to tackle sexual crimes, bring perpetrators to justice and manage sex offenders. More broadly, we will be publishing a new VAWG Strategy later this year, taking forward our unprecedented mission to halve VAWG over the next decade.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle upskirting.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and we are committed to addressing all forms of VAWG, including non-contact sexual offences, such as exposure and voyeurism (such as so-called 'upskirting').

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, three new offences will be introduced, for the taking of intimate images without consent, alongside two offences for the installation of equipment with intent to enable these offences. This will cover a broader range of behaviour than the two existing voyeurism offences that they will replace.

We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that the right powers are available for the authorities to tackle sexual crimes, bring perpetrators to justice and manage sex offenders. More broadly, we will be publishing a new VAWG Strategy later this year, taking forward our unprecedented mission to halve VAWG over the next decade.

Found: meeting Members present: Emily Thornberry (Chair); Alex Ballinger; Aphra Brandreth; Phil Brickell; Uma Kumaran