Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department is reviewing the rules of Housing Revenue Accounts to support local authorities to (a) safer and (b) more homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government engages regularly with local authorities to understand the pressures on their Housing Revenue Accounts (HRAs) and keeps the rules governing HRAs under review to ensure they are supporting investment in new and existing stock.
My Department is considering whether the current threshold for opening an HRA (200 homes) is set at the right level, or if a different threshold would enable local authorities to reach a level of housing provision that would better enable them to meet the costs of opening and managing an HRA.
More broadly, we are committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding a generation, alongside driving a transformational and lasting change in the safety and quality of homes. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July 2025 (HCWS771).
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Surrey County Council to deliver more housing for care leavers to improve Education, Employment and Training opportunities.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to improving support for care leavers. Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are placing a new duty on local authorities to provide ‘Staying Close’ support to care leavers up to age 25 where their welfare requires it and requiring local authorities to publish their arrangements for supporting care leavers’ transition to adulthood. The Bill will also ensure care leavers cannot be found intentionally homeless and will introduce corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and relevant public bodies so that they better take the needs of care leavers into account. We also fund local authorities to help care leavers stay with their foster families up to age 21, known as ‘Staying Put’.
Support is available for eligible care leavers to access bursaries to engage in education, employment and training, including £2,000 for university and £3,000 for apprenticeships.
Wider housing reforms will also benefit care leavers. On 2 July, we announced a ten-year plan to deliver the largest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation, alongside lasting improvements in safety and quality. Additionally, from 10 July, eligible care leavers under 25 will no longer need to meet a local connection or residency test to access social housing.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) data and (b) other information his Department used to inform public health (i) policies and (ii) campaigns related to reducing alcohol consumption in the development of the NHS 10 Year Plan; from which (A) individuals and (B) organisations that information was sourced; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of (1) impartiality and (2) scientific robustness of those sources.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The impact statement of the 10-Year Health Plan will be published in full shortly. This document explains the rationale for, and potential effects of, a number of measures outlined in the plan, including references to the relevant evidence.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of replacing the role of local authorities with committees in planning decision on local representation in those decisions.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes a regulation-making power to issue statutory guidance on a national scheme of delegation.
On 28 May 2025, my Department published a technical consultation on proposals for reform of planning committees. It can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to meet the World Health Organisation’s vaccination target for the human papillomavirus vaccine.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In March 2025, NHS England published the Cervical cancer elimination plan by 2040 –for England, which outlines how the National Health Service will improve uptake and coverage across human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and cervical screening. This is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/cervical-cancer-elimination-by-2040-plan-for-england/
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) monitors uptake of HPV vaccination nationally, regionally and by local authority and publishes annual reports at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake#hpv-vaccine-uptake
While HPV vaccination uptake rates in England have been very high, vaccine coverage by cohort has been steadily declining since the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2023 to 2024 academic year, this decline appeared to be stabilising.
NHS-commissioned School Aged Immunisation Service providers have robust catch-up plans in place for the adolescent HPV vaccination programme based on population need, to offer vaccination to those young people who may have missed out at the point of initial offer.
UKHSA works closely with charities and academics to develop resources that can be used to raise awareness of HPV and the importance of vaccination including for boys. NHS England has improved digital communications on vaccinations, including expanding the NHS app, and has improved access to the HPV vaccine outside of schools through community clinics at convenient times and locations.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2025 to Question 63482 on Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations and with reference to her letter of 26 June 2025 on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, whether the announced exemption from reassessment for existing Personal Independence Payment claimants will also apply to the All Review claimants whose award is subject to a scheduled review or reassessment process at the time the exemption comes into force.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to providing security and dignity for those who will never be able to work, and removing unnecessary stress, anxiety and uncertainty from the Social Security System. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill legislates to formally protect those with the most severe, lifelong health conditions, who meet the Severe Conditions Criteria, from being called for reassessments for their Universal Credit Health Element award. The Severe Conditions Criteria applies to customers in receipt of Universal Credit rather than those in receipt of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Surrey County Council to improve support for children who go missing or are at risk of exploitation.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following support from the department and others, Surrey County Council's children's services were judged by Ofsted to be ‘Good’ in March 2025.
Statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ (2023), is clear that children at risk of or experiencing harm from outside their home should receive a multi-agency safeguarding response, recognising threats may arise from school, peer groups, online or the wider community.
In 2023, we published a set of multi-agency practice principles to guide local areas in their response to keeping children and young people safe from child exploitation and extra-familial harm. The principles bring together the best available evidence in this area and have been developed through extensive consultation with professionals, children, young people, parents and carers. These principles are available here: https://tce.researchinpractice.org.uk/.
Our Families First Partnership Programme, backed by over £500 million investment per year over the next three years, is rolling out reforms to family help and multi-agency child protection, including where harm is outside the home.
We expect safeguarding partners to work together to reduce the chances of children going missing, to respond effectively when they do and understand why.
We have provided clear guidance about responsibilities for all children who go missing.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Surrey County Council improve collaborative safety planning.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following support from the department and others, Surrey County Council's children's services were judged by Ofsted to be ‘Good’ in March 2025.
Statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ (2023), is clear that children at risk of or experiencing harm from outside their home should receive a multi-agency safeguarding response, recognising threats may arise from school, peer groups, online or the wider community.
In 2023, we published a set of multi-agency practice principles to guide local areas in their response to keeping children and young people safe from child exploitation and extra-familial harm. The principles bring together the best available evidence in this area and have been developed through extensive consultation with professionals, children, young people, parents and carers. These principles are available here: https://tce.researchinpractice.org.uk/.
Our Families First Partnership Programme, backed by over £500 million investment per year over the next three years, is rolling out reforms to family help and multi-agency child protection, including where harm is outside the home.
We expect safeguarding partners to work together to reduce the chances of children going missing, to respond effectively when they do and understand why.
We have provided clear guidance about responsibilities for all children who go missing.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that asylum interviews are conducted (a) in full and (b) without unnecessary delay.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Asylum interviews are conducted in line with the published guidance available here: Conducting asylum interviews: caseworker guidance - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of new homes are (a) under construction and (b) have been completed since 4 July 2025.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The 4 July 2025 is tomorrow.