Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce child bed poverty and it's potential impact on education.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government’s Child Poverty Strategy, ‘Our Children, Our Future: Tackling Child Poverty’, was published on 5 December 2025. It sets out the steps this government will take to reduce child poverty in the short term, as well as putting in place the building blocks we need to create long-term change. The measures set out in the strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty, the largest expected reduction in child poverty over any parliamentary session since comparable records began.
The government is investing in the future of our children and putting money into families' pockets, enabling them to afford the essentials that are necessary to give children what they need to learn and grow by introducing key measures such as removing the two-child limit in Universal Credit.
Furthermore, government is helping families who need support to access essential household items through the Crisis and Resilience Fund, a £1 billion fund to ensure families have a safety net when they need it, and Pride in Place Programme, which will deliver up to £5 billion in funding to 244 in-need neighbourhoods across the country. This will give communities the option to invest in measures that support families with the cost of living, which could include establishing new community shops with access to discounted food and school uniforms or directly supporting families with essential household items, such as beds and white goods.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what resources i) his department and ii) the NHS is providing to support those wards within the government Pride in Place program in a) Telford, b) West Midlands and c) England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pride in Place is funded and led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Neither the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) nor NHS England holds the information requested. However, our 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service, delivering truly integrated, proactive and personalised care closer to where people live and work.
We have launched wave 1 of the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 places across England, including in the West Midlands. The NNHIP supports systems across the country in driving innovation and integration at a local level to improve the care they provide to their communities.
As announced at Autumn Budget 2025, the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild programme will deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres, with 120 delivered in 2030. Rollout will be progressive over this Parliament, with early sites focused on areas of greatest need.
Neighbourhood Health Centres will bring together National Health Service, local authority and voluntary sector services in one building to help create a holistic offer that meets the needs of local populations.
DHSC continues to work closely with MHCLG on relevant policies and programmes including Pride in Place. I recently met with the Minister for Devolution, Faith and Communities on this topic to discuss synergies between Neighbourhood Health and Pride in Place.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of police officer retention and morale.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s Safer Streets Mission sets a clear expectation for policing to deliver safer communities and improved public confidence. The retention of police officers is an important element of managing the police workforce.
Leaver rates for police officers in England and Wales, at 6.0% in the year ending 31 March 2025, have shown a reduction of 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous year. Voluntary resignation rates of police officers in England and Wales, have also reduced 0.2 percentage. points, from 3.4% in the year ending 31 March 2024, to 3.2% in the year ending 31 March 2025. This is low compared to other sectors.
This Government is clear that police wellbeing must be prioritised to ensure a motivated and thriving workforce. The Police Covenant plays a crucial role in police morale by ensuring officers, staff, volunteers and their families are supported and are not disadvantaged as a result of their service. By formally recognising policing’s unique demands and strengthening support for those who serve, the Covenant plays an important role in building and maintaining morale across the workforce. We continue to keep the Covenant under review to ensure it is as effective as possible and will look to improve the Covenant including, if necessary, through legislation.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of assistance available to people with EWS1 forms deemed to be invalid and unacceptable by mortgage lenders.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Officials in my department have regular engagement with financial sector stakeholders. A product of this is the lenders’ statement on cladding which has signatories from ten major banks and building societies.
These lenders have committed to consider mortgage applications, even if a property has building safety issues, provided either the building has funding for works from government or the developer, or the property is protected by the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act, and the leaseholder has completed a ‘Leaseholder Deed of Certificate’ to evidence it.
The statement was further updated in April last year to confirm that even where an EWS1 has, what they consider to be, an invalid signatory, lenders will not require a wholesale review of affected EWS1s. Lenders will consider alternative evidence, for example: that a building is in a remediation scheme, a Leaseholder Deed of Certificate has been completed or a Fire Risk Appraisal of the External Wall (FRAEW) has been undertaken.
An EWS1 form is not a government, legal or regulatory requirement. Not all lenders ask for an EWS1, but whether they do, remains a commercial decision.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with UK Finance on mortgage lenders' assessments of EWS1 forms issued by Tri Fire.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Officials in my department have regular engagement with financial sector stakeholders. A product of this is the lenders’ statement on cladding which has signatories from ten major banks and building societies.
These lenders have committed to consider mortgage applications, even if a property has building safety issues, provided either the building has funding for works from government or the developer, or the property is protected by the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act, and the leaseholder has completed a ‘Leaseholder Deed of Certificate’ to evidence it.
The statement was further updated in April last year to confirm that even where an EWS1 has, what they consider to be, an invalid signatory, lenders will not require a wholesale review of affected EWS1s. Lenders will consider alternative evidence, for example: that a building is in a remediation scheme, a Leaseholder Deed of Certificate has been completed or a Fire Risk Appraisal of the External Wall (FRAEW) has been undertaken.
An EWS1 form is not a government, legal or regulatory requirement. Not all lenders ask for an EWS1, but whether they do, remains a commercial decision.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the value for money delivered through the 2003 - 2005 redevelopment of 2 Marsham Street.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department has not undertaken a dedicated, standalone assessment of the value for money delivered specifically through the 2003–2005 redevelopment of 2 Marsham Street. However, the National Audit Office reviewed the associated Private Finance Initiative arrangements for the new Home Office headquarters in 2003. The NAO concluded that the Home Office had secured a good price through a well‑run competition, with risks appropriately allocated and favourable financing obtained. The report indicated that the project was expected to deliver value for money, provided the remaining accommodation and property‑related risks were managed effectively.
The Public Accounts Committee’s Eighteenth Report (2003–04) further found that commissioning a new building rather than refurbishing the three former Marsham Towers offered better value for money, avoided the business disruption and costs of temporary accommodation, and supported the consolidation of government estate functions. The Committee noted that the redevelopment contract, valued at £311 million (net present cost), was selected as the most cost‑effective option following full competition.
These independent assessments confirmed that the redevelopment represented value for money for the taxpayer at the point the investment decision was taken. The Treasury has made no subsequent assessment that contradicts these findings.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of publishing national dementia outcomes for neighbourhood health services and requiring integrated care boards to demonstrate timely access to specialist, community-based dementia support.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England already collect and publish data about people with dementia at each general practice in England, to enable National Health Service general practitioners (GPs) and commissioners to make informed choices about how to plan their dementia services around patients’ needs.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities Dementia Intelligence Network has also developed a tool for local systems, which includes an assessment of population characteristics such as rurality and socio-economic deprivation. This enables systems to investigate local variation in diagnosis and take informed action to enhance their diagnosis rates. The tool is available via the NHS Futures Collaboration platform.
This Government is empowering local leaders with the autonomy they need to provide the best services to their local community, including those with dementia. That is why we have published the D100: Assessment Tool Pathway programme, which brings together multiple resources into a single, consolidated tool. This will help simplify best practice for system leaders and help create communities and services where the best possible care and support is available to those with dementia. The D100: Pathway Assessment Tool is available at the following link:
We are making progress on building a National Care Service based on higher quality of care, greater choice and control, and joined-up neighbourhood services, with around £4.6 billion of additional funding available for adult social care by 2028/29 compared to 2025/26.
We are strengthening join-up between health and social care services, so that people experience more integrated and person-centred care, by developing neighbourhood health services and reforming the Better Care Fund. This will be fortified by improved national data and digital infrastructure to ensure health and care staff can access real-time information to improve the safety and quality of care.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to bring forward proposals to require publicly funded bodies to ensure defibrillators are accessible to the public on a 24-hour basis.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is for individual publicly funded bodies to determine appropriate arrangements for the defibrillators they maintain, taking account of relevant factors such as building operating hours and security. More broadly, local communities themselves are best placed to make decisions about location and access to defibrillators. The number has been increasing, with over 110,000 defibrillators now registered in the United Kingdom on The Circuit, the independent automated external defibrillators database. For these reasons, there are no plans to bring forward such proposals.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of directors being on the boards of housing developers and building management companies simultaneously on conflicts of interest.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Companies Act 2006 sets out the rules around conflicts of interests for the directors of boards.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 help reduce delays to approvals from the Building Safety Regulator to applications to double glaze windows.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are aware of challenges in the system and delays to approvals of building control applications, and work is underway to address this issue.
On the 27 January, the BSR became a standalone organisation under MHCLG, marking a major step towards creating a single construction regulator. Under new leadership, enhanced operating models are delivering significant progress.
BSR continues to make strong headway tackling new build cases already in the system with only the most complex cases remaining. The Innovation Unit has dramatically reduced processing time for new build applications, with the highest quality applications approved within the 12-week target.
We must go further and build on the progress already made in operations and through the launch of the new body for the BSR. We are undertaking a programme of work to review the proportionality of the higher-risk building control regime, with a view to making targeted changes to the regime to improve proportionality whilst upholding safety aims. In particular, we are focusing on proposals to review the procedural requirements of the regime for high-volume, low complexity, routine works.