Written questions by Goldman.

What steps she is taking to ensure the safety of British Pakistanis speaking out about human rights violations in Pakistan.

The Government regularly assesses potential threats to the UK, and takes the protection of individuals' rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously.As you would expect, Home Office officials work closely with the FCDO and MHCLG as well as other Government departments to ensure that the UK is a safe and welcoming place.The Home Secretary regularly discusses issues regarding national security with her counterparts, including the Foreign Secretary.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) providing support for victims to recover investments and (b) holding perpetrators accountable in cases of fraudulent property sales.

HM Land Registry provides a state guarantee which in appropriate circumstances financially compensates victims of property registration fraud.HM Land Registry has the power to seek recovery of indemnity payments from perpetrators of fraud and conveyancers who are complicit. It can also seek to recover such payments from those who, through negligence, have failed to prevent property fraud from occurring.HM Land Registry also offers a free Property Alert service to try to avoid people becoming the victims of property fraud.Property fraud can be prosecuted in the criminal courts resulting in a criminal conviction and punishment. Civil or commercial fraud may result in a claim of compensation brought by the claimant against the party who committed the fraud.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a hardship fund for parents of children who have been diagnosed with chronic illnesses and have been hospitalised for more than 2 months.

The Building the Right Support Action Plan, published in 2022, contains commitments which have not yet passed their delivery dates, including the commitment to reform the Mental Health Act.We do not plan to create new actions in a new action plan while the bill is before Parliament. However, we recognise that this is a vitally important area, and we are considering how to ensure that more people with a learning disability and autistic people are supported well in the community, ahead of the commencement of the Mental Health Act reforms.

Whether she plans to extend the flexible fund beyond February 2025.

The Government is committed to supporting victims of domestic abuse.At the beginning of October, we launched a £1.96m investment into the Flexible Fund. The Flexible Fund, administered by Women’s Aid Federation of England, can be accessed through over 470 specialist domestic abuse services.Following the spending review announcements in October, the Home Office is now deciding how the total funding settlement is allocated across the Department to deliver the Government’s priorities. Further announcements regarding funding, including on the Flexible Fund, will follow in due course.

Communities and Local Government, if she will legislate to cap annual service charge rises at consumer price index inflation rates.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 7465 on 15 October 2024

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of levels of carers pay.

Adult social care is a historically low paid sector, as most care workers are paid at or just above the National Living Wage. The recently introduced Employment Rights Bill aims to address this by establishing a framework for Fair Pay Agreements, through which an agreement on pay and other terms and conditions for the adult social care sector can be negotiated and reached by employers, worker representatives, and others in partnership.

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure problems arising from menstrual health conditions, such as endometriosis, are accepted by employers as justified workplace absences.

Officials from the Department for Work and Pensions and the Office for Equality and Opportunity met with Endometriosis UK to discuss the development of Equality Action Plans on 13th November 2024. On 18th October 2024 the Government appointed Mariella Frostrup as the new Menopause Employment Ambassador. The Menopause Employment Ambassador will work closely with employers across the country to improve workplace support for women experiencing menopause and wider women’s health issues including menstrual health conditions. This appointment comes as the government has proposed a wide-ranging set of generational reforms to boost protections for workers. The Employment Rights Bill is the first phase of delivering the Government’s plan to Make Work Pay, supporting workers through strengthening statutory sick pay, making flexible working the default, and requiring large employers to produce equality action plans.

What steps she is taking to tackle the asylum case backlog.

Mr Speaker, this government inherited an asylum system in crisis, with decision-making on cases at its lowest level for years, £8 million per day being spent on asylum hotels, and a £6 billion in-year overspend on asylum and illegal migration costs.We have increased asylum decision-making, stepped up returns of failed asylum-seekers, and combined with the ending of the Rwanda partnership, committed in the Budget to reduce costs by £4 billion over the next two years. We cannot fix the system we inherited overnight, but we are working flat out towards that goal.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the (a) reduction to the National Insurance threshold and (b) costs for employing part-time (i) teaching assistants and (ii) school support staff on (A) special education providers and (B) local authorities' high needs budgets.

The government has agreed that the department will be compensated for the increase in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) paid by state-funding schools. Work is underway to determine how much the department will receive for those employers within its remit.Compensation for special education providers funded from local authorities’ high needs budgets will be additional to the £1 billion increase to high needs funding announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. Due to timing constraints, NICs funding will need to be provided as a separate grant, alongside the dedicated schools grant, in 2025/26.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of proposed changes to alcohol duty on the wine industry.

At the recent Budget, the Chancellor announced that she would uprate alcohol duty in line with RPI inflation on 1 February 2025, except on qualifying draught products. This decision weighed the impacts on businesses, cost-of-living pressures on people who drink moderately and responsibly, and the public health case for higher duties to tackle increasing alcohol-related deaths, as well as economic inactivity. A Tax Information and Impact Note was published alongside this Budget announcement. This is available here: Alcohol Duty uprating - GOV.UKThe Budget also confirmed that the current temporary wine easement will end as planned from 1 February 2025. By this time, the wine industry will have had over two years to adapt to the strength-based alcohol duty system. The summary of impacts from the alcohol duty reforms announced at Spring Budget 2023, including the wine easement, can be found here: Alcohol Duty Reforms - GOV.UK

Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's timetable is for (a) introducing and (b) implementing a ban on wet wipes that contain plastic.

The Government is working together with the devolved Governments to understand the issue, with a view to legislate to ban wet wipes containing plastic across the UK.

How many (a) promoters and (b) operators of schemes now subject to the Loan Charge have been prosecuted.

I refer the hon. Member for Chelmsford to the answer I gave on 16 October 2024 to Question UIN 7747.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of oversight of the Homes for Ukraine Scheme by her Department; and what steps she is taking to prevent abuse of that scheme.

The British public has shown a true generosity of spirit by opening their homes to Ukrainians seeking sanctuary from Putin’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This generosity should not be abused, and taxpayers’ money must be used to support the intended beneficiaries of the scheme.Local authorities are responsible for the prevention and detection of sponsor payment related fraud on the Homes for Ukraine scheme. The department has engaged local authorities and found they have counter-fraud measures in place and are recovering payments where fraud has been identified. As part of ongoing efforts to identify and reduce instances of fraudulent sponsorship and other abuses of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, existing guidance on GOV.UK has been expanded to improve information for guests, sponsors and local authorities on how to recognise and avoid fraudulent sponsorship or misuse of the scheme. Further mitigations to minimise the impacts of these issues on the Homes for Ukraine scheme are kept under constant review.Guidance on reporting suspected fraud is available at: Reporting fraud: Homes for Ukraine - GOV.UK for guests, Reporting fraud: Homes for Ukraine - guidance for sponsors - GOV.UK for sponsors and Handling suspected fraud: Homes for Ukraine - GOV.UK for councils.

If his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of an NHS-funded salaried training route to becoming a school counsellor.

We have no plans to do so, as there is already an existing National Health Service-funded salaried training route for education based mental health practitioners, which enables them to work across education and healthcare to provide mental health support for children and young people in schools and colleges.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing local council planning fees so that they cover the costs of local planning services.

In our recent consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system, we sought views on changes to planning application fees to cover the costs of local planning services. The consultation closed on the 24 September and officials in my department are currently analysing responses with a view to publishing a government response before the end of the year.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the (a) infrastructure levy and (b) Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and section 106 system.

The Government want to deliver the much-needed affordable housing local communities need and the wider infrastructure that will mitigate the impacts of new development. We do not believe the Infrastructure Levy as introduced in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 is the best way to achieve this. We therefore made clear in the consultation on proposed reforms to National Planning Policy Framework that we will not be implementing it. Instead, we intend to focus on improving the existing system of developer contributions. Further details on strengthening that system will be set out in due course.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring senior people to retake their driving test upon reaching a certain age.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) believes that most people want to be safe, law-abiding drivers and any post-test intervention needs to be focused where it will achieve most benefit and, where appropriate, should be targeted against irresponsible drivers. The courts already have the powers to require drivers to retake the driving test in certain circumstances, and the police can also offer remedial education courses to those who would otherwise be prosecuted for some driving offences. There are no plans to introduce mandatory vehicle driving re-tests. If drivers do not drive for a period of time, DVSA recommends they receive a form of refresher training.

Whether he plans to make an assessment of the impact of daylight saving time on (a) mental health and (b) seasonal affective disorder.

The Government has no current plans to change the approach to Daylight Savings.

What information her Department holds on whether teachers in (a) sixth forms and (b) other further educational institutions will receive the same pay rise as teachers in other settings; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of pay rise received by teachers in those settings on (i) recruitment and (ii) retention.

The government does not set or recommend pay in further education (FE), including in sixth form colleges and other FE institutions. The pay and conditions of FE staff remains the responsibility of individual colleges and providers who are free to implement pay arrangements in line with their local needs.The department recognises the vital role that teachers in sixth form colleges, as well as other FE colleges, play in developing the skills needed to drive our missions to improve opportunity and economic growth. The department is investing around an additional £600 million to support FE across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years. This includes extending retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas, including in sixth form colleges. The department also continues to support recruitment and retention with teacher training bursaries worth up to £30,000 tax-free in certain key subject areas, and with support for industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through the Taking Teaching Further programme.My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced a budget on 30 October to be followed by a multi-year spending review in the spring of next year. Decisions about future post-16 funding and capital programmes will be subject to the outcomes of these fiscal events.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the previous Government's directive not to prescribe diabetes medication for non-licensed purposes on the availability of insulin stock; and what steps he is taking to safeguard those with diabetes from fluctuations in insulin availability.

There are ongoing global supply issues with some medications used to treat diabetes, and we continue to work closely with all manufacturers of insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists to improve the situation and ensure alternatives remain available for patients. We have issued communications to National Health Service healthcare professionals, providing comprehensive management guidance, advice, and information to allow them to support their patients in the management of the supply issues.Clinicians can prescribe medicines outside their licensed indication, which is known as off-label use, where they consider it to be the best treatment option for their patient, and, if in the NHS, subject to funding by the NHS locally. However, our guidance is clear that the groups of medicines for diabetes, such as glucagon like peptide receptor agonists that are licensed to treat type 2 diabetes, should only be used for their licensed indication and should not be routinely prescribed for weight loss. The General Pharmaceutical Council, General Medical Council, Health and Care Professions Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council, and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland have also issued a joint statement stressing the importance of health and care professionals meeting regulatory standards, including taking into account our guidance when prescribing these medicines.