Written questions by Coyle.

When her Department will announce the pilot areas for Respect Orders.

In February, we introduced new Respect Orders through our Crime and Policing Bill. The Bill recently completed Second Reading in the House of Lords, with Committee Stage expected to begin in November.Respect Orders will be tough behavioural orders aimed at tackling the most persistent adult anti-social behaviour offenders. Further details on next steps for the Respect Order will be provided in due course.

What steps her Department is taking to help raise awareness of the reintroduction of maintenance grants.

This government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to attend higher education (HE). We must, therefore, reform the HE system to better support disadvantaged students. That is why we announced, on 29 September 2025, that we will introduce new targeted means-tested maintenance grants for students from low-income households studying courses aligned with our missions and the Industrial Strategy, funded by a levy on income from international student fees.We reiterated this commitment in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper on the 20 October 2025, which sets out our ambition for a world leading and financially sustainable HE sector that delivers value for students, widens participation, drives local and national growth and supplies the skills our labour market needs.We will set out further details on targeted maintenance grants at the Autumn Budget.

When his Department plans to publish new guidance on the Crisis and Resilience Fund.

We plan to publish guidance for the Crisis and Resilience Fund in January 2026. Provisional allocations will be published as part of the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, ahead of the scheme going live in April 2026.

Communities and Local Government, how many applications have waited longer than the 12-week timeframe that the Building Safety Regulator says it will take to complete its process in the last 12 months.

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has reported that 930 Gateway 2 applications decided in the last 12 months (between 24 October 2024 and 23 October 2025) took longer than 12 weeks to reach a decision.The BSR is already making operational and policy changes to speed up decision making, particularly on building control approval, including through the introduction of an Innovation Unit and batching process. Early signs are positive with all applications in the Innovation Unit so far on track to exceed or meet the 12-week SLA target.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking with the (a) financial sector and (b) regulators to help ensure that mortgage lenders provide loans to leaseholders affected by building safety issues in the period after the Grenfell Tower fire.

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. Officials have well-established relationships with regulators should the need arise to discuss a particular issue.

Communities and Local Government, if he will encourage the Building Safety Regulator to provide a timeline for decision on the 338 social homes intended for the former Bermondsey Biscuit Factory development site.

The Building Safety Regulator has received three Building Control Applications for new higher risk buildings to be built on the Biscuit Factory site. Progress on each application is set out in the following table. Please note that assessment of applications is a dynamic process, and timetables can change dependent on the information provided by the applicant: Application Name Application Number Current status Number of homes When decision is expected Block OPQBCA03545Z1N7Statutory fire consultation has completed.  Final stages of assessment underway187 over 14 floorsNovember 2025Block WBCA04254L1T8Assessment is continuing. Statutory fire consultation will start once all fire matters within the application have been resolved69 over 18 floorsJanuary 2026Block VBCA05762F2G7Assessment is continuing. Statutory fire consultation will start once all fire matters within the application have been resolved82 over 10 floorsJanuary 2026

What steps her Department is taking to ensure the supply of sustainable aviation fuel increases to match demand.

The Department for Transport is taking a comprehensive approach to ensure the supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) increases to match demand. In January 2025, the Government introduced the SAF Mandate, obligating jet fuel suppliers to blend increasing volumes of SAF into the UK aviation fuel mix, with targets rising from 2% in 2025 to 10% in 2030 and 22% in 2040. These targets were set following detailed analysis and engagement with industry stakeholders. To ensure the SAF Mandate reflects the latest technological and commercial developments, regular review points are built into the legislation, allowing targets to be revisited if required. The first formal review will be carried out before 2030. To support supply, £63 million in grant funding has been allocated through the Advanced Fuels Fund for the current year, with continued support for SAF production through to 2029/30. The UK SAF Clearing House provides advice and support to SAF producers navigating the fuel testing landscape, helping to remove barriers to new fuels coming to market. In addition, the Government has introduced legislation for a Revenue Certainty Mechanism to increase investor confidence and unlock investment in UK SAF production.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for Transport to (a) expand electricity capacity and (b) ensure the adequacy of the number of EV charging stations in new housing developments.

The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that strategic policies set out in development plans should make sufficient provision for energy. The government recently amended the existing permitted development rights for electric vehicle charging points to support homeowners through the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) Order 2025. We continue to keep the regulations under review.

What steps he is taking to ensure ICBs meet national requirements for hospice performance.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.  The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of palliative care and end of life care services to meet the needs of their local populations, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment.NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each ICB in respect of each financial year and to publish a summary of its findings. This assessment must assess how well the ICB has discharged its functions.Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at the end of life and their loved ones.  Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services.The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England and, therefore, covers the palliative and end of life care sector, including independent hospices. The CQC registers health and adult care providers, monitors and inspects services to see whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led, and publishes its findings, including quality ratings.The CQC can use its legal powers to take action where poor care is identified, and publishes regional and national views of the major quality issues in health and social care, including palliative and end of life care, encouraging improvement by highlighting good practice.The Department and NHS England are currently looking at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.The Government and the NHS will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.I am pleased to confirm the continuation of children’s hospices funding for the next three financial years, 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see circa £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

What steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of the most recent National Study of Health and Wellbeing.

The latest prevalence data from the National Study of Health and Wellbeing (also known as the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey) found that 1 in 5 adults in England were experiencing a common mental health condition in 2023/24, up from 1 in 6 a decade ago. Through our Plan for Change, we are committed to working beyond the health system to tackle the drivers of mental ill health. For example, recently announced welfare legislation is getting more people with health conditions back into work, backed by £1 billion of investment to unlock opportunity and grow the economy. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out a number of important initiatives that will help tackle the rising prevalence of mental ill health by intervening earlier when problems first arise. This includes expanding access to mental health support teams in schools and colleges to reach full national coverage across England by 2030, embedding mental health support in Young Futures Hubs and making it easier than ever to access mental health support via the NHS App.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Somali counterparts on efforts to build relations between leaders in Somalia and Somaliland.

The UK is one of Somalia's closest and longest standing partners and remains committed to supporting Somali authorities to build a safe, free, and secure country for all Somalis. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) regularly engages with the Somali authorities, political parties and civil society, including those in Somaliland. We continue to advocate for dialogue between Hargeisa and Mogadishu.

What plans he has to ensure (a) Rt hon. and hon. Members and (b) other elected representatives are held to account for (i) misleading the public and (ii) repeating inaccurate information.

Honesty is one of the Seven Principles of Public Life, which form the ethical basis of officeholders' standards in public life. All officeholders, including MPs and other elected representatives, have a responsibility to provide accurate information to the public. For MPs, the Seven Principles are enshrined in the Commons Code of Conduct. The House has mechanisms available to ensure MPs uphold these standards, and individual MPs are directly accountable to their constituents. Regarding locally elected representatives, the Government launched a consultation seeking views on proposed measures to strengthen the standards framework for local authorities in England in December 2024. The Government's response will be issued in due course. In addition, the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, introduced on 16th September, contains an offence of misleading the public. This applies where a public authority or public official acts with the intention of misleading the public (or is reckless as to that possibility) and they know, or ought to know, that their act is seriously improper. The definition of ‘public official’ for this purpose includes ministers.

With reference to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists's report entitled A work in progress: evaluating the women’s health strategy, published in July 2025, whether he plans to update his Department's Women's health strategy for England to align it with the 10 Year Health Plan.

The 2022 Women's Health Strategy identified many important issues which remain valid, and we have already made excellent progress turning the commitments in the strategy into tangible action. This includes delivering 5.2 million extra appointments, tackling gynaecology waiting lists using the private sector, and we will shortly make emergency hormonal contraception free in pharmacies. We now need to update the Women’s Health Strategy to align with the 10-Year Health Plan and identify areas where we need to go further.

When her Department plans to launch its consultation on changes to indefinite leave to remain for Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa holders; and how long her Department expects to run that consultation for.

The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in future.I welcomed the opportunity to listen to the views of Members around these subjects in the recent 8th September Westminster Hall Debate on settlement.We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year, and the length of the consultation will be announced at that point. All will be welcome to participate. We will provide details of how the scheme will work after that consultation.We regularly engage with representatives of the Hong Kong diaspora in the UK on issues related to the BN(O) visa and will continue to do so.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of exempting people with experience of transnational suppression from proposals to increase the qualifying time for Indefinite Leave to Remain to ten years.

We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year. All will be welcome to participate. We will provide details of how the scheme will work after that consultation. Any attempt by any foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities in the UK will not be tolerated. Wherever we identify such threats, we will use all measures, including through our world-class intelligence services, to mitigate risk to individuals, and we will continue to ensure that robust systems are in place to detect, deter and counter such activity.

If he will consider the potential merits of reintroducing health in pregnancy grants to support early years development.

Children’s early years are crucial to their development, health, and life chances. This is why the Government offers financial support to families with young children on low incomes through the Healthy Start scheme and the Sure Start Maternity Grant (SSMG). The SSMG is a one-off £500 grant payment intended to help with the costs of having a newborn or adopted baby. Eligibility for SSMG is set out on the GOV.UK website, at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/sure-start-maternity-grant/eligibility Healthy Start is a demand-led, statutory scheme that aims to support young families in the greatest need to buy healthy food. We recently announced in the 10-Year Health Plan that we will uplift the value of weekly payments by 10%.The move to a Neighbourhood Health Service, as described in the 10-Year Health Plan, and the Best Start in Life Strategy, will further improve support for families, so that every child has the healthiest possible start in life. Building on the £126 million funding boost for the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme in 2025/26, Best Start Family Hubs will be rolled out to every local authority from April 2026.Alongside improving services for all families, tackling child poverty is an urgent priority for the Government. A Ministerial Taskforce is exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term action across the Government to reduce child poverty and is working to publish the Child Poverty Strategy.

If the Government will work with (a) housing associations, (b) police authorities, (c) mayors, (d) local authorities and (e) other landlords to introduce fast track courts to tackle antisocial behaviour cases.

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) and the harm it causes is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. Every police force in England and Wales now has a dedicated lead officer for ASB, who will work with communities to develop a local ASB action plan.Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are strengthening the powers available to the police and other relevant agencies to tackle ASB quickly and effectively. ​We will crack down on those making neighbourhoods feel unsafe and unwelcoming by introducing the new Respect Order, which will carry tough sanctions and penalties for persistent adult offenders. Breaching a Respect Order will be a criminal offence, allowing police officers to immediately arrest offenders and disrupt ongoing ASB. We are also extending the maximum exclusion period for dispersal directions from 48 to 72 hours and enhancing the powers for the police to seize nuisance off-road bikes, and other vehicles which are being used in an anti-social manner, without having to first give a warning to the offender.There are currently no plans to introduce fast-track courts for ASB.This Government inherited a record and rising courts backlog. We have funded a record-high allocation of 110,000 Crown Court sitting days for this year to tackle the outstanding caseload, including in relation to ASB cases.

What steps his Department is taking to improve the processing of export licensing to Ukraine to aid the war effort.

All export licence applications to Ukraine are treated with the highest priority by the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU). As with all export licence applications, assessments are made on a case-by-case basis according to the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. Assessments for Ukraine, given the situation within the country and the nature of the goods often being exported, mean these cases are some of the most complex for ECJU to process.

What steps he is taking to improve specialist paediatric Pancreatic Cancer services in the NHS as part of the 10 year plan.

In England, children with cancer have their care managed by specialist paediatric cancer multi-disciplinary teams, whose responsibility it is to provide high-quality care through the effective coordination of integrated, disease specific pathways. This includes arranging for access to specialist pancreatic services, where clinically appropriate.The 10-Year Health Plan for England includes a number of important actions that will improve children’s health and paediatric health services.A National Cancer Plan for England will also be published this year. The plan will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and earlier diagnosis to accessing treatment and ongoing care. It will apply to all cancer types, including pancreatic cancer, and will include a specific focus on children and young people with cancer.

Communities and Local Government, how (a) temporary accommodation use and (b) all forms of homelessness were factored into assessments of levels of need in the Fair Funding review of local authority needs.

The government has set out our proposal for consolidating funding across all forms of homelessness, through the first multi-year settlement in a decade, in the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation on gov.uk here. The Fair Funding Review 2.0 includes proposals to roll funding for Temporary Accommodation, currently part of Homelessness Prevention Grant, into the Local Government Finance Settlement Revenue Support Grant and the creation of a consolidated Homelessness & Rough Sleeping Grant thematic pot. Taking this approach of separating out temporary accommodation funding will end the current tension that forces local authorities to choose between investment in prevention and meeting current temporary accommodation costs, creating dedicated ringfenced funds for the prevention of homelessness and rough sleeping. This follows the government’s consultation on the Homelessness Prevention Grant. You can read the response to this consultation on gov.uk here.