Written questions by Raja.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of announcing a national inquiry into grooming gangs; and what steps she is taking to (a) support investigations into alleged crimes and (b) help prevent similar crimes in the future.

This Government is prioritising work to ensure victims and survivors of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse are protected and supported, while pursuing offenders and bringing them to justice. We are continuing to work across government and with policing and law enforcement partners to strengthen the prevention of and response to these despicable crimes.I refer the Rt Hon Member to the Home Secretary’ statement made on 16 January, which sets out some of the actions the Government is taking forward to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse, including on grooming gangs offending. This includes making grooming an aggravated factor in sentencing, and new help to assist victims in getting prosecutions underway by expanding the remit of the Independent Child Sexual Abuse Review Panel.The Home Secretary has also written to the National Police Chiefs’ Council to ask all chief constables to look again at historical gang exploitation cases where No Further Action was taken, and to work with the Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce to pursue new lines of inquiry and to reopen investigations where appropriate. These measures are being backed with £2 million of additional funding.The Home Secretary is also appointing Baroness Louise Casey to lead an audit to improve our understanding of the scale, nature and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse at a national and local level, and to make recommendations on what additional action is needed to improve our response.

If he will take steps with his international counterparts to negotiate a treaty on ending the (a) use and (b) production of fossil fuels.

We are committed to working with all international counterparts to transition away from fossil fuels, in line with the UK’s domestic and international commitments including from the COP28 Global Stocktake.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support communities affected by recent flooding in Leicester; and whether he plans to make a flood recovery grant available to local authorities.

Protecting communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities. This Government will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences. During recent flooding, the Environment Agency has been operating flood assets and working with local partners across England to prevent and reduce the severity of the flooding. In Leicester, the Environment Agency will continue to deploy officers to affected communities to assess the impacts of flooding to properties and businesses. It will also continue to work with the local resilience forum to identify further opportunities to reduce flood risk in Leicestershire and support the resilience of communities to flooding. There are no plans to activate Defra's Property Flood Resilience grant scheme as the current scale of flooding has not met the threshold for its activation. Local Authorities should have contingencies in place for flooding and be able to provide support through their normal mechanisms.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to disability benefits on vulnerable individuals in Leicester; and what steps she will be taking to ensure those most in need are adequately supported during this period of fiscal adjustment.

We want to change the system of health and disability benefits across Great Britain to enable people better to enter and remain in work, and to respond to the complex and fluctuating nature of the health conditions many people live with today. We will bring forward a Green Paper in the spring. We will listen to and engage with disabled people as we develop proposals for reform in this area and across the employment support system. No decisions have yet been made. To support those most in need, the Government has provided funding of £742 million to extend the Household Support Fund in England by a further year, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026. This will ensure low-income households can continue to access support towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water. Local Authorities also have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination for the fund. We encourage Authorities to consider how they may support a wide range of low-income households in need, including households with disabled people.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce levels of child poverty in Leicester.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity, and the Child Poverty Taskforce is working to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025. We published our framework ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy’ on 23 October and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.The Strategy will look at policies across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments. The Taskforce will hear directly from experts on each of the Strategy’s themes including children and families living in poverty and work with leading organisations, charities, and campaigners. The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment to over £30 million to roll out free breakfast clubs at all primary schools, reducing the cap on UC deductions to 15%, further extending the Household Support Fund until 31 March 2026, and increasing the National Living Wage by 6.7% to £12.21 an hour boosting the pay of over 3m workers. Alongside this, we are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do.We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty. Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.

What recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of compensating women impacted by changes to women's State Pension age in Leicester; and what steps she is taking to support the women impacted.

In their investigation into communication of changes to State Pension age, the Ombudsman did not examine changes to the State Pension age itself, they examined how the policy was communicated. So, we have done no such assessment. We are committed to supporting pensioners – with millions set to see their yearly State Pension rise by up to £1,900 over this parliament, through our commitment to the Triple Lock. Support is available through the welfare system to those who are unable to work or are on a low income but are not eligible for pensioner benefits because of their age. The Government is also delivering a comprehensive package of support to help those aged 50 and over to remain in and return to work.

What steps his Department is taking to (a) prioritise a roofs first approach to solar panel installation to ensure efficient use of urban spaces and (b) incentivize homeowners and businesses to adopt rooftop solar technology.

Changes have been introduced to permitted development rights, enabling more solar installations to benefit from the flexibilities and planning freedoms permitted development rights offer. This includes a new permitted development right that allows for the installation of solar canopies in non-domestic, off-street, car parks.For non-domestic rooftop solar, the 1MW cap was removed so that there is no limit on the electricity generated by solar installations.Our Warm Homes Plan will transform homes across the country by making them cleaner and cheaper to run, from installing new insulation to rolling out low carbon heating like solar and heat pumps.

What steps her Department is taking to (a) ensure that current prison expansion plans are sufficient to meet projected demand and (b) prevent potential overcrowding in prisons serving Leicester and the surrounding areas.

Our 10-year Prison Capacity strategy published on 11 December sets out plans to deliver 14,000 prison places the previous Government promised but failed to deliver. It also sets out our plans to maintain the places in our estate to ensure we have sufficient accommodation and explore the acquisition of land should we need to build more prison places. This will include a new 1,700-place prison in Leicestershire (next to HMP Gartree), in addition to HMP Fosse Way in Leicester which opened in 2023. We have also launched an Independent Sentencing Review, chaired by former Lord Chancellor, David Gauke. The Review’s aim is to ensure we are never again left in a position that this Government was, where we have more prisoners than places available.

What steps her Department is taking to support low-income families by (a) improving access to opportunities for children to play and learn, and (b) enhancing financial independence and living standards.

Through our Opportunity Mission, this Government will break the link between a child’s background and their future success. We will deliver across four areas including helping every child to achieve and thrive through excellent teaching and high standards, with a focus on disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs and disabilities. Worth over £2.9 billion in 2024/25, the pupil premium grant continues to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. Furthermore, all local authorities in England continue to deliver the Holiday and Activities Food programme, providing heathy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families throughout the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. Poverty limits children’s opportunities and holds them back. The number of children living in poverty has gone up by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. This is why tackling child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish our child poverty strategy in Spring 2025. As set out in the Taskforce’s publication of 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ s our ambition is to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty this parliament, as part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change. To deliver this, we will look at all available levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments. The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, roll out free breakfast clubs at all primary schools, create 3,000 additional nurseries, and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his Bangladeshi counterpart on the recent arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das.

The UK is committed to promoting and protecting human rights, including Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB). We monitor human rights in Bangladesh closely, including following student-led protests in Bangladesh. I understand the concerns about the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das. In November, during my visit to Bangladesh, I discussed the importance of protecting religious minorities, including the Hindu community with Chief Adviser Yunus. I underlined the UK Government's commitment to religious freedom in Bangladesh. We will continue to engage with the Interim Government of Bangladesh on the importance of FoRB.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that planning reforms balance new housing development with the protection of (a) green spaces and (b) local heritage in (i) Leicester and (ii) England.

The government published the revised National Planning Policy Framework on 12 December. The Framework reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring the historic environment, both at a local and national level, and local green space are appropriately protected.

Whether her Department plans to review the two child benefit cap.

The Child Poverty Taskforce is exploring how we can harness all available levers to reduce child poverty before publishing a strategy in Spring 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) provide funding for flood defence infrastructure, (b) help tackle the impact of climate change and (c) otherwise mitigate flood risks in Leicester.

This Government is investing £2.4 billion over this year and next year to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences. Climate change projections are built into the design of new flood defences to make sure they are fit for the future. The £8 million Leicester Conveyance Flood Risk Management Scheme was completed in 2019 to reduce the flood risk to over 2000 properties in Leicester. Flood Risk Management Authorities continue to work in partnership to identify further opportunities to reduce flood risk in Leicester and support communities to become more resilient to flooding in the future.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of banning the import and sale of fur products on (a) businesses and (b) consumers in Leicester.

Defra is continuing to build the evidence base on the fur sector in Great Britain. This includes commissioning our expert Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) to produce a report on what constitutes responsible sourcing of fur. The AWC report will add to our understanding of the fur industry and help inform our next steps.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to hold water companies accountable for financial mismanagement.

Ofwat monitors the financial position of all water companies, taking action when needed to strengthen company’s long-term financial resilience and producing an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company. Ofwat has also strengthened its powers to improve financial resilience, including stopping water companies paying dividends where financial resilience is compromised and preventing customers funding executive bonuses where companies do not meet performance expectations. Furthermore, the Water (Special Measures) Bill will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector. And finally, on 23 October, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Welsh Government, launched an Independent Commission on the water sector regulatory system. The commission aims to build consensus for a resilient and innovative water sector and a robust wider regulatory framework that will deliver long-term benefits and ultimately serve both customers and the environment.

Whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of SEND pupils in (a) Leicester East constituency and (b) England impacted by changes to the bus fare cap.

The Department for Education is the lead government department with responsibility for policy on home to school transport, including provision for pupils with special educational needs. With regard to the national bus fare cap, this will be designed to be as equitable as possible in terms of its support for passengers across England. One of the key principles of the scheme will be to include ‘open’ services which allows any member of public to board. ‘Closed’ school services, defined as a service which would not allow a member of the general public to board, and school services which operate in term-time only will not be eligible for inclusion. Services from participating operators that serve schools, are open to members of the public and run all year round will be eligible for inclusion in the scheme. This is the same approach as that taken under the current fare cap.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent diplomatic steps he has taken to help ensure the protection of (a) Hindu communities and (b) other religious minorities in Bangladesh.

The UK has a long-standing commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, including Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB). Following the student-led protests in July and August, we have been closely monitoring the situation for minorities in Bangladesh. In November, I visited Bangladesh and discussed the importance of the protection of religious minorities, including the Hindu community, with Chief Adviser Yunus. We are providing up to £27 million under the Bangladesh Collaborative, Accountable and Peaceful Politics programme for protecting civic and political space, fostering collaboration, reducing corruption, and mitigating tensions that lead to violence. We will continue to engage with the Interim Government of Bangladesh on the importance of FoRB.

What steps her Department is taking to support young SEND people not in education, employment or training.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and develop the skills they need as they move into adult life.The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream settings, as well as ensuring specialist settings cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need. To support this, the department has created an Expert Advisory Group for Inclusion, led by Tom Rees, to advise on how to drive inclusive education practice.Local authorities must provide to all young people aged 13 to 19, and to those between 20 and 25 with special educational needs, support it considers appropriate to encourage, enable or assist them to effectively participate in education or training. Local authorities are required to collect information about young people so that those not participating can be identified and given support to re-engage. Alongside this, there is also a guaranteed place in education and training for all 16 and 17-year-olds, expanded work experience and careers advice, action to tackle school attendance, and improved access to mental health services for young people in England. The department is working to further support all local authorities to identify and help young people at an increased risk of becoming not in education, employment or training, based on identifying risk factors such as a learning difficulty, disability or poor school attendance. This includes publishing good practice guidance and developing a new data tool for local authorities.Through our new ‘Youth Guarantee’, this government will ensure that every young person aged 18 to 21 that needs it, is supported in accessing further learning or receives help to get a job or an apprenticeship. This guarantee will bring together and enhance provision and support for young people by offering them tailored support that will help them into further learning or fulfilling work. This will provide support for young people with SEND who may be particularly at risk of not being in education, employment or training. To respond to this challenge, this government will launch trailblazers in eight mayoral combined authorities starting from April 2025, with £45 million of funding being invested in 2025/26 to design and develop the guarantee.Furthermore, as part of our commitment to helping children and young people with SEND to develop the skills they need as they move into adult life, the department is investing up to £18 million until March 2025 to build capacity in supported internships. The department aims to double the number of internships each year to around 4,500, to support more young people with education, health and care (EHC) plans to gain the skills to transition into employment. The department is also running a pilot in 12 local authorities to test supported internships with young people with SEND but no EHC plan who are furthest from the labour market.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting Armed Forces personnel in receipt of Government compensation from means-tested benefits.

The receipt of War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards is already fully ignored when calculating eligibility for Universal Credit. The first £10 per week of a War Pension or AFCS award is disregarded in: income-related Employment and Support allowance; income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; and Income Support. Armed Forces Independence Payments are fully disregarded in these benefits and can also allow the recipient to qualify for an additional disability amount. This contrasts with a benefit like Industrial Injuries Disablement benefit where there is no weekly disregard. Furthermore, these are legacy benefits, in the process of being replaced by Universal Credit, in which War Pensions and AFCS are ignored. By default, the first £10 per week of a War Pension or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme is disregarded in Housing Benefit. Furthermore, a discretionary scheme allows local authorities to fully disregard them. In relation to Pension Credit, the first £10 of any War Pension payments or AFCS award made due to injury or disablement is disregarded. Four additions to the War Disablement Pension are completely disregarded: Constant Attendance Allowance; Mobility Supplement; Severe Disablement Occupational Allowance; and dependency increases for anyone other than the applicant or her/his partner. War Pensions and AFCS awards are a qualifying income for the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit, which is available to those who reached State Pension age before April 2016. Armed Forces Independence Payments are fully disregarded in Pension Credit and can also allow the recipient to qualify for an additional disability amount. There are no plans to change the ways in which War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) awards interact with means tested benefits. Social security in Northern Ireland is a transferred matter. The Department for Communities is responsible for how compensation payments are treated in means-tested benefits in Northern Ireland.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that all SEND pupils are able to access (a) education and (b) training opportunities; and if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the consultation by Leicester City Council entitled Post-16 education transport for young people with SEND, published on 7 November 2024.

For too long the education and care system has not met the needs of all children and young people, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with parents struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve. This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND receive the right support to succeed in their education and develop the skills they need as they move into adult life. We are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream settings, as well as ensuring specialist settings cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need. Local authorities must provide to all young people aged 13 to 19, and to those between 20 and 25 with special educational needs, support it considers appropriate to encourage, enable or assist them to effectively participate in education or training. Alongside this there is also a guaranteed place in education and training for all 16 and 17 year olds, expanded work experience and careers advice, action to tackle school attendance and improved access to mental health services for young people in England. Through our new ‘Youth Guarantee’, this government will ensure that every young person aged 18 to 21 that needs it, is supported in accessing further learning or receives help to get a job or an apprenticeship. This guarantee will bring together and enhance provision and support for young people by offering them tailored support that will help them into further learning or fulfilling work. This will provide support for young people with SEND who may be particularly at risk of not being in education, employment or training. To respond to this challenge, this government will launch trailblazers in eight mayoral combined authorities starting from April 2025, with £45 million of funding being invested in 2025/26 to design and develop the guarantee. Furthermore, as part of our commitment to helping children and young people with SEND to develop the skills they need as they move into adult life, the department is investing up to £18 million until March 2025 to build capacity in supported internships. The department aims to double the number of internships each year to around 4,500, to support more young people with education, health and care plans to gain the skills to transition into employment. With regards to the question about transport in Leicester, local authorities must consult with stakeholders in developing their policy statement and any proposed changes to the way post-16 transport is provided. This is to ensure that it provides a full picture of the available transport and support.