Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking and over what period to assist over 60’s living in fuel-poor properties, and to improve the energy efficiency of existing homes.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
Improving energy efficiency is the best long-term solution to tackle fuel poverty.
More than one quarter of fuel poor households in England include a resident over the age of 60. Government is taking steps to ensure low income, vulnerable households, including older people, are protected from living in a cold home.
The Energy Company Obligation Scheme provides support for low income and vulnerable households. Since ECO launched in January 2013, it has delivered energy efficiency measures to more than 2 million households. ECO, or a successor scheme, will continue to drive at least £640 million investment per year in home energy efficiency until 2028.
The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards now require landlords spend up to £3500 improving their properties to energy efficiency Band E before renting them out. We intend to consult later this year on a long-term trajectory for improving Private Rented Sector homes to Band C.
In addition to receiving energy efficiency support, pensioners receive financial support to ensure they can keep their homes warm. Winter Fuel Payments provide pensioners with between £100 and £300 to keep their homes warm during the winter. Those on Pension Credit also receive a £140 Warm Home Discount rebate.
Our 2020 Fuel Poverty Strategy will detail our future plans to tackle fuel poverty.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the report of the panel assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
On 21 May 2019 we announced a public call for evidence led by a panel of experts to gather evidence on how the family courts protect children and parents in cases of domestic abuse and other serious offences.
The panel completed the call for evidence in September 2019, and published a Progress Update in October outlining the work completed and next steps.
The panel has been meeting regularly to discuss the wealth of evidence collected from 1,200 individuals and organisations, and are in the process of finalising their report. It is right that they take the time to analyse this data and to consider their recommendations for how the family courts can be reformed to improve the experiences of victims of harm. A full report outlining their findings and recommended next steps will be published by Spring 2020.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they were consulted by London North Eastern Railway in relation to changes in the system of off-peak return tickets which have increased fares on the East Coast line.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
As announced in August 2019, DfT is supporting LNER’s trials from January 2020 of a new fare system designed to make travelling on trains simpler and clearer. All return tickets will be removed on trial routes from London to Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh, and in their place passengers will be able to purchase anytime, advance and cheaper super off-peak single fares. People making return journeys can now better mix and match tickets to suit their needs.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken following the disclosure of incidents involving pregnant women prisoners and their children at HMP Bronzefield.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The recent incident at HMP Bronzefield is tragic. As there are a number of ongoing investigations, including an investigation by the police, it is not appropriate to comment further on the specific details of the incident.
We are currently undertaking a fundamental review of the Mother and Baby Unit policy and the policy on managing pregnant women in custody. This will conclude in 2020.
In the meantime, all pregnant women are seen by a professional midwife at least fortnightly, or more frequently if required. Healthcare in prisons is provided by specially trained medics and nurses. Medical emergencies are dealt with by 999 calls and prisoners have access to an emergency bell to alert staff at night. Women in prison have access to the same range of services as they would in the community.
Following the events at HMP Bronzefield, we have introduced hourly checks throughout the night for all heavily pregnant women, and fortnightly pregnancy review boards are being held for them, involving a multidisciplinary team, in addition to existing support provisions.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of (1) the absence of social housing grants, and (2) the rise in interest rates on HM Treasury loans to local authorities, on the provision of new housing by local authorities.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie
We have made £9 billion available through the Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022 to deliver approximately 250,000 new affordable homes in a wide range of tenures, including social rent, which Local Authorities are eligible to apply for
The Government keeps all policy under review and alongside the increase of the Public Works Loan Board rates the Government has legislated to increase the lending limit from £85 billion to £95 billion, reflecting its commitment that local authorities continue to have access to the financing they need to support their capital plans. We have been engaging the local government sector, to understand the potential impact the interest rate rise could have on individual local authorities’ capital plans and strategies, especially with regard to housing and regeneration. As ever, we expect local authorities to have robust financial plans in place which take into account the risk of changing economic circumstances as part of taking a prudent approach to borrowing.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how the costs of an application (1) for limited leave to remain, and (2) to extend limited leave to remain, are calculated; by how much the costs of such applications have increased in percentage terms since 2015; and why those costs have increased.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The unit costs of immigration and nationality fees are the calculated estimate of the full financial cost for providing each route/service, including direct costs and relevant local and central overheads (e.g. accommodation, HR, Finance and IT), plus depreciation, cost of capital employed, and other wider system costs that are incurred in connection with immigration and nationality activity.
The approach the Home Office uses to calculate the published unit costs for all UK visa, immigration and citizenship services takes into account the entire forecast cost of the relevant chargeable functions, including all related indirect costs. Weightings are then used, based on operational business planning data, to apportion the total cost across the range of services and products.
Unit costs may be influenced by changes in the way that applications in certain routes are processed from year to year, for example where additional checks are introduced or required, or by changes elsewhere within the overall system which impact on the weighting calculations and therefore the amount apportioned to any individual service.
With regard to percentage increases, the Home Office publishes a complete list of fees and unit costs for all application types. This can be viewed via the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-fees-transparency-data
Additionally, the link below sets out all the fees that have been in operation since 2015.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-regulations-revised-table
When setting fees, the Home Office takes into account the cost of processing the application, the wider cost of running Border, Immigration and Citizenship (BIC) system and the benefits the Home Office believes are likely to accrue from a successful application.
Application fees have increased in recent years as the Home Office aims to reduce the overall level of funding that comes from general taxation.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the rents levied by developers of student accommodation.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Higher education providers are autonomous bodies, independent from the government. The department plays no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation.
The department assesses student accommodation rent levels through the Student Income and Expenditure Surveys that have been undertaken at regular intervals since the mid-1980s. Information on student rents is also reported in the Accommodation Costs Surveys published jointly by the National Union of Students and the student housing charity, Unipol.
The report published by the independent panel supporting the Post-18 Review of Education and Funding recommends that the Office for Students:
examines the costs of student accommodation; and
works with students and providers to improve data about costs, rents, profits and quality.
The department has not yet taken decisions on these recommendations but will consider the panel’s proposals in due course.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any estimated overspend of council funding special needs education; and what steps they are taking to provide financial support to protect the service.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We have asked local authorities with a cumulative deficit on their Dedicated Schools Grant of more than 1% to submit recovery plans to the department. We are now reviewing those plans and will be discussing these with local authorities in due course.
For 2020-21, we have announced more than £700 million of additional high needs funding, which funds children with more complex special educational needs. This represents an increase of 11% compared to 2019-20, leading to a total of over £7 billion. Every local authority will receive a minimum increase of 8% per head of population aged 2-18. We will provide local authorities with provisional allocations in October. This will help local authorities to manage the pressures that they will face next year.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of defendants sent summary offence notices under the single justice procedure fail to enter a plea; what is their assessment of the reasons for the level of such failures; and what steps they are taking to address that issue.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Current response rates vary dependant on the individual prosecutors, with an average of 72% of defendants failing to enter a plea. Whilst an individual is at liberty to not enter a plea without reason, Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service is actively working with prosecution authorities and our partners in the Criminal Justice System to understand the reasons why defendents do not respond and to improve engagement rates.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they will take following the report of the Chief Inspector of Prison Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Eastwood Park; and what assessment they have made of the reasons for the failure to prevent the conditions disclosed in the report arising.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ recent report on HMP/YOI Eastwood Park was published on 28th August 2019. HMPPS take all recommendations made by the HM Chief Inspector seriously. A
detailed action plan has been produced to address the recommendations in the report. The action plan has been published on the prison finder website and has been provided for my noble Lord
We are aware of the deterioration of unit 2 due to leaking showers as highlighted in the report. Bids for funding have been submitted to the Ministry of Justice’s Projects Team to address the issues. In
the meantime, the Prison Governor continues to meet monthly with Gov Facility Services Limited and the Service Delivery Manager to assess conditions across the prison and ensure those areas
needing remedial works are addressed promptly.