Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of house sales collapsing as a result of delays to probate.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

This department does not hold information on the number of house sales that collapse as a result of delays to probate.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to have any discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence about routinely taking into consideration the impact on the physical and mental health of the person with a rare condition and their wider family.

Answered by Lord Markham

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) develops its guidance independently, in line with its established methods and processes, which have been developed through extensive engagement with interested parties. In developing its guidance, the NICE takes into account all physical and mental health-related costs and benefits including, where relevant, the health-related benefits to carers and the wider family.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the scale of the bottleneck between foundation and speciality training for NHS doctors; and what steps they are taking to address this.

Answered by Lord Markham

The Government continues to keep the number of medical speciality training places it funds under review, and has taken significant action to expand places over recent years. In January 2023, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, announced that nearly 900 additional medical specialty training posts had been created for that year, including more than 500 in the key areas of mental health and cancer treatment. This built on funding for more than 750 additional training posts across speciality programmes for 2022. Future specialty growth will take the total increase to more than 2,000 places over three years, from 2021 to 2024.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan published in June last year set out a commitment to double the number of medical school places in England by 2031/32. The plan also included a commitment to ensure there is adequate growth in foundation placement capacity, as students begin to graduate from the expanded number of medical school places, and a commensurate increase in specialty training places that meets the demands of the National Health Service in England, in the future. We will work with stakeholders to ensure this growth is sustainable, and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many refugee families which include teenage children of both sexes being forced to share a single hotel room.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold data relating to numbers of teenage children of both sexes and room-sharing; families generally manage their own sleeping arrangements, post-allocation of beds and rooms.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the psychological impact on refugee families of (1) overcrowding, and (2) the placement of teenage children of both sexes in a single hotel room.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold data relating to numbers of teenage children of both sexes and room-sharing; families generally manage their own sleeping arrangements, post-allocation of beds and rooms.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of changes to the probate system on the average length of time taken to complete probate.

Answered by Lord Bellamy

Since the launch of the new digital service in 2019, over 1.2 million probate applications have been processed on the new platform and around 80% of applications are made digitally. HMCTS is committed to continually improving the system, using feedback from our users to help shape future improvements. In addition, HMCTS has increased staffing levels and streamlined internal processes to improve waiting times.

Management information published by HMCTS (which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly) shows the average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate, from receipt of documentation, reduced by 3 weeks in March 2024 to 9 weeks. Overall output has also increased, the first quarter of 2024 (January to March 2024) saw the highest quarterly number of grants issued since the statistics have been published, with 83,060 grants issued. This is a 32% increase on the same period in 2023.

Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly and HMCTS Management information and currently cover the period up to December 2023 and March 2023 respectively.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the progress towards the measures to retain doctors included in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

Answered by Lord Markham

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan has a strong focus on retention, but is not starting from scratch. It builds on measures put in place though the NHS People Promise and NHS People Plan, to improve organisational culture, and the workplace experience of staff across the National Health Service.

The learning from the NHS National Retention Programme is that single retention interventions rarely have an impact, instead what is needed is sustained action over time, to address retention issues. Last month, NHS England set out a range of measures to improve the working lives of doctors in training, including improving choice and flexibility on rotas, streamlining and improving human resources and payroll support, and reforming statutory and mandatory training.

We have also taken action on pensions and changed the NHS Pension Scheme rules to make retirement more flexible, and encourage retired staff to return. This includes a new partial retirement option available from 1 October 2023 as an alternative to full retirement. Staff can now draw down some or all of their pension whilst continuing to work, and further building up their pension.

To ensure the delivery and review the progress of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, a Governance Board has been established to provide cross Government assurance of progress. The Government has committed to updating the modelling that underpins the Long Term Workforce Plan every two years, or in line with fiscal events as appropriate.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers with at least one disabled child who have achieved refugee status have been made homeless on achieving that status in the past 12 months.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information requested.

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered. Following the service of an asylum decision, an individual continues to be an asylum seeker for the purpose of asylum support until the end of the relevant prescribed period set out in legislation. This period is 28 calendar days from when an individual is notified of a decision to accept their asylum claim and grant them leave and we have no plans to extend this period. Whilst our legislative power is clear, we do in practice already extend support beyond this. Our current process means that individuals can remain on asylum support for at least 28 days after they have been issued a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), which means that individuals have longer than 28 days to make arrangements to move on before their asylum support ends. It is important that individuals initiate plans to move on from asylum support as soon as they are served their asylum decision in order to maximise the time they have to make move on arrangements.

We offer move on support to all individuals through Migrant Help or their partner organisation.  This includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing.  Individuals do not need to wait for their BRP to make a claim for benefits and are encouraged to do so as early as possible if they require them. Individuals can contact Migrant Help in three ways:

• The freephone line 0808 8010 503. This is available 24/7/365
• Webchat through the website at https://www.migranthelpuk.org.
• Raise an Issue via an online enquiry form, again at https://www.migranthelpuk.org.

We continue to identify and make efficiencies in supporting newly recognised refugees during the move on period and to mitigate the risk of homelessness. We are fully committed to working with partners in doing this. We have already worked closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to ensure the right asylum decision data is being shared with local authorities to enable effective planning and to lessen the impact on existing homelessness and rough sleeping pressures.  We are also utilising Home Office Liaison Officers to replicate part of the Afghan resettlement move on process. We have been working in three local authority areas since December 2023; Glasgow, Brent and Hillingdon. This has now been expanded to Manchester and Liverpool.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers with children have been made homeless on achieving refugee status in the past 12 months.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not hold the information requested.

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered. Following the service of an asylum decision, an individual continues to be an asylum seeker for the purpose of asylum support until the end of the relevant prescribed period set out in legislation. This period is 28 calendar days from when an individual is notified of a decision to accept their asylum claim and grant them leave and we have no plans to extend this period. Whilst our legislative power is clear, we do in practice already extend support beyond this. Our current process means that individuals can remain on asylum support for at least 28 days after they have been issued a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), which means that individuals have longer than 28 days to make arrangements to move on before their asylum support ends. It is important that individuals initiate plans to move on from asylum support as soon as they are served their asylum decision in order to maximise the time they have to make move on arrangements.

We offer move on support to all individuals through Migrant Help or their partner organisation.  This includes providing advice on accessing the labour market, on applying for Universal Credit and signposting to local authorities for assistance with housing.  Individuals do not need to wait for their BRP to make a claim for benefits and are encouraged to do so as early as possible if they require them. Individuals can contact Migrant Help in three ways:

• The freephone line 0808 8010 503. This is available 24/7/365
• Webchat through the website at https://www.migranthelpuk.org.
• Raise an Issue via an online enquiry form, again at https://www.migranthelpuk.org.

We continue to identify and make efficiencies in supporting newly recognised refugees during the move on period and to mitigate the risk of homelessness. We are fully committed to working with partners in doing this. We have already worked closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to ensure the right asylum decision data is being shared with local authorities to enable effective planning and to lessen the impact on existing homelessness and rough sleeping pressures.  We are also utilising Home Office Liaison Officers to replicate part of the Afghan resettlement move on process. We have been working in three local authority areas since December 2023; Glasgow, Brent and Hillingdon. This has now been expanded to Manchester and Liverpool.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial and emotional impact of delays related to the Probate Portal following results from a survey conducted by The Law Society and published in their October 2023 report, Online court services: Delivering a more efficient digital justice system, which found that 62 per cent of respondents experienced delays in court proceedings.

Answered by Lord Bellamy

HMCTS recognises that average waiting times for a grant of probate increased during 2023 following on from a sustained increase in receipts.

HMCTS remains focused on improving the service and doing all we can do to make it as effective and speedy as possible. In addition, HMCTS has increased staffing levels and streamlined internal processes to improve waiting times.

Management information published by HMCTS (which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly) shows the average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate from receipt of documentation reduced by three weeks in March 2024 to nine weeks.

The increase in the probate application fee to £300 was implemented on 1 May 2024. This was one of 172 court and tribunal fees that were increased by 10% to partially reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index since 2021, the last time that court and tribunal fees were increased. Given the short period of time the higher fee has been in place, an assessment on the impact of the probate fee increase has not been completed at this time. The increases are estimated to raise additional income of £30m-37m per annum, which will provide funding to support the effective delivery of court and tribunal services.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the Law Society’s report Online court services: Delivering a more efficient digital justice system in October 2023, what assessment they have made of the increase in fees for probate applications at a time when those using the probate online portal are experiencing increased delays and errors.

Answered by Lord Bellamy

HMCTS recognises that average waiting times for a grant of probate increased during 2023 following on from a sustained increase in receipts.

HMCTS remains focused on improving the service and doing all we can do to make it as effective and speedy as possible. In addition, HMCTS has increased staffing levels and streamlined internal processes to improve waiting times.

Management information published by HMCTS (which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly) shows the average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate from receipt of documentation reduced by three weeks in March 2024 to nine weeks.

The increase in the probate application fee to £300 was implemented on 1 May 2024. This was one of 172 court and tribunal fees that were increased by 10% to partially reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index since 2021, the last time that court and tribunal fees were increased. Given the short period of time the higher fee has been in place, an assessment on the impact of the probate fee increase has not been completed at this time. The increases are estimated to raise additional income of £30m-37m per annum, which will provide funding to support the effective delivery of court and tribunal services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address anaesthetic workforce shortages.

Answered by Lord Markham

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to place in the Library of the House a copy of the data protection impact assessment for the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) and each current FDP product in use anywhere across the platform; and whether the programme’s public commitments to transparency are compatible with the assessment being published this long after the programme’s go live date.

Answered by Lord Markham

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Dissolution. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.