Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce rates of suicide.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We have committed to tackling suicide, as one of the biggest killers in this country. As part of this, the 8,500 new mental health staff we will recruit will be specially trained to support people at risk, to reduce the lives lost to suicide.

The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England, published in September 2023, identifies a number of groups for tailored or targeted action at a national level, and we are exploring opportunities to go further.

79 organisations have been allocated funding between 2023 and 2025, through the £10 million Suicide Prevention Grant Fund, and are delivering a broad and diverse range of activities that will prevent suicides and save lives.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many government reviews they have initiated since the 2024 general election; and what is their estimated cost.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government regularly reviews its work to ensure that it is delivering the best outcomes for the people of the United Kingdom, and that its policies continue to represent the best value for the taxpayer. Individual departments are responsible for publishing any information on public reviews, consultations and investigations on gov.uk, although there will always be internal work in government departments which we would not ordinarily or routinely publish.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce knife crime among young people.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Halving knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government's Safer Streets mission and we are taking a range of steps to realise this ambition and keep young people safe.

We have already implemented the ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes approved by Parliament in April. The ban came in to force on 24 September 2024 and it is now illegal to sell or own these weapons. We are now going further, and on 13 November we launched a consultation on a ban of ninja swords, which has recently concluded.

We also know that more needs to be done to tackle the sale of knives online which is why last October, the Home Secretary commissioned Commander Stephen Clayman, as the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for knife crime, to carry out a full review into the online sale and delivery of knives. The report was received at the end of January and will be published imminently, but as a first step the Home Secretary has announced that the Government intends to strengthen age verification controls and checks for all online sellers of knives at the point of purchase and on delivery, to prevent lethal blades from ending up in the wrong hands.

We have set up a Knife-Enabled Robbery Taskforce, which brings together Ministers, Chief Constables and others working across criminal justice to take immediate action to tackle the fastest rising type of knife crime.

And finally, we have also created a new Young Futures programme, which will include the establishment of Young Futures Prevention Partnerships across England and Wales, bringing partners together to intervene earlier to stop young people being drawn into crime. It is vital we have a system that can identify and support those young people who need it most.

These are just some of the first steps we are taking to tackle the scourge of serious youth violence on our streets.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Chancellor of Exchequer has made representations to the European Union to remove trade barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland during her recent visit to Brussels.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

On 9 December the Chancellor visited Brussels to attend Eurogroup, a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers, discussing the mutual economic benefit of the Government's EU Reset. The full speech can be found on gov.uk.

The Government is committed to the Windsor Framework and to protecting the UK internal market. The UK Internal Market Scheme already enables businesses to move goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without being subject to customs duties. Additional changes will be introduced in the coming months which will further simplify the movement of goods for businesses.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people they estimate are homeless each night in each region of the United Kingdom, and whether that number is increasing or decreasing.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As of 30 June 2024, 123,100 households were in temporary accommodation, which is an increase of 16.3% from 30 June 2023. This is the highest on record.

The annual snapshot statistics remain our official and most robust measure of rough sleeping on a single night. The number of people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2023 was 3,898 – a 27% increase on autumn 2022 and a rise for the second year in a row.

Local Authorities are required to publish homelessness data each quarter. The most recent figures for Q2 2024 are available below using tab TA1:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statutory-homelessness-in-england-april-to-june-2024/statutory-homelessness-in-england-april-to-june-2024

The most recent rough sleeping snapshot in England was published in February 2024 and covers Autumn 2023. This can be accessed by using the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-snapshot-in-england-autumn-2023/rough-sleeping-snapshot-in-england-autumn-2023

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure brownfield land as well as empty, derelict houses and commercial buildings are used first to solve the housing crisis and protect the green belt.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Planning is a devolved matter and the information provided relates to England only.

The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that substantial weight should be given to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements, including bringing back into residential use empty homes and the development of under-utilised land and buildings to meet the need for homes and other uses.

Changes we made to the National Planning Policy Framework in December 2024 broadened the definition of brownfield land, set a strengthened expectation that applications on brownfield land will be approved, and made clear that plans should promote an uplift in density in urban areas.

On 22 September 2024, we published a ‘brownfield passport’ policy paper inviting views on how we might further prioritise and fast-track building on previously used urban land.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to revive business confidence across the United Kingdom after the budget.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Growth is the number one mission of the government. We have taken action including: progressing planning reforms; boosting capital investment by over £100 billion over the next five years; creating the National Wealth Fund; publishing the Corporate Tax Roadmap; announcing the Business Growth Service; and setting out pension reform proposals to unlock new investment.

Our modern Industrial Strategy will be unreservedly pro-business, and our Green Paper set out our vision for a credible, 10-year plan to deliver the certainty and stability businesses need to invest across the UK. We are engaging widely, and have appointed a diverse group of the UK’s top business leaders, policy experts and trade union leaders to the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council to drive this forward.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that there will be no cuts to the other parts of the health budget to pay for assisted dying if it is legalised in the UK.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As per long-standing convention, the Prime Minister has set aside collective responsibility on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life Care) Bill, so the Government will remain neutral on the passage of the bill. As with all bills, there are multiple stages for it to go through before it can become law, and this continues to be a matter for Parliament.

If the will of Parliament is that the law on assisting dying should change, the Government would work to ensure that the law is implemented in the way that Parliament intends and that is legally effective.

Autumn Budget 2024 set budgets for this year and the next financial year. Funding for future years and future decisions across the health budget will be decided through the normal spending review process.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect the services of hospices and private care homes in the light of the increase in National Insurance contributions and other increased costs in the budget.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The biggest investment in a generation for hospices has been announced by the Government, ensuring that hospices can continue to deliver the highest quality end of life care possible for their patients, families, and loved ones.

This was through a £100 million boost for adult and children’s hospices to ensure they have the best physical environment for care, and £26 million of revenue to support children and young people’s hospices. Further details of the funding allocation and dissemination will be set out this year.

To support local authorities to deliver key services such as adult social care, the Government is making available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes a £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant.

We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget. The employer National Insurance contribution rise will be implemented April 2025, and the Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for next year in due course, including through planning guidance.