Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve relations with the African Union.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to a close relationship with the African Union (AU). The UK Office to the AU, based in Addis Abba, works closely with the AU across a range of country specific and thematic themes. The Deputy Prime Minister became the first non-African leader to meet the newly elected AU Commission Chairperson, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, on 17 February, just two days after his election success. The Foreign Secretary was delighted that the AU co-hosted the London-Sudan Conference with us on 15 April. We look forward to the next ministerial level UK-AU High-Level Dialogue in the autumn.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with his international counterparts who participated in the London Sudan Conference on 15 April 2025 to help ensure that the principles agreed at that Conference to (a) seek an immediate and permanent ceasefire, (b) protect civilians and (c) allow humanitarian supplies and personnel are implemented.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Alongside those states that attended the London Sudan Conference, the UK is taking coordinated action to strengthen the protection of civilians and to improve aid delivery. We continue to advocate for the implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions, including UNSCR 2736 (2024) on El Fasher, Darfur. Additionally, the UK and its partners are advocating for safe and unimpeded humanitarian access.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent engagement his Department has had with the Sudanese diaspora in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Sudan is a personal priority for the Foreign Secretary. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Ministers and officials most recently engaged with members of the Sudanese diaspora during the run up to the 15 April London Sudan Conference. This included a roundtable with representatives of the Sudanese diaspora that the Minister for Africa, hosted at the FCDO on 31 March. The FCDO will continue to engage with members of the Sudanese diaspora as part of our ongoing work.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to improve the provision of criminal legal aid to people in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Criminal legal aid, where needed, is essential to support those accused of a crime to defend themselves and to uphold their right to a fair trial.
This Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with a legal aid system that is creaking and on the point of collapse. We have already taken steps to start rebuilding that system and we are committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the legal aid sector.
As an important first step, in November 2024, we announced our response to the Crime Lower consultation, confirming an uplift to the lowest police station fees, introducing a new Youth Court fee scheme, and paying for travel time in certain circumstances. Together, these changes amount to a £24 million investment for criminal legal aid providers.
Furthermore, in December 2024, we announced that criminal legal aid solicitors will receive up to £92 million more a year to support the sustainability of the criminal legal aid market. This latest commitment reflects the vital work that is undertaken by those who provide criminal legal aid and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to access to justice. We are also committed to continuing to work with the criminal legal aid profession, including the Bar, on further opportunities for reform this Parliament and to support the overall sustainability, diversity, and efficiency of the system.
The Legal Aid Agency is responsible for commissioning legal aid services in England and Wales. Procurement for legal aid contracts is now operated under the ‘always on principle’ so that the procurement remains open during the life of the contract. This is a significant change from the previous approach where firms could only bid to join at the initial tender of what typically was a five-year contract term. This new approach enables new entrants to apply for a contract at any time and for existing providers to expand their services. It is a more flexible approach, removing hard deadlines and maximising the available supply of services.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to increase the level of funding for supporting food-insecure people in Sudan.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
At the recent London Sudan Conference, the Foreign Secretary announced a package of support budgeted at £120 million which will deliver life-saving services to more than 650,000 people. In total, more than £800 million was pledged at the conference. Since the start of the conflict millions of people have benefitted from UK funded humanitarian programmes. Supporting humanitarian aid delivery in Sudan remains a top priority for this government.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of UK energy security.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great Britain’s energy system is diverse and reliable, with the annual Statutory Security of Supply Report 2024 assessing that GB is expected to have sufficient supplies of electricity and gas to meet consumers’ demands over the short and long-term. However, our dependence on fossil fuels has left us vulnerable to global supply shocks and unstable energy prices. The Government's Clean Energy Superpower Mission, supported by the largest investment in home-grown clean energy in British history, will enhance energy security by boosting our energy independence, protecting billpayers, and reducing exposure to global supply shocks.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help support victims of sexual abuse living in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade.
Our VAWG strategy will be published this year and will include joint steps to tackle image-based abuse across England and Wales (including Staffordshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme). These include delivering our manifesto commitment to ensure that perpetrators who create a deepfake intimate image of someone without their consent face prosecution, and criminalising asking someone to create an intimate image deepfake for you, regardless of where that person is based or whether the image is created. Under our new offences in the Crime and Policing Bill, anyone who takes or records intimate images without consent or installs equipment with intent to do so will face up to two years’ custody.
In the year 2024/25, the Home Office increased the amount of funding provided to the Revenge Porn Helpline from £150,000 to £210,000, to provide free, high-quality support and advice to adult victims of intimate image abuse. This funding will be increased for the year 2025/26.
The Ministry of Justice also provides funding for vital victim and witness support services, including sexual abuse victims. This includes funding to Police and Crime Commissioners to commission local support services for victims of all crime, including sexual abuse, based on their assessment of local need; and through the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF) to enable specialist support organisations to deliver services to victims, including victims of intimate image abuse, to cope and recover. RASASF provides £399,000 to organisations in the Staffordshire PCC area (including Newcastle-under-Lyme).
Victims in Staffordshire can also access the 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and delivered by Rape Crisis England and Wales. The Line provides victims aged 16 and over access to vital help and information whenever they need it.
Funding for services beyond March 2026 will be subject to decisions made through the ongoing Spending Review process.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to tackle intimate image abuse in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade.
Our VAWG strategy will be published this year and will include joint steps to tackle image-based abuse across England and Wales (including Staffordshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme). These include delivering our manifesto commitment to ensure that perpetrators who create a deepfake intimate image of someone without their consent face prosecution, and criminalising asking someone to create an intimate image deepfake for you, regardless of where that person is based or whether the image is created. Under our new offences in the Crime and Policing Bill, anyone who takes or records intimate images without consent or installs equipment with intent to do so will face up to two years’ custody.
In the year 2024/25, the Home Office increased the amount of funding provided to the Revenge Porn Helpline from £150,000 to £210,000, to provide free, high-quality support and advice to adult victims of intimate image abuse. This funding will be increased for the year 2025/26.
The Ministry of Justice also provides funding for vital victim and witness support services, including sexual abuse victims. This includes funding to Police and Crime Commissioners to commission local support services for victims of all crime, including sexual abuse, based on their assessment of local need; and through the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF) to enable specialist support organisations to deliver services to victims, including victims of intimate image abuse, to cope and recover. RASASF provides £399,000 to organisations in the Staffordshire PCC area (including Newcastle-under-Lyme).
Victims in Staffordshire can also access the 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and delivered by Rape Crisis England and Wales. The Line provides victims aged 16 and over access to vital help and information whenever they need it.
Funding for services beyond March 2026 will be subject to decisions made through the ongoing Spending Review process.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her planned timetable is for making available land acquired by the Government for cancelled northern legs of HS2.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
My department is thoroughly reviewing the position we have inherited before setting out more detailed plans in due course, including future plans for HS2 Phase 2b safeguarding and a disposal programme for land and property acquired for HS2 that is no longer required. We expect to be able to provide further detail of our intended approach for Phase 2b safeguarding during the summer. Any land acquired for Phase 2 that is no longer required will be sold in line with Treasury rules through a disposal programme.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of freezing levels of Local Housing Allowance on future levels of homelessness, in the context of her membership of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex; they interact dynamically making it very difficult to isolate the relative importance of individual factors. We work closely with other departments, including MHCLG, to ensure the impacts of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) on homelessness and local government, are considered.
This included consideration in last year’s Autumn Budget not to increase LHA rates for 2025/26. Rental data, the impacts of LHA rates, rate increases in April 2024, and the wider fiscal context were all considered. The April 2024 one-year LHA increase cost an additional £1.2bn in 2024/25 and approximately £7bn over 5 years.
At last year’s Budget, funding for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) were maintained. These are available from local authorities and can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. The Autumn Budget also announced an increase in 2025/26 by £233 million compared to last year (FY2024-25) to grant funding for homelessness services. This increased spending will help prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025-26.
The government will also invest £2bn in social and affordable housing in 2026-27, to deliver up to 18,000 new homes. This will immediately allow housing associations and local councils to bring bids forward for new developments in every part of the country.
We continue to work across government, including on the development of MHCLG’s Long Term Housing and Homelessness and Rough-sleeping strategies to ensure that interactions and impacts between departments are considered. The Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough-sleeping, for example, brings together ministers from across Government to drive progress on the strategy development and get back on track to ending homelessness.
Any future decisions on LHA policy will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing, including as part of the strategies mentioned above, and considered for prioritisation within the challenging fiscal context.