Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support the (a) implementation and (b) effectiveness of high street rental auctions in Gloucester.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is fully committed to revitalising our high streets and supporting businesses to make our towns and cities, including Gloucester, successful. High Street Rental Auctions (HSRAs) are supported by a fund of over £1 million, a new burdens payment and a suite of detailed guidance and practical templates to support implementation. My department are working closely with 11 local authority early adopters, who will be amongst the first to deliver, and will help shape future guidance and champion these powers.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what funding her Department provides to children and young people’s domestic abuse services in Gloucester.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government has set out an ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade and will treat it as the national emergency that it is. Supporting children and young people who are victims of domestic abuse within their families and in their own relationships must be a key part of that through the forthcoming VAWG strategy. The Home Office currently funds specialist support to children who have been impacted by domestic abuse through the Children Affected by Domestic Abuse (CADA) Fund, which supported eight organisations across England and Wales with £10.3 million between 2022 and 2025.
The Government has increased funding to all local authorities to £160 million for 2025-26, an uplift of £30 million from the previous year, to provide further support in safe accommodation for domestic abuse survivors, including children. We will deliver a cross-government, transformative approach, underpinned by a new VAWG Strategy published later this year. This will take into account the needs of all victims, including children.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase public confidence in policing in Gloucester.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
As part of the Safer Street’s Mission, the Government has set out an ambition to halve violence against women and girls, halve knife crime and restore public confidence in policing, including through the delivery of a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.
Provision has been made for £1,527,344 of funding to Gloucestershire Constabulary to kickstart the increase of neighbourhood policing personnel in 2025/26.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase (a) funding and (b) support for research into endometriosis.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Over the past 10 years, the NIHR has invested approximately £11.2 million into research with a focus on endometriosis and continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of women’s health, including endometriosis.
To support further research into women’s health, in 2024 the NIHR launched two new funding calls for studies seeking to improve the health and wellbeing of women. Details of the successful funding awards will be published on the NIHR’s website later this year.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support phlebotomists in Gloucester.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local organisations are responsible for supporting their workforce, including staff in phlebotomy roles. We are aware of local industrial action in Gloucester. This is a local issue for the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to manage, working in partnership with trade unions.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to treatment for people with alopecia areata in Gloucester.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting all those living with dermatological conditions, including alopecia areata. Dermatology services are being transformed to make sure that patients are seen on time. NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time Programme for Dermatology is working with National Health Service trusts to deliver rapid clinical transformation. The work brings together clinicians and operational teams to work collectively to transform patient pathways, reduce unnecessary appointments, and improve access and waiting times for patients.
In March 2024, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended ritlecitinib as an option for treating severe alopecia areata in people 12 years old and over. The NHS is legally required to make funding available for treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance within three months of publication of the guidance, opening the way for patients across the country, including in Gloucester, to access this treatment.
It is a clinician’s responsibility to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of their patient, whilst ensuring they are taking account of appropriate national guidance on clinical effectiveness, as well as the local commissioning decisions of their respective integrated care board (ICB), in this case the NHS Gloucestershire ICB.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) empty properties and (b) empty properties subject to Empty Dwelling Management Orders in Gloucester.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
According to the latest published statistics, excluding second homes, there are 719,470 vacant dwellings in England. 265,061 of these dwellings are classed as Long-Term Empty Homes, meaning they have been empty for more than six months.
A breakdown of vacant dwellings by local authority district can be found on gov.uk here.
The Department does not collect data on the number of Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMOs) that have been issued.
Local authorities have strong powers and incentives to tackle empty homes. They have the discretionary powers to charge additional council tax on properties which have been left unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for one or more years. The maximum premium that a council can apply increases, depending on the length of time that the property has been empty for, with a premium of up to 300% on homes left empty for over ten years.
Local authorities can also use powers to take over the management of long-term empty homes to bring them back into use in the private rented sector. Local authorities can apply for an EDMO when a property has been empty for more than two years, subject to the production of evidence that the property has been causing a nuisance to the community and evidence of community support for their proposal. More information can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of empty homes in Gloucester.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
According to the latest published statistics, excluding second homes, there are 719,470 vacant dwellings in England. 265,061 of these dwellings are classed as Long-Term Empty Homes, meaning they have been empty for more than six months.
A breakdown of vacant dwellings by local authority district can be found on gov.uk here.
The Department does not collect data on the number of Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMOs) that have been issued.
Local authorities have strong powers and incentives to tackle empty homes. They have the discretionary powers to charge additional council tax on properties which have been left unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for one or more years. The maximum premium that a council can apply increases, depending on the length of time that the property has been empty for, with a premium of up to 300% on homes left empty for over ten years.
Local authorities can also use powers to take over the management of long-term empty homes to bring them back into use in the private rented sector. Local authorities can apply for an EDMO when a property has been empty for more than two years, subject to the production of evidence that the property has been causing a nuisance to the community and evidence of community support for their proposal. More information can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the number of social rented homes with (a) mould and (b) damp in Gloucester.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not hold data on the number of social rented homes with damp and mould in Gloucester.
However, the English Housing Survey (EHS) provides findings on housing quality and condition in England, including damp and mould. The EHS found that, in 2022-23, 7% of local authority renters and 4% of housing association renters lived in homes affected by damp.
The government is committed to working with social housing providers to ensure that homes are safe, decent, warm, and free from damp and mould.
The Deputy Prime Minister made a Written Ministerial Statement on 6 February (HCWS423) confirming that the government will be bringing Awaab’s Law into force for damp and mould in October 2025.
Awaab’s Law is vital legislation that will empower social tenants to hold their landlords to account using the full force of the law if they fail to investigate and fix hazards within their homes within set timescales. It will also allow tenants to access the Housing Ombudsman if their landlord does not adhere to strict timelines for action.
The government is also committed to consulting on a new Decent Homes Standard and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards this year.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support (a) parents and (b) single parents to access employment in Gloucester.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the Get Britain Working White Paper, which was published in November 2024, we set out our aspirations, backed by a £55million investment for 2025/26, to transform Jobcentre Plus and create a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone, including parents and single parents in Gloucester to access support to find good, meaningful work, and to help people to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers.
The Get Britain Working White Paper also committed DWP to supporting and providing all areas in England with resource to produce a local Get Britain Working Plans. We are asking local areas to develop detailed plans that address the challenges related to labour force participation (employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity) and progression in work. Local Get Britain Working plans will enable all areas to take the lead in shaping a coherent offer of support for their local citizens, including the offer of support for parents, across work, health, and skills.
Parents have existing support from Work Coaches, who provide individual, tailored help to all customers across the country, this includes supporting the development of skills needed to look for and obtain sustained employment, advice to parents on childcare support or help to address their skills gaps to aid career progression.
We are also considering how we can improve our support to help parents into work as part of our Child Poverty Strategy which will be published later this year.