Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners were (a) released into homelessness and (b) homeless three months after release in each quarter since January 2022.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are taking a number of steps to reduce numbers of those being released from prison homeless, including measures to improve joint processes and guidance across prisons, probation and local authorities. Overall statutory responsibility for housing and homelessness lies with local authorities in both England and Wales.
We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and other Departments through the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to develop a new long-term cross-government strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.
We deliver our Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3) to support prison leavers who are subject to probation supervision and at risk of homelessness, by offering up to 12 weeks of basic transitional accommodation to provide a stable base on release.
We employ 50 prison-based Strategic Housing Specialists, including nine across the female estate, to support prisons to reduce homelessness on release by working in partnership with probation teams and Local Authorities.
Published figures relating to offender accommodation outcomes can be found here: Offender Accommodation Outcome Statistics - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of people needing homelessness relief from local authorities on release from prison.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are taking a number of steps to reduce numbers of those being released from prison homeless, including measures to improve joint processes and guidance across prisons, probation and local authorities. Overall statutory responsibility for housing and homelessness lies with local authorities in both England and Wales.
We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and other Departments through the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to develop a new long-term cross-government strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.
We deliver our Community Accommodation Service Tier 3 (CAS3) to support prison leavers who are subject to probation supervision and at risk of homelessness, by offering up to 12 weeks of basic transitional accommodation to provide a stable base on release.
We employ 50 prison-based Strategic Housing Specialists, including nine across the female estate, to support prisons to reduce homelessness on release by working in partnership with probation teams and Local Authorities.
Published figures relating to offender accommodation outcomes can be found here: Offender Accommodation Outcome Statistics - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Civil Military Coordination Centre at Kiryat Gat on coordinating aid delivery into Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 28 October to Question 84235.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what Britain’s role is in the Civil Military Coordination Centre at Kiryat Gat.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 28 October to Question 84235.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the terms of reference are for the Civil Military Coordination Centre at Kiryat Gat.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 28 October to Question 84235.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she last asked her Bahraini counterpart to allow a research mission by a UN Special Rapporteur to consider the human rights situation in Bahrain.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We continue to encourage all countries to engage constructively with UN mechanisms, including Special Rapporteurs, as part of their international commitments. The UK remains committed to supporting progress on human rights.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the report by the UN Secretary-General entitled Situation concerning Western Sahara, published on 30 September 2025.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government consistently urges all states to uphold international law, and we continue to encourage constructive engagement with the political process led by the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General Mr Staffan de Mistura in support of finding a just, lasting, and mutually agreed resolution to the Western Sahara dispute.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the UN Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council entitled Situation concerning Western Sahara, published on 30 September 2025; and if she will he call for the renewed United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara mandate to allow unhindered freedom of movement.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government consistently urges all states to uphold international law, and we continue to encourage constructive engagement with the political process led by the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General Mr Staffan de Mistura in support of finding a just, lasting, and mutually agreed resolution to the Western Sahara dispute.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the provisions in the Employment Rights Bill on backlogs in the employment tribunals.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Employment Rights Bill is part of the Government’s commitment to Make Work Pay. The Bill includes measures that strengthens the rights of workers, which we expect will increase demand in the Employment Tribunal.
To address rising demand in the Employment Tribunal, we are working to invest in tribunal productivity measures through the recruitment of additional judges, the deployment of legal officers, the development of modern case management systems and the use of remote hearing technology. This has delivered over 1,500 additional sitting days. The Lord Chancellor allocated 33,900 sitting days for the Employment Tribunals in the financial year 2025/26, the maximum allocation they are able to sit.
We do recognise that there are significant demand pressures on the Employment Tribunals and are therefore working with the judiciary, HMCTS and the Department for Business and Trade on any further actions needed to alleviate pressures on the Employment Tribunals, improve efficiency and reduce waiting times to ensure the Employment Tribunal is able to absorb the impact of the Employment Rights Bill whilst ensuring timely access to justice for claimants and respondents.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many outstanding cases there have been in the Employment (a) Tribunal and (b) Appeal Tribunal in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data on open caseload for the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeals Tribunal is published in Tribunals Statistics Quarterly and data to March 2025 can be found in table S_4 of the main tables here: Tribunals statistics quarterly: January to March 2025 - GOV.UK.
Figures for ET single claims, ET multiple claims and EAT claims are in columns H, J and K respectively.