Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing payment rates for legal aid in family law cases, in the context of his Department's decision to uplift the rates paid for all housing and immigration legal aid work.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of civil legal aid, including family legal aid, and we are keen to work closely with practitioners and their representative bodies to look at how best we can address this.
Between January 2023 and March 2025, the Ministry of Justice undertook a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and concluded a consultation on uplifts to housing and debt, and immigration and asylum legal aid fees, which will inject an additional £20 million into the sector each year once fully implemented.
This investment will help the Government deliver commitments to reduce the asylum backlog, end hotel use, increase returns and ensure the most vulnerable can navigate a complex legal system and access justice.
Whilst there are no immediate plans to increase the fee rate in family law, the Ministry of Justice is looking at other potential changes that could support providers, for example, (civil) contractual requirements regarding provider offices and limits to the provision of remote legal aid that providers say are burdensome. Any changes would aim to give providers more autonomy in meeting client need, while maintaining effective in-person provision for clients who need this.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her planned timetable is for the implementation of airspace modernisation in the north of England.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government remains firmly committed to delivering the benefits of airspace modernisation. The Department for Transport is working closely with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), NATS, and the airports across the north of England to develop a robust and credible plan to implement airspace change in the region. Progress is encouraging, and the airports involved are shortly expected to move forward to public consultation on their plans as the next stage of the CAA’s airspace change process.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of funding for the NHS was spent on (a) legal costs and (b) compensation related to employment tribunals in each of the last five financial years, broken down by NHS Trust.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Neither the Department nor NHS England hold information which breaks down the proportion of National Health Service funding that was spent on legal costs and compensation relating to employment tribunals.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for publishing the outcome of the technical consultation on the reform of planning committees.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are considering responses to the consultation in question and will publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken to support representations of developing nations in international discussions on global sovereign debt.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK government is committed to supporting and working closely with developing nations in international discussions on global sovereign debt. The UK government engages with our partners through various multilateral fora, including the G20, the Paris Club and the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable. Through the G20, we participate collaboratively in the Common Framework, helping to deliver coordinated and sustainable solutions for low-income countries facing debt vulnerabilities. We are committed to strengthening Global South voices across the Global Financial System in relation to sovereign debt. This was exemplified our support of the outcome document from the Fourth International Conference on Financing For Development (Compromiso de Sevilla) in July of this year, which called for the establishment of a platform for borrower countries with support from existing institutions.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which organisations will be represented at The London Coalition on Sustainable Sovereign Debt.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Steering Committee includes representatives from the banking sector, asset managers and legal experts, alongside members of the official sector from institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and African Union. The Committee is co-chaired by the UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury, who leads on the UK’s financial services policy, reform and regulation, and José Vinals, former Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank, who serves in his personal capacity bringing vast experience from both the public and private sectors.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for introducing the technical consultation on the M4(2) requirement in building regulations.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Housing is one of this Government’s top priorities. Everyone deserves to live in a decent home that is suitable for them and meets their needs. The revised National Planning Policy Framework, published on 12 December 2024, requires local planning authorities to assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those of older and disabled people, and to reflect this in planning policies. Where an identified need exists, plans are expected to help bring forward an adequate supply of accessible housing. The Government will shortly set out its policies on accessible new build housing, reinforcing our commitment to ensuring everyone has access to a safe, suitable home.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will publish an economic impact assessment on the potential impact of the National Insurance exemption for Indian nationals posted temporarily to the UK under the UK–India Free Trade Agreement on (a) wages, (b) employment opportunities and (c) recruitment practices in the UK information technology sector.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The OBR will certify the impact of the trade deal including the Double Contributions Convention in the usual way at a fiscal event, once the deal is finalised and ratified. The agreement to negotiate a Double Contributions Convention was made in the context of the wider deal, which will bring billions into the economy.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2025 to Question 56485 on Children: Maintenance, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of aligning the child maintenance responsibilities of those who receive the limited capability for work and work-related activity element of Universal Credit and people who receive comparable incomes through employment.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The child maintenance calculation is designed to be fair and proportionate and broadly represent an amount that the paying parent would spend on the child as if they were still living with them. The calculation takes the paying parent’s gross income into account – regardless of whether that income comes from earnings or benefits. Where a paying parent earns under £100 per week, or receives certain benefits including Universal Credit, they pay a flat rate of £7 per week. In those few instances where someone is eligible for the flat rate but has other income, that can be captured by means of a variation.
The Department has recently conducted a programme of strategic work to review the child maintenance calculation. The focus of the review is to explore options to update the calculation to reflect modern societal and economic changes, with the aim of making it fair, affordable and responsive to parents’ circumstances, but importantly, to avoid introducing complexities to the system. A consultation on proposed changes is planned for late 2025.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) capital and (b) revenue funding will be allocated for Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Janet Daby
Young Futures Hubs will build on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, with the government establishing a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. The multi-year Spending Review set overall resource departmental budgets until 2028/29 and overall capital departmental budgets until 2029/30. Departments are now working to determine allocations and further details will be provided in due course.
Young Futures Hubs will be co-designed using local knowledge to best serve their communities and will serve a core age range of 10-18, but with flexibility to support young people at each end of this age range in line with local needs.