Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to increase the security of tenure of houseboat dwellers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises that while the occupants of residential boats have the benefit of protection under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 and wider consumer protection legislation, they do not enjoy the same level of tenure security as those in the private rented sector.
We will consider what action might be necessary to provide houseboat residents across with greater security in their homes.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the UK has any agreements with countries under which asylum seekers could be sent to them as a safe third country.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has been clear that it will be ending the Migration and Economic Partnership with Rwanda. The UK has no other such agreements.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the deals announced on 16 December 2024 between the Israel Ministry of Defence and Elbit Systems for the supply of advanced communication systems to the Israel Defence Force will include products (a) developed or (b) made by Elbit Systems UK Ltd.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We cannot comment on individual companies’ commercial plans. Elbit Systems UK Ltd, like all UK companies, would be required to apply for an export licence to export military or dual-use items from the UK.
All such applications are assessed against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria and under the terms of our current suspension of certain licences to Israel, any licence application for components that could be used in military operations in Gaza would currently be refused.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse dated 29 August 2024, reference number MC2024/19996, on support for a public inquiry into the New Providence Wharf fire.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department provided a response on 6 January 2025.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the amendments proposed to the Personal Status Law No. 188 of Iraq.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is analysing the proposed amendments to Iraq's Personal Status Law and its implications for women and children's rights, which we note have not yet been passed through the House of Representatives. As we continue to privately engage with a range of Iraqi interlocutors to discuss this, including the Government of Iraq, we are emphasising the importance of any amendments' compatibility with Iraq's international obligations.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Iraqi counterparts on the amendments proposed to the Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is analysing the proposed amendments to Iraq's Personal Status Law and its implications for women and children's rights, which we note have not yet been passed through the House of Representatives. As we continue to privately engage with a range of Iraqi interlocutors to discuss this, including the Government of Iraq, we are emphasising the importance of any amendments' compatibility with Iraq's international obligations.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the impact of welfare reforms since 2010 on (a) poverty, (b) child poverty, (c) disabled people, (d) women, (e) people of Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds and (f) older people.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2022/23 there were 1.3 million more people in relative low income after housing costs than in 2010/11. The 1.3 million increase comprises 700,000 children, 300,000 working age individuals and 300,000 pensioners. During this period, there was a gradual upward trend in relative poverty (before and after housing costs) for pensioners driven by working age incomes growing at a faster rate than pensioner incomes despite uprating of State Pension and Pensioner benefits limiting this gap.
The table below provides employment rate/level data for disabled people, women, people from an ethnic minority and older people in 2010 and 2024. Employment level and rates rose for the groups between 2010 and 2024.
| Disabled People | Women | Ethnic | Older People | ||||
Minorities | ||||||||
| Level | Rate | Level | Rate | Level | Rate | Level | Rate |
April-June 2010 | n/a | n/a | 13.653m | 65.50% | 2.772m | 59.30% | 8.128m | 38.40% |
April-June 2024 | 5.534m | 53.00% | 16.312m | 71.90% | 5.459m | 67.80% | 10.891m | 41.90% |
We are committed to tackling poverty and raising living standards. We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.
The Child Poverty Taskforce also continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change.
We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do. We started this work with the announcement of the Fair Repayment Rate in the Budget and will continue to work with stakeholders as the review progresses.
Further steps to tackle poverty include our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million and to increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers.
It is Government provision through (and ongoing improvement of) the State Pension and benefits system – combined with key interventions for private pensions and the labour market – that forms the foundation of support for pensioners of today and tomorrow.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential link between the fitness for work test and (a) suicides, (b) other deaths and (c) harm.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP does not collect or record the cause of a customer’s death and will not usually be made aware of how a customer died.
Cause of death is determined by a doctor or a coroner. There is no requirement for a Coroner to inform the department of the outcome of an inquest unless named as an Interested Person at that inquest - or the coroner decides to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report to the department.
As a result, we are unable to collect information on or make any assessment on any potential links between the fitness for work test and suicides, other deaths and harm and only a coroner would be able to determine if one did exist on a case-by-case basis.
Attempted suicides and suicides are very complex issues. Where there is an allegation that the Department’s actions, including any related to the fitness for work test, may have had an impact on a customer’s circumstances, we take it very seriously and where appropriate we would undertake an Internal Process Review to establish if we could have done anything differently, to inform future learning and improve services. These reviews do not investigate the cause of a customer’s death and are not undertaken as a result of every suicide or death and therefore would not provide the information to show if a link existed.
Internal Process Reviews themes are considered quarterly at the department’s Serious Case Panel, which has an external Chair. Arrangements are being made to start publishing fuller minutes of the Panel’s meetings from the new year.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the impact of the two-child benefit cap on trends in the level of child poverty in (a) the UK and (b) Poplar and Limehouse constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We published the framework ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy’ on 23 October and will explore all available levers to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change.
The Child Poverty Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, which includes considering social security reforms, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.
The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Strategy in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of extending access to benefits for families with children who have no recourse to public funds on levels of child poverty in Poplar and Limehouse constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In developing a Child Poverty Strategy, the Child Poverty Taskforce is considering all children across the United Kingdom. We recognise the distinct challenges of poverty faced by migrant children. The causes of child poverty are deep-rooted, with solutions that go beyond government, and the Taskforce is exploring all available levers in response.
The Home Office sets the immigration rules and grants immigration leave to individuals which allows them to live and work in the UK. DWP cannot pay public funds benefits to individuals where the Home Office has applied a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition to their immigration status.