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, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward regulations on the (a) sourcing and (b) stocking of repair parts for lifts by registered social housing providers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Registered providers of social housing are required to meet the regulatory standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing. The Safety and Quality Standard requires providers to provide an efficient, effective and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service for the homes and communal areas for which they are responsible, which could include lifts.
The Government recently committed to introducing a competence and conduct standard to ensure that social housing staff have the right skills and experience and that social housing tenants can hold their landlords to account for their high quality services and homes. We will also bring forward a consultation as soon as possible setting out plans for a reformed Decent Homes Standard, which will apply to both the social and private rented sectors.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Maritime Accident Investigation Branch will publish its interim report in relation to its investigation on the fatal injury to a crew member on a Malta-registered RoRo cargo vessel while loading freight vehicles in Purfleet on 13 July 2024.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The accident on the Laureline happened on 13/07/2024. The Maritime Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) is required to make every effort to publish a full report as soon as possible and in any case within 12 months of the accident. If this is not possible then an interim report is issued at the 12 month point. MAIB does not generally issue interim reports outside of this timeframe.
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, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to registered social landlords.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has confirmed that we will take action to introduce new access to information requirements for social housing tenants. This will enable social housing tenants of private registered providers, such as housing associations, to access the information they need about their homes from their landlords. The Government will set out further details of these requirements in due course.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will hold discussions with the Port of London Authority on its compliance with section three of the Ports Good Governance Guidance, published in March 2018, in the context of its practice of charging for river works licenses for balconies that overhang the River Thames.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department regularly engages with the Port of London Authority on a number of topics, including the PLAs approach to overhanging balconies on the river.
As there is going to be a public inquiry around the PLA Harbour Revision Order, where the topic of River Work licenses is likely to be raised it would be premature to take any substantive action, should that be appropriate, until the inquiry has concluded.
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, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of removing the requirement to register to vote on the level of participation in general elections.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has no plans to remove the requirement to register to vote and has therefore made no such assessment. The electoral register is the foundation of our democratic processes, showing who is eligible to vote in which elections. The Government is nonetheless committed to improving how registration works, including the use of data and online services to help increase registration levels so that everyone who is eligible to vote can vote.
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, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing guidance to newly-naturalised citizens on the requirement to register to vote before they can participate in general elections.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to improving electoral registration and is actively exploring ways to do so.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on foreign travel advice for Bangladesh published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office between 19 July 2024 and 29 August 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on enforced returns and asylum-related enforced returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Quarterly data on enforced returns by destination are published in table Ret_D02 of the ‘returns detailed datasets’. This data covers the period 2004 to June 2024.
Data on asylum-related enforced returns for the top 10 nationalities, ranked by volume, are published in table Ret_04 of the ‘returns summary datasets’. This data is for the year ending June 2024.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Deportations are a subset of returns (defined in the ‘user guide glossary’). The published statistics refer to enforced returns which include deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily.
The Home Office and FCDO are in regular communication regarding migration issues. FCDO travel advice is aimed at British nationals and is not the relevant test for deciding protection claims. The Home Office remains satisfied that Bangladesh is currently safe for returns of those with no legal basis to stay in the UK.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were deported to Bangladesh between 19 July 2024 and 29 August 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on enforced returns and asylum-related enforced returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Quarterly data on enforced returns by destination are published in table Ret_D02 of the ‘returns detailed datasets’. This data covers the period 2004 to June 2024.
Data on asylum-related enforced returns for the top 10 nationalities, ranked by volume, are published in table Ret_04 of the ‘returns summary datasets’. This data is for the year ending June 2024.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Deportations are a subset of returns (defined in the ‘user guide glossary’). The published statistics refer to enforced returns which include deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily.
The Home Office and FCDO are in regular communication regarding migration issues. FCDO travel advice is aimed at British nationals and is not the relevant test for deciding protection claims. The Home Office remains satisfied that Bangladesh is currently safe for returns of those with no legal basis to stay in the UK.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people seeking asylum were deported to Bangladesh from 19 July 2024 to 29 August 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on enforced returns and asylum-related enforced returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Quarterly data on enforced returns by destination are published in table Ret_D02 of the ‘returns detailed datasets’. This data covers the period 2004 to June 2024.
Data on asylum-related enforced returns for the top 10 nationalities, ranked by volume, are published in table Ret_04 of the ‘returns summary datasets’. This data is for the year ending June 2024.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Deportations are a subset of returns (defined in the ‘user guide glossary’). The published statistics refer to enforced returns which include deportations, as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers that have declined to leave voluntarily.
The Home Office and FCDO are in regular communication regarding migration issues. FCDO travel advice is aimed at British nationals and is not the relevant test for deciding protection claims. The Home Office remains satisfied that Bangladesh is currently safe for returns of those with no legal basis to stay in the UK.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of pregnant women held in prison between 2023 and 2024 were on remand.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The HMPPS Annual Digest 2023/2024 reports a total number of 229 self-declared pregnant prisoners recorded between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.
Custody type data were available for 91% of these prisoners, 71 (34%) of which were found to be on remand when their pregnancy was declared to HMPPS.[1][2]
There are now dedicated Pregnancy and Mother and Baby Liaison Officers in all women’s prisons as well as mandated multidisciplinary care planning for pregnant women.
The Lord Chancellor announced the creation of a Women’s Justice Board to address the distinct needs of women in the criminal justice system. The Board will have the goal of fewer women in prison and more supported in the community. It will initially focus on early intervention; community solutions including residential alternatives to custody; and improving outcomes for young adult women, and pregnant women and mothers of young children.
Whilst there will always be some, including those who are pregnant, who need to be in custody, we must ensure they are given the best chance possible to tackle the drivers of their offending and to contribute meaningfully to society.
Notes:
[1] Due to different data collection methods we have considered a matching record to be the closest remand record within 7 days of the first pregnancy declaration date.
[2] The figures in this table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.