Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the potential cost to local authorities for providing temporary accommodation for homeless people in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government recognises that homelessness levels are far too high and that this can have a devastating impact on those involved, as well as placing financial strain on councils. Local authorities have reported the costs of providing temporary accommodation for 2023/24. This information is available at the ‘Revenue outturn housing services (RO4)’ tables at Local authority revenue expenditure and financing England: 2023 to 2024 individual local authority data - outturn - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
We must address homelessness levels and deliver long term solutions. The Government will look at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross-government strategy, working with mayors, councils and key stakeholders across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness once and for all.
More widely, we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness. This includes delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, building 1.5 million new homes over the next Parliament, and abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions which will prevent private renters being exploited and discriminated against and empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases. The Government has also confirmed £450 million for a third round of the Local Authority Housing Fund which will support local authorities to obtain better quality temporary accommodation for homeless families.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her Department's timetable is for (a) establishing and (b) the first meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping; and how frequently she expects that group to meet.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for cross-governmental coordination of policy to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping and will update in due course.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to set a date to commence Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 to enforce safe access zones outside abortion clinics.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We are committed to commencing Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 as soon as possible. Protecting women’s rights is a priority for this government, and it is vital that anyone exercising their legal right to access abortion services is free from harassment and intimidation.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an estimate of the potential costs to local authorities of providing temporary accommodation in line with their their homelessness relief duties in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government recognises that homelessness levels are far too high and that this can have a devastating impact on those involved, as well as placing financial strain on councils. Local authorities have reported the costs of providing temporary accommodation for 2023/24. This information is available at the ‘Revenue outturn housing services (RO4)’ tables at: Local authority revenue expenditure and financing England: 2023 to 2024 individual local authority data - outturn - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 holding the inaugural meeting of the inter-ministerial group on homelessness; and how frequently that group will meet.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for cross-governmental coordination of policy to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping and will update in due course.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has consulted children and young people on the plan for those in school with SEND.
Answered by David Johnston
The consultation on the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) Green Paper ran from 29 March to 22 July 2022. During this time, the department received around 6,000 responses to the online consultation and delivered 175 consultation events hearing from over 4,500 people.
The department designed specific consultation questions for children and young people and consulted children and young people at a significant number of consultation events. Specific consultation events were also delivered with stakeholders such as the Council for Disabled Children’s Friendship, Learning, Achieve, Reach and Empower (FLARE) children and young people’s group to ensure their views were captured in the consultation feedback.
The department continues to engage with children, young people and their families, including stakeholders such as FLARE and the National Network of Parent Carer Forums, as it designs and tests reforms through the Change Programme. This will ensure a wide range of perspectives are considered to improve the outcomes and experiences of children and young people with SEND and in AP.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve rates of retention in HIV care among (a) Black African women, (b) Black Caribbean women, (c) White women and (d) women of other ethnicities.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach to drive forward progress and achieve our goal of ending new human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) transmissions, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including through testing, and high-quality care for those with a positive HIV status.
While the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant drop in HIV testing, we are pleased that services are recovering, and testing rates among gay and bisexual men are now at the highest level on record, with a 23% increase from 2019 to 2022. However, more progress is needed across all groups, which we are targeting through various initiatives.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department funds the HIV Prevention Programme, which annually runs a National HIV Testing Week (NHTW) campaign to encourage those in underrepresented groups, such as women and black ethnic groups, to test for HIV. In 2023, we introduced the self-testing option, which we know is very popular with harder to reach groups. During the 2024 NHTW campaign, self-testing orders from black African women nearly doubled when compared with 2023, and orders of these kits by heterosexual women increased by 39%.
The introduction of opt-out testing for HIV in emergency departments, in the areas with extremely high diagnosed HIV prevalence, is also a crucial strategy to help us identify those living with undiagnosed or untreated HIV. By normalising testing as part of an emergency department attendance when blood is drawn, we help reach communities that are currently underserved by testing opportunities, such as black African and black Caribbean ethnic groups and women, and reduce the number of people presenting with a late HIV diagnosis.
A subgroup of the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group (ISG), the Retention and Re-engagement in Care Task and Finish Group, is providing advice on increasing the number of people retained and re-engaged in care and receiving effective medical care, in particularly considering women and other groups disproportionally affected by HIV, which will be reviewed by the ISG in due course.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure that HIV testing rates among women (a) return to and (b) exceed pre covid-19 levels.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach to drive forward progress and achieve our goal of ending new human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) transmissions, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including through testing, and high-quality care for those with a positive HIV status.
While the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant drop in HIV testing, we are pleased that services are recovering, and testing rates among gay and bisexual men are now at the highest level on record, with a 23% increase from 2019 to 2022. However, more progress is needed across all groups, which we are targeting through various initiatives.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department funds the HIV Prevention Programme, which annually runs a National HIV Testing Week (NHTW) campaign to encourage those in underrepresented groups, such as women and black ethnic groups, to test for HIV. In 2023, we introduced the self-testing option, which we know is very popular with harder to reach groups. During the 2024 NHTW campaign, self-testing orders from black African women nearly doubled when compared with 2023, and orders of these kits by heterosexual women increased by 39%.
The introduction of opt-out testing for HIV in emergency departments, in the areas with extremely high diagnosed HIV prevalence, is also a crucial strategy to help us identify those living with undiagnosed or untreated HIV. By normalising testing as part of an emergency department attendance when blood is drawn, we help reach communities that are currently underserved by testing opportunities, such as black African and black Caribbean ethnic groups and women, and reduce the number of people presenting with a late HIV diagnosis.
A subgroup of the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group (ISG), the Retention and Re-engagement in Care Task and Finish Group, is providing advice on increasing the number of people retained and re-engaged in care and receiving effective medical care, in particularly considering women and other groups disproportionally affected by HIV, which will be reviewed by the ISG in due course.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the (a) outcomes and (b) experiences of women with HIV; and what steps she plans to take to reflect those in the next HIV action plan.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Government is committed to ensuring everyone benefits equally from progress on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), including women, as set out in our HIV Action Plan. In collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency, we are continuing to monitor the experiences of people living with HIV within the health and social care system, as well as within community settings, via the Positive Voices survey. Data from the latest Positive Voices report, published in January 2024, revealed that HIV treatment and care service provision has continued to be highly rated and equitable across the country.
We are encouraged by the progress made to date by the HIV Action Plan, driven by excellent leadership and joint efforts with partners across the system. We will be working closely together with our HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group partners and other key stakeholders, to understand the data trends and agree on the most effective strategies to continue driving our way forward. We will be considering and sharing next steps for the HIV Action Plan shortly.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, which topics she has approved for sustained monitoring by the National Security Online Information Team.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
NSOIT remit and function is to tackle the greatest national security risks facing the UK from mis and disinformation. It is specifically tasked with looking at threats posed by foreign states, risks to elections and understanding how AI and deepfakes can be used by hostile actors to spread mis and disinformation narratives which are aimed at UK audiences. This remit is kept under regular review.