Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to support research to develop an early-diagnosis test for Lyme disease infection.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR is not currently funding any research on early diagnostic tests for Lyme disease. The NIHR welcomes research proposals on Lyme disease and diagnostics.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to build affordable homes for young people.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At Spring statement, the government announced an immediate injection of £2 billion to support delivery of the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and contribute to our ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in this Parliament. Further detail can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 25 March 2025 (HCWS549).
The investment made at Spring statement follows the £800 million in new in-year funding which has been made available for the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme and that will support the delivery of up to 7,800 new homes, with more than half of them being Social Rent homes.
We will set out set details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for social rent.
Homes England and GLA will assess bids received in the usual way before awarding funding. Exact funding to different places and the locations of homes that will be built will depend on the bids received from local councils and housing associations.
Local authorities are responsible for their own allocation scheme for social housing within the framework of legislation. By law, people who are homeless must be given ‘reasonable preference’ (priority) and local authorities can give ‘additional preference’ (high priority) to those who have urgent housing needs.
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that local planning authorities should assess the size, types and tenure of housing needed for different groups, including disabled people, and to reflect this in their planning policies. My Department has set out guidance for councils in preparing planning policies on housing for disabled people. This can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the merits of placing job centre staff in supported housing sites.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Jobcentre staff provide outreach in a range of community and service settings. This is a valuable way of reaching people who experience difficulties accessing support and promotes partnership working to benefit our customers.
Co-location planning between jobcentres and partners such as housing providers is place-based according to local needs and circumstances. This type of joint working will be strengthened by the localised approach of our plan to Get Britain Working.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
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 merits of reviewing how student loans for maintenance are taken into account when calculating Universal Credit entitlement.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made.
The primary source of financial support for students must come from the system of student loans and grants designed for their needs. Where a student can acquire a maintenance loan (whether applied for or not) the amount will be considered as income in Universal Credit (UC) and will be taken into account when calculating the overall UC entitlement.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many youth centres were closed in England between 2010 and 2024.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS does not hold the data requested. Local Authorities have a statutory duty to ‘secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people’. This is funded from the Local Government settlement, which is almost £69 billion this year (FY 25/26).
This government recognises the value of youth centres and youth services, and has committed to co-producing a new National Youth Strategy. This is an opportunity to move away from one-size-fits all approaches from central government, bringing power back to young people and their communities and rebuilding a thriving and sustainable sector. We plan to publish the strategy in the summer.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department plans to introduce a panel of independent experts to review IPP cases to advise on resentencing.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
It is right that IPP Sentences were abolished.
The Government is determined to make progress towards safe and sustainable releases for those serving the IPP sentence, but not in a way that undermines public protection. Public protection will always be the top priority.
Resentencing through legislation to give every IPP prisoner a definite release date and post-release licence would result in offenders who are in custody being released irrespective of their remaining risk. This would be the case even where the independent Parole Board had determined, in many cases repeatedly, that they are too dangerous to be released. This would pose an unacceptable level of risk to victims and the public. For that reason, we are firmly of the view that those serving the IPP sentence in prison must satisfy the statutory release test before they are released.
The Justice Committee and various organisations have considered resentencing. None have identified an approach that would not involve too great a risk to the public. The Government also does not wish to give false hope to those serving the sentence by establishing an expert panel.
We do not therefore intend to undertake a resentencing exercise or set up an expert panel to advise on resentencing.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
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 hold discussions with local authorities on increasing the provision of furniture for (a) vulnerable people, (b) families with young children and (c) people who have escaped domestic violence living in social rented accommodation.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department holds discussions with local authorities on a wide range of issues, including how to improve housing quality in the social rented sector. We will be consulting later this year on a reformed Decent Homes Standard.
In relation to furniture provision, local authorities may be able to provide support through the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally. The Deputy Prime Minister is also part of the ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, which is considering the impacts of living in poor quality housing on children.
In relation to those who are victims of domestic abuse and need to flee their homes, local authorities also have a statutory duty to assess the need for and provide appropriate support in safe accommodation. Such emergency domestic abuse safe accommodation is furnished, and workers would provide support for victims, including help with finding appropriate and safe longer-term housing, and sources of financial support to furnish that home if needed.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
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 amending the Decent Homes Stand to ensure at least 10% of social rent homes are offered as furnished.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government will consult this year on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sectors.
The Deputy Prime Minister is part of the ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, which is aiming to publish a Child Poverty Strategy. As part of the development of the strategy, the Taskforce is considering the impacts of living in poor quality housing.
People in need may be able to get help for essential furniture from their local council through the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that all new social housing developments include a proportion of homes to be let as furnished.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government will consult this year on a reformed Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sectors.
The Deputy Prime Minister is part of the ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, which is aiming to publish a Child Poverty Strategy. As part of the development of the strategy, the Taskforce is considering the impacts of living in poor quality housing.
People in need may be able to get help for essential furniture from their local council through the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of when the NHS will be meet its target of 92% of people waiting for elective mental health treatment waiting no longer than 18 weeks from referral to their first treatment.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The overall elective waiting list stands at 7.48 million patient pathways, with over six million people waiting. We are committed to putting patients first, making sure that patients are seen on time and ensuring that people have the best possible experience during their care.
As set out in the Government’s Plan for Change, we will ensure that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015. This includes those patients waiting for mental health services where a referral is made to a medical consultant-led mental health service. The majority of National Health Service mental health care is outside the scope of the elective waiting list and the referral to treatment 18-week constitutional standard.
We know that too many people with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they need, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure that mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it. We will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, which will also help ease pressure on hospitals.
The NHS Planning Guidance 2025/26 includes objectives to increase the number of children and young people accessing services to achieve the national ambition for 345,000 additional children and young people aged zero to 25 years old compared to 2019, and to reduce 12 hour accident and emergency waits. We will also ensure every young person has access to a mental health professional at school, and will set up Young Futures hubs in communities, offering open access mental health services for young people.