Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department will replace cash payments for the Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We will be reviewing the responses people have made to the previous government's consultation on Personal Independence Payment, which closed on Monday 22 July.
The proposals in this Green Paper were developed by the previous government. We will be considering our own approach to social security in due course.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to regulate (a) ground rent and (b) service charges on residential buildings.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government will act quickly to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes by implementing the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, including those designed to increase service charge transparency.
Over the course of this Parliament, the Government will further reform the leasehold system. We will enact the remaining Law Commission recommendations relating to enfranchisement and the Right to Manage, tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, reinvigorate commonhold through a comprehensive new legal framework, and ban the sale of new leasehold flats so commonhold becomes the default tenure.
The Government has made clear it intends to publish draft legislation on leasehold and commonhold reform in this session so that it may be subject to broad consultation and additional parliamentary scrutiny.
We will announce further details in due course.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
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 publish a timeline for enacting the Law Commission’s recommendations on enfranchisement, commonhold and the right to manage.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government will act quickly to provide homeowners with greater rights, powers, and protections over their homes by implementing the provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, including those designed to increase service charge transparency.
Over the course of this Parliament, the Government will further reform the leasehold system. We will enact the remaining Law Commission recommendations relating to enfranchisement and the Right to Manage, tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, reinvigorate commonhold through a comprehensive new legal framework, and ban the sale of new leasehold flats so commonhold becomes the default tenure.
The Government has made clear it intends to publish draft legislation on leasehold and commonhold reform in this session so that it may be subject to broad consultation and additional parliamentary scrutiny.
We will announce further details in due course.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help protect teachers from assaults by (a) pupils and (b) parents.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
No teacher should feel unsafe or face violence or abuse in the workplace. The department will always support teachers to ensure they can work in safe and calm classrooms. All school employers, including trusts, have a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees.
Every pupil deserves to learn and staff deserve to work in safe, calm classrooms. The government will back schools in delivering this.
The government is determined to understand the causes of poor behaviour. The department has already committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school, and ensuring earlier intervention in mainstream schools for pupils with special needs.
Since 2021, the Behaviour Hubs programme has also offered support to schools that want to improve pupil behaviour and create calm, safe and supportive environments.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to monitor the potential impact of the ban on puberty blockers on (a) the mental health and (b) suicide rates among trans patients under the age of 18.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The emergency banning order, restricting the sale or supply of puberty blockers, was introduced by the previous government. The Order enables those who were already on a course of treatment with Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues, before 3 June 2024 from a UK based private or National Health Service provider, to continue to have them supplied. Those who were already on a course of treatment prescribed by an EEA or Switzerland-registered prescriber can legally switch to a UK based prescriber to continue their treatment.
We will continue to monitor the impact of the emergency order, including on mental health and suicide. All child deaths undergo a multi-agency review by a Child Death Overview Panel and that information is reported to the National Child Mortality Database. There is a monthly exercise by NHS officials to check the waiting list against NHS records to identify any deaths.
Professor Louis Appleby, Chair of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group, has examined evidence for a large rise in suicides claimed by campaigners. His paper, which was published on 19 July 2024, concluded that the data does not support the claim that there has been a large rise in suicide in young gender dysphoria patients at the Tavistock clinic.
This government has committed to implementing the expert recommendations of the Cass Review to ensure that young people presenting to the NHS with gender dysphoria are receiving appropriate and high-quality care. That is why NHS England and the National Institue of Health and Care Research – the research arm of the department – are working together to commission a study into the potential benefits and harms of puberty suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence. The study team is now in place and are finalising their application for funding which will be assessed by an independent scientific review study ahead of the commencement of wider approvals, including ethics, and set up.
Children and young people who are unable to access puberty blockers when they have previously done so are strongly advised to meet with their clinician. We expect clinicians to be working with impacted patients to consider what the best care for them is going forward. We understand some children and young people may be concerned or distressed by the changes. If they are already under the care of a Children and Young People’s mental health provider or Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, they can contact their team for advice. If they are not, their general practice team will be able to assess whether further referrals for mental health support are required.
Professor Appleby’s paper is available at the following link:
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the ban on puberty blockers on the mental health of trans patients under the age of 18.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The emergency banning Order, restricting the sale or supply of puberty blockers, was introduced by the previous Government. The Order enables those who were already on a course of treatment with Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues, before 3 June 2024 from a UK based private or National Health Service provider, to continue to have them supplied. Those who were already on a course of treatment prescribed by an EEA or Switzerland registered prescriber can legally switch to a UK based prescriber to continue their treatment.
The expert Cass Review, which is one of the most comprehensive reviews of gender identity services for children and young people to date, states that the rationale for early puberty suppressing hormones to treat gender dysphoria is unclear and the effects on cognitive and psychosexual development are unknown. This Government will always act in the interests of patient safety, which is why the Secretary of State signalled his intention to renew the Order and consult on a permanent ban (subject to the outcome of the ongoing judicial review).
We are committed to implementing the recommendations of the Cass Review to ensure that young people presenting to the NHS with gender dysphoria are receiving appropriate and high-quality care. That is why NHS England and the National Institute of Health and Care Research, the research arm of the Department, are working together to commission a study into the potential benefits and harms of puberty suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence. The study team is now in place and are finalising their application for funding which will be assessed by an independent scientific review study ahead of the commencement of wider approvals, including ethics, and set up.
We will continue to monitor the impacts of the Order, including on mental health. Professor Louis Appleby, Chair of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group, has examined evidence for a large rise in suicides claimed by campaigners. His paper, which was published on 19 July 2024, concluded that the data do not support the claim that there has been a large rise in suicide in young gender dysphoria patients at the Tavistock clinic.
Some children and young people may be concerned by these changes. If they are already under the care of a Children and Young People’s mental health provider or the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, they can contact their team for advice. If they are not, their general practice team will be able to assess whether further referrals for mental health support are required. Patients can also be signposted to the advice on getting mental health support available on the NHS.UK website. Anyone in need of urgent support can contact NHS 111 and choose the mental health option, option two. Further details are available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/mental-health-services/where-to-get-urgent-help-for-mental-health/
Professor Appleby’s paper is available at the following link:
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish legal advice obtained under the previous Government on its decision to challenge the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction on Israeli military action in Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, he is not able to look back on advice made available to previous Government Ministers. As was announced on 26 July, the Government will not be submitting observations to the ICC, in line with its position that this is a matter for the Court to decide on.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
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 timescales are for banning new leasehold flats and ensuring that commonhold is the default tenure.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to bringing the feudal leasehold system to an end.
As part of that commitment, we intend to reinvigorate commonhold through a comprehensive new legal framework and ban the sale of new leasehold flats so commonhold becomes the default tenure.
As set out in the King’s Speech, draft legislation will be published on leasehold and commonhold reform during this session.