Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of assistance available to people with EWS1 forms deemed to be invalid and unacceptable by mortgage lenders.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Officials in my department have regular engagement with financial sector stakeholders. A product of this is the lenders’ statement on cladding which has signatories from ten major banks and building societies.
These lenders have committed to consider mortgage applications, even if a property has building safety issues, provided either the building has funding for works from government or the developer, or the property is protected by the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act, and the leaseholder has completed a ‘Leaseholder Deed of Certificate’ to evidence it.
The statement was further updated in April last year to confirm that even where an EWS1 has, what they consider to be, an invalid signatory, lenders will not require a wholesale review of affected EWS1s. Lenders will consider alternative evidence, for example: that a building is in a remediation scheme, a Leaseholder Deed of Certificate has been completed or a Fire Risk Appraisal of the External Wall (FRAEW) has been undertaken.
An EWS1 form is not a government, legal or regulatory requirement. Not all lenders ask for an EWS1, but whether they do, remains a commercial decision.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with UK Finance on mortgage lenders' assessments of EWS1 forms issued by Tri Fire.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Officials in my department have regular engagement with financial sector stakeholders. A product of this is the lenders’ statement on cladding which has signatories from ten major banks and building societies.
These lenders have committed to consider mortgage applications, even if a property has building safety issues, provided either the building has funding for works from government or the developer, or the property is protected by the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act, and the leaseholder has completed a ‘Leaseholder Deed of Certificate’ to evidence it.
The statement was further updated in April last year to confirm that even where an EWS1 has, what they consider to be, an invalid signatory, lenders will not require a wholesale review of affected EWS1s. Lenders will consider alternative evidence, for example: that a building is in a remediation scheme, a Leaseholder Deed of Certificate has been completed or a Fire Risk Appraisal of the External Wall (FRAEW) has been undertaken.
An EWS1 form is not a government, legal or regulatory requirement. Not all lenders ask for an EWS1, but whether they do, remains a commercial decision.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she will have with broadcasters on commissioning programmes that encourage those aged over 60 to participate in sporting activity.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, including older people, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities to stay fit and healthy.
We understand sport helps encourage people to be active and support all grassroots activity to promote this message, and help people participate in sporting activity.
All national governing bodies and UK broadcasters are operationally and editorially independent of the Government. Consequently, we do not plan to have discussions with them regarding their commissioning plans in relation to encouraging those aged over 60 to participate in sporting activity.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy for HMRC to offer payroll deduction to its employees to enable them to join a credit union.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC’s financial wellbeing offer for its workforce, aligned to the Civil Service Financial Strategy, includes access to a variety of advances including rental deposits and season ticket loans, as well as debt/budgeting advice and support through its Employee Assistance Programme.
HMRC has no current plans to introduce payroll deduction arrangements, to enable its employees to join a Credit Union. It does not hold the role of policy lead for payroll deduction schemes across government, and decisions on the merits of payroll deduction arrangements would be a matter for the relevant departments.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will ask the Chief Executive of HMRC to meet with the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence to discuss the potential merits of payroll deduction for credit union schemes.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC’s financial wellbeing offer for its workforce, aligned to the Civil Service Financial Strategy, includes access to a variety of advances including rental deposits and season ticket loans, as well as debt/budgeting advice and support through its Employee Assistance Programme.
HMRC has no current plans to introduce payroll deduction arrangements, to enable its employees to join a Credit Union. It does not hold the role of policy lead for payroll deduction schemes across government, and decisions on the merits of payroll deduction arrangements would be a matter for the relevant departments.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2026 to Question 107667, what information his Department holds on which ICB senior staff and Board members will be involved in the commissioning of neighbourhood health centres in North West London.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The selection of senior staff and board members involved in the commissioning of neighbourhood health centres will be determined by each integrated care board. As the North West and North Central London Integrated Care Boards are merging to form the West and North London Integrated Care Board from 1 April 2026, an interim structure is in place. The Chair and Chief Executive Officer have been appointed and, alongside other senior leads, will oversee commissioning of these services in accordance with forthcoming approval processes.