Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to announce the ten pilot areas for the Kinship Care Allowance.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children, and the role local authorities have in supporting them.
The government has recently announced a £40 million package to trial a new Kinship Allowance in up to ten local authorities, to test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of supporting the child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends.
The department will share further details on the process for selecting local authorities in due course.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 number of cases in which location data for out-of-area placements made while discharging a homelessness duty is (a) not recorded or (b) unknown, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected, especially children. Too many families are spending years in temporary accommodation, at a point in a child’s life when they need space to play and develop, nutritious food to thrive and access to education.
We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Government is looking at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness once and for all. This includes a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, bringing together ministers from across government.
More widely, we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness by delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and building 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament. The government is also abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, preventing private renters being exploited and discriminated against, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.
We are already taking the first steps to get back on track to ending homelessness. As announced at the Budget, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 25/26. Allocations for individual local authorities in England will be set out later in December.
The department regularly collects homelessness data, including on out of area placements, which can be found here in table TA 1 and are published quarterly: Statutory homelessness in England: April to June 2024 - GOV.UK. Records on the location of accommodation where accommodation is secured to end the prevention or relief duties, including where that accommodation is out of area, are published annually and can be found in tables P4 and R4 here: Detailed_LA_20232024.xlsx.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the non-standard occupation groups in his Department are.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Ministry of Defence (MOD) Non-Standard Occupational Groups (NSOG) are groups of staff for whom some aspects of their terms and conditions of service are different from the MOD broader-banded grade structure as aligned to civil service standard grades i.e. the core civilian workforce in Defence. NSOG groups are distinguished because they have an analogue link to an outside counterpart and their pay and other terms and conditions of service are either directly linked or influenced by their outside public sector comparator grade.
The MOD has five main NSOG groups:
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question12278 on Rolling Stock, whether a rolling stock strategy will be published before the establishment of Great British Railways.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport is developing a Rolling Stock Strategy. This will align with the wider objectives of the industry in ending the current variability in production rates and ensuring a stable pipeline of work for the rolling stock supply chain.
Once established, Great British Railways will take the strategy forward providing a long-term approach to future rolling stock needs and helping to secure better value from the private rolling stock market.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she plans to convene the next meeting of the Department for Transport’s Freight Council.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Our ambition is for the Freight Council to bring leaders from the freight and logistics sector together with government to agree priorities and actions, so that freight plays its full part in growing our economy. We have been considering the best Council format to achieve this and will confirm this in due course.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate she has made of the prison maintenance backlog.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We will shortly be publishing an ad-hoc report on the prison estate conditions survey, which will contain information on the maintenance implications.
HMPPS is investing up to £220 million on maintenance this financial year 2024/25. We will continue to invest in the HMPPS estate in 2025-26, up to £300 million on maintenance to keep prisons safe and secure.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance her Department issues on the powers available to (a) local authorities and (b) the police to (i) remove and (ii) seize a vehicle parked on a public highway that does not have valid insurance.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government takes uninsured driving very seriously and is determined to see a reduction in this offence. Since 2005, the police have had the power to seize vehicles that are being driven without insurance and as of 2020, two million vehicles had been seized in Great Britain. We do not currently issue guidance on vehicle seizure for vehicles without insurance.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance her Department issues on the powers available to (a) local authorities and (b) the police to (i) remove and (ii) seize a vehicle parked on a public highway that does not have a valid MOT.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not issue such guidance. The police can check if a vehicle has a valid MOT by using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and conducting random stops, and they are able to seize a vehicle without a valid MOT. Local authorities already have parking enforcement powers and can remove vehicles parked illegally, and many also enable the public to report vehicles without valid MOTs online.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2024 to Question 13192 on Homelessness, if she will publish her letter of 11 November 2024 addressed to all local authority Chief Executives in England about out-of-area accommodation placements.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As set out in my answer to Question UIN 13192, on 11 November 2024 the Deputy Prime Minister wrote to all local authority Chief Executives in England about out-of-area accommodation placements, including temporary accommodation and housing offers to end a homelessness duty.
The letter referred to section 208 of the Housing Act 1996, reminding local authorities that they are required by law to notify the receiving local authority of any out-of-area placement and that this should be happening in every case. It also highlighted the importance of considering safeguarding arrangements when placing households out of area, including relevant consultation with Children’s Services. The letter requested that Chief Executives personally assure themselves that these notifications are happening.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates courts closed in each year since 2010.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
The table below shows the number of Magistrates’ Courts that have permanently closed in each financial year (FY) since 2010/11. The figures do not include integrations, where workload remained in the local area by transferring to a building in close proximity, or courts that are temporarily closed.
Financial Year | Magistrates' Courts closed |
2010/11 | 1 |
2011/12 | 84 |
2012/13 | 5 |
2013/14 | 4 |
2014/15 | 5 |
2015/16 | 6 |
2016/17 | 40 |
2017/18 | 12 |
2018/19 | 4 |
2019/20 | 4 |
2020/21 | 0 |
2021/22 | 0 |
2022/23 | 0 |
2023/24 | 0 |
2024/25 | 0 |