James Frith

Since its introduction in 2017, the Plug-in Taxi Grant (PiTG) has provided more than £70m to support the purchase of over 11,000 zero emission cabs. The grant is currently funded until at least the end of this financial year.

Since its introduction in 2017, the Plug-in Taxi Grant (PiTG) has provided more than £70m to support the purchase of over 11,000 zero emission cabs. The grant is currently funded until at least the end of this financial year.

We want to fix the fundamentals of the social security system so that people are not reliant on crisis support for the cost of essentials. To support the upcoming Child Poverty Strategy, we will continue to provide substantial funding to Local Authorities to support those most in need.

That is why the Government is extending the Household Support Fund (HSF) by a further year, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026. This will ensure low-income households can continue to access support towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water.

We recognise that certainty helps Local Authorities to design and deliver sustainable plans for local welfare assistance. Committing to funding the Household Support Fund until 31 March 2026 will allow them to plan their approach with greater confidence.

As with all other government programmes, further funding will be considered in the round at Phase 2 of the Spending Review.

We published the framework ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy’ on 23 October and will explore all available levers to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change.

The Child Poverty Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, which includes considering social security reforms, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Strategy in Spring 2025.

We want a society where every person, their families, and carers, receive high-quality, compassionate care, from diagnosis through to end of life. The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure that patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and palliative and end of life care, including hospices, will have a big role to play in that shift.

Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission and a top priority for the Government. We have committed to achieving the National Health Service’s constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by the end of this Parliament. Whilst our focus is on achieving this constitutional standard, it is unacceptable that patients are waiting over a year for care. Therefore, the Government will continue to review and treat the patients who have waited the longest for treatment as well as monitoring progress on the 18-week standard. Tackling the longest waits will be a key part of achieving our commitment.

The Department and NHS England use a range of data metrics to assess elective waiting lists. This is supported by the publication of monthly statistics that include the number of incomplete patient pathways and time spent on the waiting list, as well as average wait times, measured as the median wait time for incomplete patient pathways. This monthly publication is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/rtt-data-2024-25/

The Foreign Secretary met with Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on 4 September to discuss a range of key issues, including Pakistan's domestic political situation. We have consistently urged the Pakistani authorities to demonstrate their democratic credentials by acting in line with their international obligations and with respect for fundamental freedoms, including the right to a fair trial for all its citizens.

The Government is committed to ensuring workers in the creative industries have immigration routes that work for them. The United Kingdom has an excellent immigration offer for workers within the creative industries and we continually keep our policies under review.

Border Force officers are trained to the highest of standards to be able to carry out their role to enforce immigration policy at the border. Officers undergo several weeks of training prior to taking up their role at the primary control point, within which they are trained on all manners of immigration law and policy, including entry to the UK for creative workers.

Throughout that training, officers are continually tested to ensure they have the required skills and knowledge to carry out their role. Their skills and knowledge are then continually tested throughout their career on all aspects of immigration policy.

To qualify for entry in this category, a passenger has to meet the following criteria:

• Having a valid Temporary Work - Creative Worker certificate of sponsorship (CoS).
• Coming to work in the UK for 3 months or less.
• Not normally needing a visa to enter the UK as a visitor.

Further information on how individuals can qualify to enter the UK under this category can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/creative-worker-visa/creative-worker-concession.

Border Force officers are trained to the highest of standards to be able to carry out their role to enforce immigration policy at the border. Officers undergo several weeks of training prior to taking up their role at the primary control point, within which they are trained on all manners of immigration law and policy, including entry to the UK for creative workers.

Throughout that training, officers are continually tested to ensure they have the required skills and knowledge to carry out their role. Their skills and knowledge are then continually tested throughout their career on all aspects of immigration policy.

To qualify for entry in this category, a passenger has to meet the following criteria:

• Having a valid Temporary Work - Creative Worker certificate of sponsorship (CoS).
• Coming to work in the UK for 3 months or less.
• Not normally needing a visa to enter the UK as a visitor.

Further information on how individuals can qualify to enter the UK under this category can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/creative-worker-visa/creative-worker-concession.

The Ministry of Justice routinely publishes data in the proven reoffending quarterly statistics on the proportion of offenders serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences who reoffend. Figures can be found in Table C2a: proven-reoffending-oct22-dec22-3-monthly.ods.

I have provided figures from the latest publication on the last four quarters of available data:

The Government’s absolute focus is on public protection. Offenders on licence can be swiftly recalled to prison if they breach their licence conditions. The recall of an offender to custody is an important public protection measure, and successive thematic reviews conducted by HM Chief Inspector of Probation have found that the Probation Service is using recall appropriately.

Additionally, HMPPS has issued guidance to probation practitioners, to ensure all safe alternatives to recall are considered before a decision is taken to recall an offender.

It is right that Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences were abolished. We are committed to working at pace to support the progression of all those serving the IPP sentence, but not in a way that undermines public protection.

We are committed to improving outcomes for offenders with mental health needs, including IPP prisoners, and recognise the importance of providing the right interventions at the right time.

This is reflected in the National Partnership Agreement on Health and Social Care in England which was published in 2023 and which sets out a shared priority workplan to deliver safe, decent and effective care for offenders in prison and the community.

Health and justice partners have committed to providing an equivalent standard, range and quality of healthcare in prisons to that available in the community. If a prisoner has a severe mental health need to an extent that detention under the Mental Health Act 1983 may be appropriate, they will be referred and assessed by qualified clinicians to determine whether to transfer to a mental health hospital is warranted.

Effective reintegration of prison leavers is a core part of our efforts to reduce reoffending, as it aims to ensure that the elements proven to reduce reoffending are in place when an offender leaves prison.

This includes making sure someone has a home, family links where appropriate, access to healthcare, a job or further education, and/or access to benefits. For example, to support a smoother transition into the community, we are delivering our temporary accommodation service so all offenders leaving prison at risk of homelessness are offered up to 12 weeks of accommodation to provide a stable base on release. To help ensure prisoners are matched to jobs on release, Prison Employment Leads, Employment Hubs, ID and Banking Administrators and Employment Advisory Boards are in every resettlement prison.

We will also ensure that pre-release plans are created for those leaving custody, to ensure their needs are identified early, and individual robust plans are in place to address resettlement needs.

It is right that Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences were abolished. We supported reforms to the IPP licence in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 in opposition. They commenced on 1 November, which terminated the licence for around 1,800 IPP offenders in the community. The remaining reforms will be implemented on 1 February 2025.

The Government is determined to make further progress to support those serving the IPP sentence towards a safe and sustainable release, but not in a way that compromises public protection.