Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many disabled people were on the waiting list for social housing in the last 12 months.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department does not hold data on the number of disabled people on social housing registers (waiting lists).
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many foreign nationals have been granted social housing in the last year.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
People are generally eligible for social housing if they have leave to remain in the UK and have recourse to public funds. The Home Office decides whether persons from abroad have leave to remain in the UK and whether they have recourse to public funds.
Only individuals that are eligible can join housing registers and be given a social housing tenancy. For those who are eligible, housing needs will be considered on an equal basis in accordance with the relevant local authority’s housing allocation scheme.
There were 33,000 new social lettings in England to households whose lead tenant was a non-UK national in 2023/24. This constitutes 13% of all new social lettings that year (262,000 lettings). The Department does not hold data on the nationality of individual members of households in social housing, but such households can contain UK nationals as well as non-UK national lead tenants.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will introduce trauma training in nurseries and schools to support (a) children in care and (b) children who have been adopted.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Children in care and care leavers are significantly more likely to have experienced trauma and have poor mental health. The latest departmental data shows that two thirds of children become looked after due to abuse or neglect, and we know that care-experienced adults are at four to five times greater risk of suicide attempt than their peers. Knowing the significant trauma that many of these children and young people have experienced and its lasting impact, providing effective support is crucial.
To support children in care and those who have previously been in care, including children adopted from state care, Pupil Premium Plus funding of £2,630 is provided per eligible child, per year. For looked-after children, this funding is managed by the local authority’s Virtual School Head and can be used to facilitate a wide range of educational support including additional mentoring, tuition and therapeutic services. Many Virtual School Heads work closely with schools to support the implementation of whole-school, trauma-informed practice. For previously looked-after children, Pupil Premium Plus is paid to, and managed by, the child’s school and can be used to facilitate a wide range of educational support.
All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to promote the educational achievement of the children in care or previously in care on the school’s roll. Designated teachers have an important role in ensuring staff can identify signs of potential issues and understand where the school can draw on specialist services. This includes identifying signs of potential mental health issues and understanding the impact that these issues, including experiences of trauma, can have on children in care or previously in care and their ability to engage in learning.
Schools have the flexibility to decide what pastoral support they provide to best meet the individual needs of all their pupils. This includes how they approach supporting children who may be particularly vulnerable, such as those who have experienced trauma. The department recognises that many schools do use trauma informed practices as part of their approach.
To help schools support their pupils, the government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.
The department will also recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, and open new Young Futures hubs with access to mental health support workers.
To support education staff, the department provides a range of guidance and practical resources on promoting and supporting pupils’ mental health and wellbeing. For example, a resources hub for mental health leads and a toolkit to help choose evidence-based early support for pupils, which include resources on trauma.
Personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for all children to lead healthy and happy lives and is fundamental to their cognitive development. This is why PSED is one of the three prime areas of learning set out in the early years foundation stage statutory framework that all early years providers in England must follow. This statutory framework can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2.
The department’s online child development training for early years educators includes a module dedicated to supporting children’s PSED and covers attachment theory, including how trauma can impact a baby and young child’s attachment style. This training is available at: https://child-development-training.education.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been released from Nottinghamshire prisons as part of the early release scheme since July 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This Government inherited a criminal justice system in crisis, with our prisons on the brink of collapse. We took the necessary action to prevent the complete breakdown in law and order that we were facing when we were elected, by introducing the SDS40 scheme. Unlike the previous Government’s disastrous ECSL scheme, SDS40 has exclusions for domestic abuse related offences and sought to give probation as much time as possible to prepare for releases.
SDS40 applies to all prisons in England and Wales and data on early prison releases from Nottinghamshire prisons forms a subset of prison releases data which is intended for future publication. In accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, we may not give any early indication of the contents of this statistical report.
On 07 November, the Ministry of Justice published transparency data on how many offenders were released on the first days of Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 of SDS40 (1,889 prisoners on the first day of Tranche 1, and 1,223 prisoners on the first day of Tranche 2).
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disability benefit claimants will be impacted by the disability benefit reforms in Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 reduce homelessness among veterans.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 903640 on 7 April 2025.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the total cost was of providing translation services in his Department in the last year.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The amount of expenditure recorded for translation services in the 2023/24 financial year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March, is £1,699.13.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total cost was of providing translation services in her Department in the last year.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not centrally held, and could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets his Department has for staff recruitment.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office has not set diversity, equality and inclusion targets for staff recruitment, but the Civil Service is committed to representing the diversity of the UK population.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she is taking steps to reduce administrative requirements for local authorities handling the blue badge digital service.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Blue Badge Digital Service offers a national online application and badge management facility through GOV.UK. Nearly 90% of all badge applications are now made through this service.
The Department for Transport runs a programme of continuous improvement to the digital service to make online badge applications quicker and easier for applicants and local authorities, including undertaking specific research and testing to identify innovative improvements to the online application process. The service also undergoes regular accessibility and assurance testing to guarantee compliance with the Government’s digital standards.