Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing the separate eligibility criteria for children under three for the Blue Badge scheme.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since 17 June 2011, children under the age of three have been eligible for a Blue Badge if they fall under either or both of the following criteria:
(a) a child who, because of a condition, must always be accompanied by bulky medical equipment which cannot be carried around with the child without great difficulty
(b) a child who, because of a condition, must always be kept near a motor vehicle so that, if necessary, treatment for that condition can be given in the vehicle or the child can be taken quickly in the vehicle to a place where such treatment can be given
Whilst the Department recommends that local authorities treat each application for children under the age of three as a special case, it does not consider that there is a compelling case for giving automatic Blue Badge eligibility to disabled children below the age of three who do not meet the above criteria. In most cases, they could reasonably be carried in a pram or pushchair, in much the same way as able-bodied children of a similar age.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of asylum seekers on the safeguarding of children and young people.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
All those who claim asylum undergo a series of security checks against immigration and police databases and are screened to identify individuals who may have been involved in criminality both in the UK and outside the UK or are of national security interest. Further information regarding security checks during the asylum screening process is available in published policy guidance on GOV.UK at: Screening and routing.docx (publishing.service.gov.uk).
The Home Office takes the safety and welfare of all children extremely seriously and protecting vulnerable people is a cross-cutting departmental priority. Officials are constantly alert to any signs that a child is at risk of harm or abuse or may have been trafficked.
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, in consultation with a wide range of experts and stakeholders.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
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 21 March 2025 to Question 38045 on Councillors: Planning, if she will make it her policy to require the Mayor of London to undertake the same compulsory training on planning that will be required of councillors on a planning committee.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As set out in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, it is the intention that mayors will be required to undertake mandatory training.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the correspondence of July 2025 from the Leader of Kent County Council on visas for social care workers from overseas, if she will publish her Department's response to Kent County Council.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government does not routinely publish Ministerial correspondence.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of accommodating asylum seekers with unknown or unverifiable criminal histories on public safety.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a legal obligation to accommodate asylum seekers where they would otherwise be destitute. All asylum seekers undergo checks against policing and immigration databases.
Decisions on allocation of asylum seekers to accommodation are made with case-by-case consideration of an individual’s circumstances and needs, in line with published policy. Safeguarding and welfare remain a priority, and the Home Office works closely with statutory partners where required.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of asylum seeker hotels on (a) local crime rates and (b) police resource allocation.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The safety and wellbeing of the local communities in which asylum accommodation is located is of paramount importance. The Home Office works in collaboration with local authorities and other partners to ensure that accommodation sites are successfully managed and the impact upon the local community is minimised. Any incident relating to security or community cohesion is reported to the Home Office immediately, so any necessary changes can be made as soon as possible.
No one in the UK, including foreign nationals, asylum seekers or refugees, is above the law. Asylum seekers are clearly advised of the expectations the Home Office and accommodation providers have for them to behave responsibly while they are accommodated in Home Office properties and not to engage in any form of criminal or anti-social activity.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department records the number of repeat offenders within the asylum seeker population.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information you have requested is not available from published statistics.
The UK will always offer protection to those in genuine need, but we will not allow our asylum system to be exploited by those who commit crimes or endanger our communities.
Any Foreign National who is convicted of a crime, including those seeking asylum, are referred to the Home Office for deportation immediately following sentencing and will be excluded from protection under the Refugee Convention if they have committed a ‘particularly serious crime’ as defined in Section 72 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.
The government has also toughened the definition of a ‘particularly serious crime’ to include all sexual offence convictions that trigger notification requirements through another BSAI Bill amendment announced earlier this year. For the first time, foreign nationals on the sex offenders’ register will be automatically denied refugee status.
In the first year of this government over 35,000 individuals with no right to be here, including failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders, have already been returned - a 13% increase compared to the same period 12 months prior.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of asylum accommodation on women's safety in those communities.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The safety and wellbeing of the local communities in which asylum accommodation is located is of paramount importance. The Home Office works in collaboration with local authorities and other partners to ensure that accommodation sites are successfully managed and the impact upon the local community is minimised. Any incident relating to security or community cohesion is reported to the Home Office immediately, so any necessary changes can be made as soon as possible.
No one in the UK, including foreign nationals, asylum seekers or refugees, is above the law. Asylum seekers are clearly advised of the expectations the Home Office and accommodation providers have for them to behave responsibly while they are accommodated in Home Office properties and not to engage in any form of criminal or anti-social activity.
This Government is also delivering a cross-government transformative approach to halve violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published this year.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of using dispersal accommodation for asylum seekers on the availability of housing for British citizens.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Under the Immigration Act of 1999, any government has a legal obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.
The Home Office and its accommodation providers work closely with local authorities across the country to ensure that local context, expertise and intelligence informs decision making regarding suitability of dispersed accommodation. Full Dispersal facilitates the procurement of dispersed accommodation in a fair, balanced and controlled manner.
The Home Office remains committed to working collaboratively with local authorities to ensure that any potential impact on local communities and areas are understood and minimised.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of digital exclusion on older people’s ability to access NHS services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
People unable to access the NHS App or online services, or visit their general practice (GP) in person, can ask for a feature called proxy access available through the NHS App. This function allows a trusted relative or carer to act on the patient’s behalf and can be set up through the patient’s GP surgery, so that they can help them manage their health and care. This is done through a proxy, or linked, account. Depending on the access that the GP surgery has enabled, proxy users may be able to act for the person they support, by ordering repeat prescriptions, booking appointments, viewing test results or vaccinations, and accessing all or part of the GP health record, to help with health-related tasks and managing health issues.
While digital health tools like the NHS App offer convenience, they should be part of a wider offering that includes face-to-face support with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services.
NHS England has published a framework for National Health Service action on digital inclusion and is developing further resources to support practical actions. All programmes are actively considering how they can contribute to improvements in healthcare inequalities and digital inclusion. Digital health tools are part of a wider offering that includes face-to-face support and telephone services, with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services.
NHS England has successfully run a number of programmes to support patients, carers, and health service staff with their digital skills. These include:
- the NHS App ‘Spoken Word’ Pilot project, designed to test the efficacy of promoting NHS digital health products and services in languages other than English;
- the Digital Health Champions programme, a proof of concept to support citizens who have no or low digital skills with understanding how to access health services online; and
- the Widening Digital Participation programme, aimed to ensure more people have the digital skills, motivation, and means to access health information and services online.
GP surgeries also offer patients non-digital methods to manage their primary and secondary healthcare, and these methods usually consist of telephonic communication and letters. Patients can request a non-digital route by registering their preference with their GP surgery.