Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending the Warm Homes Discount to households in receipt of means-tested benefits on people receiving those benefits.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We have recently consulted on the expansion of the Warm Home Discount, giving more eligible households £150 off their energy bills. These proposals would end the use of the property high cost to heat threshold, making all energy billpayers who are on a qualifying means tested benefit eligible for the Discount. This would bring around 2.7 million households on a qualifying means-tested benefit into the scheme – pushing the total number of households that would receive the discount next winter up to around 6 million. The consultation closed on 24 March, DESNZ has considered the responses and a Government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on improving neighbourhood policing in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to strong neighbourhood policing for everyone in England and Wales, no matter where they live.
As the Prime Minister announced on 10 April, by July, every community will have named, and contactable officers dedicated to addressing the issues facing their communities as part of the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.
We are providing £200 million to police forces in financial year 2025/26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel.
The Metropolitan Police has been allocated £45,639,456 from the £200 million fund for 2025/26. Based on their funding allocation, the projected growth for neighbourhood officers in the Metropolitan Police over 2025/26 will be 420 (FTE) police officers and 50 (FTE) Police Community Support Officers.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle (a) shoplifting and (b) violence against shopworkers (i) in Beckenham and Penge constituency and (ii) nationally.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is committed to tackling retail crime and is absolutely clear that everybody has a right to feel safe at their place of work. Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced a standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.
The Bill will also repeal existing legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, which means it can only be tried in a magistrate’s court. This will send a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.
We will provide £5 million over the next three years to continue to fund a specialist analysis team within Opal, the national policing intelligence unit for serious, organised acquisitive crime.
We will also invest £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other to prevent and combat crime.
Further, the National Police Chiefs' Council will receive funding to give further training to police and retailers on prevention tactics. The training will aim to empower retailers to develop and implement tactics to prevent retail crime across all of the UK.
I speak regularly with representatives of the retail sector and chair the Retail Crime Forum which brings together policing and industry to discuss practical ways to work together to tackle retail crime.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support victims of the Windrush scandal.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This government is determined to put right the appalling injustices caused by the Home Office’s treatment of members of the Windrush community, making sure that those affected receive the compensation they deserve quickly and ensuring cultural change is embedded permanently into the fabric of the department.
We are committed to engaging directly with the communities most affected to understand their views and priorities, and to ensure their voices are heard. Both I and the Home Secretary have met, and will continue to listen to, those directly affected by the scandal and representatives of groups advocating for them.
In February, we launched the recruitment for a Windrush Commissioner, which marks a vital step in resetting the government’s response to the Home Office Windrush scandal. The Commissioner will serve as an independent advocate for those affected, assure delivery of the Windrush Compensation Scheme and hold the department to account as we learn the lessons of the past to drive improvements. The immediate priority is to appoint the right person into the role and ensure they engage swiftly with impacted communities to truly understand what they need and identify how the Commissioner can deliver meaningful change through their role.
We have injected £1.5 into a programme of grant funding for organisations to provide support for Compensation Scheme applicants who need additional help with the application process, ensuring claimants feel supported. We invited applications for funding on 11th April 2025, with successful organisations expected to be announced by summer 2025.
Financial compensation cannot make up for what has been lost but we are committed to giving the maximum amount at the earliest point possible and doing so with compassion and understanding.
This is why we introduced a new single named caseworker process in July so the individuals who apply for compensation are better supported and have increased transparency on the progress of their claim. The time taken to allocate claims has also been reduced significantly, down to six weeks from 3 months a year ago. The time taken to finalise a claim has similarly reduced significantly now down to approximately 3 months compared to 6-7 months a year ago.
We also have a dedicated Vulnerable Persons Team who provide trusted help and advice to vulnerable people in urgent need. The Vulnerable Persons Team also administers the Urgent and Exceptional Payments policy, which provides immediate financial support to people in urgent need.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to use technology to improve school standards.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Technology is at the centre of mission-led government and our Plan for Change. The government is using the combined power of data, digital services and technology to modernise our education system, back our teachers and deliver for our children across the country.
We are investing £25 million in upgrading wireless networks in schools through our Connect the Classroom programme next year, which will enable thousands more children to get online at school.
We have published digital and technology standards to help schools and colleges make better decisions about technology, leading to safer, more cost-efficient practices and new learning opportunities for students.
Our new service ‘Plan technology for your school’ will cut time and money spent on buying tech, helping leaders navigate an often-complex market and ensuring every penny spent will mean better standards for pupils and teachers. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-technology-for-your-school.
The department is supporting teachers to use technology well. All new teachers will be trained on the effective use of assistive technology to support children with special educational needs and disabilities.
The EdTech Evidence Board pilot will explore how we build evidence of artificial intelligence products that work well, helping education settings choose products that work well for them and their classrooms.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve mental health support in schools in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) other areas.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people, including those in Beckenham and Penge. This is critical to high and rising standards in schools and breaking down barriers to opportunity, helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.
The government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. On 16 May, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced that an additional 900,000 pupils in schools and learners in further education in England will be covered by an MHST over the next year, taking the total number of pupils covered by teams to around 60%. In Bromley local authority, 66% of pupils/learners and 55% of schools/colleges are supported by an MHST, as at end 2024/25, compared to 52% and 41% nationally, respectively.
The government 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, such as a resource hub for mental health leads and a toolkit to help schools choose evidence-based early support for pupils.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent progress he has made on establishing an infected blood compensation scheme.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Infected Blood Compensation Scheme is now established in law, the regulations having been approved by Parliament in March. The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) began compensation payments to people who are infected in December last year. As of 20 May, IBCA has contacted 1,033 people to begin a claim for compensation and has made offers to 236 people, totalling over £206 million. IBCA’s aim is that all registered infected people will have been contacted to start their claim by the end of this year.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support local authorities to ensure that children in foster care arrangements are placed in a suitable home.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is supporting local authorities to recruit and retain more foster carers so that councils can find more suitable foster homes, resulting in greater choice for better placement matching for the children in their care. Currently, there are 10 fostering regional programmes active across England, collaborating with 64% of all local authorities to recruit and retain foster carers who will provide loving homes local to the children who need them.
As part of children’s social care reform, we are providing £15 million of funding in 2025/26 to recruit and retain more foster carers. We will also provide an additional £25 million for fostering covering the 2026/27 and 2027/28 financial years. As part of this model, we are supporting foster carers and children by expanding ‘The Mockingbird Family Model’. Evaluation shows that Mockingbird improves carer retention, meaning that local authorities have a greater number of suitable fostering places available.
In addition, the department funds ‘Fosterlink’, a diagnostic support service for local authority fostering services, which reviews current processes to identify areas for service and practice improvements to support recruitment and retention. The department is also continuing to fund ‘Fosterline’, a free helpline service for current and prospective foster carers.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support shared ownership leaseholders who are unable to sell their homes as a result of changes to lease terms following the implementation of the Building Safety Act 2022.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Safety Act ensures that those who built defective buildings take responsibility for remedying them; that the industry contributes to fixing the problem; and that leaseholders are protected in law from crippling bills for historical safety defects.
For shared owners, Schedule 8, paragraph 6(5) of the Building Safety Act provides that any contributions required towards remediation costs are capped according to the size of the share they own at the time their lease became qualified for the protections. This position does not change should a shared owner later increase their share by staircasing, including up to 100%.
The government has also introduced guidance to support shared owners who continue to face challenges due to building safety issues, including that requests to sub-let should always be accepted by registered providers of social housing in England (though where required, shared owners may also need permission from their mortgage lender and/or the building’s freeholder).
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department has taken to encourage small businesses to export in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is committed to supporting UK businesses, including those in the Beckenham and Penge constituency, to grow and export.
Under the umbrella of the recently announced Business Growth Service, UK businesses can access DBT’s wealth of export support via Great.gov.uk. This comprises an online support offer and a wider network of support including the Export Academy, UK Export Finance and the International Markets network.
We are targeting market access barriers in priority markets to open more opportunities for UK exporters and are looking at further proposals to help UK businesses to export more.