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 provide safe accommodation for victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This government is committed to tackling violence against women and girls and supporting victims of domestic abuse.
Since 2021, local authorities in England have a duty under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 to ensure victims of domestic abuse and their children have access to support within safe accommodation. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government provides funding to local authorities to deliver this duty. For 2025-26, £160 million has been allocated, a £30 million uplift from the previous year. This revenue funding is for local authorities to commission lifesaving support for victims and their children within safe accommodation. Funding for 2026/27 onwards will be a matter for the Spending Review.
Statutory guidance to local authorities is available here providing further details on how the duty should be delivered.
The current Affordable Homes Programme for 2021-2026 includes capital funding for new supply of supported housing, including domestic abuse safe accommodation. At Spring statement, the government announced an immediate injection of £2 billion to support delivery of the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and contribute to our milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in this Parliament, including for victims of domestic abuse.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve miscarriage care (a) in general and (b) for miscarriages occurring before 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that experiencing a miscarriage can be an extremely difficult time, and we are determined to make sure all women and babies receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care, particularly when things go wrong. It is vital that women seeking support, including in early pregnancy, get the care they need.
We have launched the Baby Loss Certificate Service, which enables those who have experienced any pregnancy loss to record and receive a certificate to provide recognition of a baby loss, if they wish to do so. The Human Tissue Authority has also updated the guidance on the sensitive handling of pregnancy remains. We are continuing to work with NHS England to improve the Early Pregnancy Assessment Units’ services, by improving their availability and level of support. NHS England has also published a policy to support National Health Service employees and provide managers with advice on how to support people affected by baby loss, including paid leave.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that sports facilities funding will encourage broader participation in sports by under-represented communities in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises that sports facilities are important to communities up and down the country. High-quality, inclusive facilities help people get active. Everyone, no matter who they are or where they live, should have access to high quality facilities and opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity.
The Government has committed to continued funding for grassroots facilities. On 21 March, we announced £100 million funding to be delivered through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, supporting high-quality, inclusive facilities across the UK.
Projects are required to demonstrate how they increase access and participation levels among under-represented groups, which includes women and girls, ethnic minority groups and disabled players. From 2025/26, the Football Foundation will use learnings from the Lionesses Futures Fund to inform the minimum ‘Women and Girls’ criteria for all major capital projects, which includes reserved peak-time slots, women and girls only evenings and priority booking for women and girl’s teams.
Grassroots sport is also funded through the Government’s Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, who invest over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to sports facilities for disabled people in (a) Beckenham and Penge and (b) the UK.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone. The Government has announced a further £100 million in funding to deliver new and improved multi-sport grassroots facilities and pitches across the whole of the UK. The Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme’s aims include regular, weekly use by under-represented groups, including disabled people, so that everyone has the opportunity to participate.
Sport England, the Government’s Arm’s Length Body for grassroots sport, is committed to increasing participation in sport and physical activity for disabled people and improving their access to sport facilities. Sport England runs specific initiatives like the 'We are Undefeatable' campaign, impacting directly on disabled people, and those with a long-term health condition. Sport England also has partnerships with organisations such as Disability Rights UK, Activity Alliance, Aspire, and Sense, to help more disabled people get active.
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 mobile phone theft in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 6 February the Home Secretary brought together law enforcement and leading tech companies to drive greater collaboration in breaking the business model of mobile phone thieves.
The Summit resulted in clear commitments from attendees to work in partnership, including to significantly boost the sharing of data and intelligence on mobile phone theft, in order to build a comprehensive picture of the problem and the role of organised crime networks.
To aid police investigations and recovery of stolen goods, our Crime and Policing Bill also includes a measure to give police the power to enter and search premises for stolen property which has been electronically geolocation tracked to those premises, where it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant without seriously prejudicing the entry and search purpose.
Finally, we are committed to strengthening neighbourhood policing and through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we will place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles, to provide a more visible and effective response to the activities of mobile phone thieves operating in our communities.
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 the antisocial use of off-road bikes in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour involving vehicles is a key priority for this Government, and a central part of our Safer Streets Mission.
On 25 February 2025, the Crime and Policing Bill was introduced to Parliament. The Bill includes proposals to give the police greater powers to clamp down on all vehicles involved in anti-social behaviour, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing these vehicles.
This will allow the police to quickly remove the anti-social off-road bikes which blight our communities and send a clear message that their behaviour will not be tolerated.
However, enforcement of the law in Beckenham and Penge, including in relation to tackling antisocial use of off-road bikes, will remain an operational matter for the Metropolitan Police.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve community mental health services for young people in (a) Beckenham and Penge constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that children and young people, including in the Beckenham and Penge constituency, often face long waits for mental health support and are not receiving the care they need. We know that if that is to change, early intervention and prevention support in the community is vital. That is why we are providing £7 million of funding to extend support for 24 Early Support Hubs that have a track record of helping thousands of young people in their community.
Building on this to go further, we are committed to providing open access mental health support for children and young people through Young Futures Hubs. Working with colleagues from across Government, we intend that the evidence and insights collected through our Early Support Hubs evaluation will support the delivery of Young Futures Hubs. This learning will inform our ambitions for community mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people, and ensure that they have access to the kinds of support they need.
The Government will also recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across child and adult mental health services and provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school through expanding Mental Health Support Teams, so that every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help end discrimination against disabled people.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is committed to creating a more inclusive society, and championing the rights of disabled people. We will build on the insights shared by disabled people and their representative organisations, working closely with them so that their views and voices are at the heart of everything we do.
Our new Lead Ministers for Disability network will help to ensure that we represent the interests of disabled people effectively and champion disability inclusion and accessibility across each government department, as they drive forward progress on our manifesto commitments and five missions.
Our Equality (Race and Disability) Bill will introduce disability pay gap reporting for large employers and extend equal pay rights to protect workers suffering discrimination on the basis of race or disability. Mandatory pay gap reporting will help employers to identify and address where issues might lie.
These recent steps work alongside the Equality Act 2010, which is the principal means through which disabled people are protected from discrimination in Great Britain. The Equality Act 2010 provides protection against discrimination, harassment and victimisation in the workplace and in wider society. It also requires employers and service providers to make reasonable adjustments for both job applicants and employees who meet the Act's definition of disability. Failure to make a reasonable adjustment is likely to be unlawful disability discrimination under the 2010 Act.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to help ensure effective prosecution rates for (a) serious and (b) violent crime cases in Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
We are taking strong action as part of our Plan for Change to tackle serious and violent crime.
Our new Crime and Policing Bill will back our police by giving them enhanced and tougher powers to keep our streets safe, to tackle anti-social behaviour, and to crack down on knife crime.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutes serious and violent crime robustly, providing early investigative advice on complex and serious offending to build strong cases and deliver justice for victims.
The CPS is working with cross-government partners to support the delivery of the Safer Streets Mission and all CPS guidance and training is kept under constant review to ensure front-line prosecutors are equipped to prosecute these serious offences.
Asked by: Liam Conlon (Labour - Beckenham and Penge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to support high-street banking hubs in Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets in Beckenham and Penge and across the UK and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open.
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 granted the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) the responsibility and powers to seek to ensure the reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. Under the FCA’s regime, LINK, the operator of the UK’s largest ATM network, is responsible for undertaking access to cash assessments. When a cash access facility such as a bank branch closes, or if LINK receives a request directly from a community, LINK assesses a community’s access to cash needs and can recommend a new service, such as a banking hub. A community request can be submitted to LINK via its website.
Alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking and via the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance, pay bills and cash cheques.