Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help women re-enter the workforce.

Answered by Bridget Phillipson - Minister for Women and Equalities

The Government is committed to tackling the challenges women face in the labour market, whether they want to find a job, return to work, or progress in-work. We are driving this forward through the support measures in the Employment Rights Bill, Make Work Pay and the Get Britain Working White Paper. We are making flexible learning a Day One right, opening up access to childcare with £8 billion investment to roll out further free hours, and tackling the gender pay gap to ensure women are paid fairly.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the 1.7% increase in benefits that are linked to inflation from April 2025 for disabled people receiving a state pension.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Attendance Allowance (which provides support for pensioners with care needs) has been consistently uprated in line with inflation since it was introduced and will be increased by 1.7% from April 2025. This means that the higher rate of Attendance Allowance will be £110.40 per week, and the lower rate £73.90 per week in 2025/26. Expenditure on Attendance Allowance was around £6.9 billion (real terms) in 2023/24 and is forecast to increase to £7.7 billion in 2024/25, before rising to £8.6 billion by 2029/30. Extra-costs disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance, which may also be paid to people over state pension age, will also be increased by 1.7% from 7 April 2025.

In addition to this, over 12 million pensioners will see their basic or new State Pension increase by 4.1% in April 2025, worth up to £470 a year. Our commitment to protect the Triple Lock on the new and basic State Pensions means that, over the course of this Parliament (up to and including 2029/30), the OBR forecasts that Government spending on the State Pension will rise by over £31 billion.

We are also increasing the standard minimum guarantee in Pension Credit by 4.1%. Pension Credit provides extra money to help with living costs for people over State Pension age and on a low income and includes additional amounts for those with a severe disability, caring responsibilities, responsibility for a child, or certain housing costs. Extra-costs disability benefits can also give rise to a disability addition in Pension Credit, meaning that disabled pensioners are more likely to be entitled to Pension Credit, and at a higher amount, than those without disabilities.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental patients in Eastleigh constituency will benefit from the 700,000 extra urgent appointments.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We will deliver 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments per year, with integrated care boards (ICBs) asked to start making extra appointments available from April 2025. The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to ICBs across England. Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB, which includes Eastleigh constituency, is expected to deliver 30,032 additional urgent dental appointments.

The urgent appointments will be available to NHS patients experiencing painful oral health issues, such as infections, abscesses, or cracked or broken teeth. Patients can contact their usual dental practice or call NHS 111 if they do not have a regular dentist or need help out-of-hours.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to allow heritage-appropriate alternative materials to be used for listed properties in instances where traditional materials are (a) unavailable and (b) prohibitively expensive.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

It is for local planning authorities to determine applications for proposed works to listed buildings, including what materials should be used. Each case will be different and needs to be considered on its own merits. As such, the government does not intend to make changes to national policy in this area.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to remove barriers for families of non-UK Armed Forces personnel to stay in the UK.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

HM Armed Forces personnel are exempt from immigration control in service. Those who do not naturalise as British during service, can apply for settlement under Appendix HM Armed Forces of the Immigration Rules on discharge when their exemption from immigration control ends, up to 18 weeks before their discharge, or for two years after.

HM Armed Forces personnel can be accompanied by their family members, and there are special Immigration Rules in place to ensure that those who serve, have served, or their family members are not disadvantaged due to that service. This takes into account the unique nature of their service, the Armed Forces Covenant, and the recruitment and retention of HM Armed Forces personnel in order to maintain national security.

A manifesto commitment was made to “strengthen support for our Armed Forces communities by putting Armed Forces Covenant fully into law”, and to “scrap visa fees for non-UK veterans who have served for four or more years, and their dependants.”.

We continue to keep this policy under review in the context of our wider considerations of various aspects of the immigration system.

Israeli Defence Force attacks on humanitarian workers

Humanitarian response to the Myanmar earthquake

Snares

Radiotherapy (No. 2)

Scams and fraud

Support for the World Health Organization

Ensuring stability for Ukrainian refugees in the UK

Access to football pitches for women and girls

Support for young disabled people after education

Bank closures

Building consensus on a pathway to spending 3% of GDP on defence

Future of the adoption and special guardianship support fund

Adult education

World Kidney Day 2025

Tackling the climate and nature crisis

Found: Resolved, That Zöe Franklin and Liz Jarvis be Members of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

Found: _1 Helen Morgan Dr Danny Chambers Liz Jarvis Alison Bennett Jess Brown-Fuller 23 REPORT STAGE

Found: _1 Helen Morgan Dr Danny Chambers Liz Jarvis Alison Bennett Jess Brown-Fuller .

Found: _1 Helen Morgan Dr Danny Chambers Liz Jarvis Alison Bennett Jess Brown-Fuller .

Found: _1 Helen Morgan Dr Danny Chambers Liz Jarvis Alison Bennett Jess Brown-Fuller .

Found: Rachael Maskell Naz Shah Munira Wilson Frank McNally Tom Morrison Peter Lamb Lillian Jones Liz Jarvis

Found: Opher Marie Goldman Emily Darlington Wera Hobhouse Siân Berry Ms Marie Rimmer David Simmonds Liz Jarvis

Found: _1 Helen Morgan Dr Danny Chambers Liz Jarvis Alison Bennett Jess Brown-Fuller .

Found: Jodie Gosling David Smith Andrew Cooper Mrs Sharon Hodgson Ellie Chowns Neil Duncan-Jordan Liz Jarvis

Found: Jodie Gosling David Smith Andrew Cooper Mrs Sharon Hodgson Ellie Chowns Neil Duncan-Jordan Liz Jarvis

Found: Mullane Rosie Duffield Lillian Jones Kim Johnson Mr Richard Quigley Ian Byrne Nadia Whittome Liz Jarvis

Found: Rachael Maskell Naz Shah Munira Wilson Frank McNally Tom Morrison Peter Lamb Lillian Jones Liz Jarvis

Found: Marie Goldman Emily Darlington Wera Hobhouse Siân Berry Ms Marie Rimmer David Simmonds Liz Jarvis

Found: Opher Marie Goldman Emily Darlington Wera Hobhouse Siân Berry Ms Marie Rimmer David Simmonds Liz Jarvis

Found: Opher Marie Goldman Emily Darlington Wera Hobhouse Siân Berry Ms Marie Rimmer David Simmonds Liz Jarvis

Found: Opher Marie Goldman Emily Darlington Wera Hobhouse Siân Berry Ms Marie Rimmer David Simmonds Liz Jarvis

Found: Opher Marie Goldman Emily Darlington Wera Hobhouse Siân Berry Ms Marie Rimmer David Simmonds Liz Jarvis

Found: _NC13 Caroline Voaden Liz Jarvis Tom Gordon Steve Darling Martin Wrigley Vikki Slade John Milne

Found: _1 Helen Morgan Dr Danny Chambers Liz Jarvis Alison Bennett Jess Brown-Fuller .

Found: Rachael Maskell Naz Shah Munira Wilson Frank McNally Tom Morrison Peter Lamb Lillian Jones Liz Jarvis

Found: division_NC21 Victoria Collins Steff Aquarone Max Wilkinson Wendy Chamberlain James MacCleary Liz Jarvis

Found: Rachael Maskell Naz Shah Munira Wilson Frank McNally Tom Morrison Peter Lamb Lillian Jones Liz Jarvis