Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to increase online safety for children and young people.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is implementing the Online Safety Act as quickly and effectively as possible, so children can be protected from criminal behaviour and harmful content online.
The illegal content duties are now in force, so platforms already need to act to protect their users.
The child safety duties will be in force from the Summer, at which point companies will need to further protect children from harmful content such as pornography, suicide and self-harm material.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
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.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
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.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
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.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
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.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
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.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing new methods for expatriates to receive access to premium bond earnings without a UK bank account.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) can only make payments to, and receive payments from, a UK bank or building society account in pounds sterling. Therefore, to save with NS&I, customers must have a UK bank or building society account in their name. This policy ensures value for money for taxpayers and minimises the risk of fraud.Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which (a) legal authority and (b) procedural rules permit judges to withhold notes from employment tribunal hearings.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 2018 do not apply to information gathered and personal data processed in proceedings before the courts and tribunals. Together these exemptions protect judicial independence and judicial proceedings, allowing the courts and tribunals to maintain judicial control over access to information in proceedings, ensuring that access to information is provided through existing access and discovery regimes.
With respect to the Employment Tribunal, access to audio recordings and transcription of recordings is governed by the Practice Direction: Recording of Employment Tribunal hearings and the transcription of recordings. This includes details of how and the circumstances in which a party may be able to access audio-recordings, request a transcript of proceedings, or obtain a Judge’s notes of a hearing.
The Practice Direction: Recording of Employment Tribunal hearings and the transcription of recordings, can be found at: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PD-recording-and-transcription-final.pdf.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
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 an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of thatching materials.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has no plans to make an assessment of the availability of thatching materials at this time.
Following discussion with the National Society of Master Thatchers, Historic England has updated its roof guidance to clarify the decision-making process for both applicants and local authorities on applications for listed building consent.
Historic England’s update roof guidance is available on that organisation’s website here.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to achieve the Access and Waiting Time Standard for Children and Young People with an Eating Disorder in every area.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is vital that children and young people with a diagnosed or suspected eating disorder, as well as their families and carers, can access effective help quickly. Given this, NHS England is in the process of publishing updated commissioning guidance for children and young people with eating disorders and updated Access and Wait Time Standard guidance. NHS England has also recently published updated guidance on caring for children and young people in a mental health crisis.
The updated guidance will reflect NHS England's ambition to improve eating disorder services and align with the latest evidence-based care, improve outcomes and experiences of care, and focus on prevention, where possible, to reduce prevalence and re-occurrence. It supports providers in meeting the standard that 95% of children and young people referred for assessment or treatment for an eating disorder receive National Institute for Health and Care Excellence-approved treatment with a designated healthcare professional within one week for urgent cases, and four weeks for all other cases.