Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church of England is taking to help tackle poverty.
Answered by Marsha De Cordova
Church of England churches are involved in over 30,000 social action projects, hosting food banks, breakfast clubs, and much more besides. The Lords Spiritual continue to use their place in the House of Lords to raise concerns about poverty, and have long called for the two-child limit to be scrapped as the most effective means of reducing child poverty.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a (a) cross-industry and (b) cross-departmental taskforce to review long-term strategy for the wraparound childcare sector.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department’s vision is for a modern childcare system for parents of school age children that is high quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive for all families from the day children start primary school, no matter where they live in the country or what days or hours they work. Officials are working closely with local authorities, schools and providers to develop this.
This will build on existing programmes such as the National Wraparound Childcare programme, the Holiday Activities and Food programme and Free Universal Breakfast clubs to ensure families are supported.
The government is also delivering on its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children, starting with 750 early adopters. Additionally, the department recently confirmed investment of over £600 million to make Best Start Holiday Activities and Food Clubs available for the next three years.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to develop a cross-government strategy for the future of school-aged childcare funding after 2026.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department’s vision is for a modern childcare system for parents of school age children that is high quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive for all families from the day children start primary school, no matter where they live in the country or what days or hours they work. Officials are working closely with local authorities, schools and providers to develop this.
This will build on existing programmes such as the National Wraparound Childcare programme, the Holiday Activities and Food programme and Free Universal Breakfast clubs to ensure families are supported.
The government is also delivering on its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children, starting with 750 early adopters. Additionally, the department recently confirmed investment of over £600 million to make Best Start Holiday Activities and Food Clubs available for the next three years.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to renew the (a) Wraparound Childcare Programme and (b) Holiday Activities and Food Programme in 2026.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department’s vision is for a modern childcare system for parents of school age children that is high quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive for all families from the day children start primary school, no matter where they live in the country or what days or hours they work. Officials are working closely with local authorities, schools and providers to develop this.
This will build on existing programmes such as the National Wraparound Childcare programme, the Holiday Activities and Food programme and Free Universal Breakfast clubs to ensure families are supported.
The government is also delivering on its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children, starting with 750 early adopters. Additionally, the department recently confirmed investment of over £600 million to make Best Start Holiday Activities and Food Clubs available for the next three years.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of sustained funding for school-aged wraparound childcare.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department’s vision is for a modern childcare system for parents of school age children that is high quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive for all families from the day children start primary school, no matter where they live in the country or what days or hours they work. Officials are working closely with local authorities, schools and providers to develop this.
This will build on existing programmes such as the National Wraparound Childcare programme, the Holiday Activities and Food programme and Free Universal Breakfast clubs to ensure families are supported.
The government is also delivering on its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children, starting with 750 early adopters. Additionally, the department recently confirmed investment of over £600 million to make Best Start Holiday Activities and Food Clubs available for the next three years.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to produce a strategy on widening the availability of wraparound childcare.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department’s vision is for a modern childcare system for parents of school age children that is high quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive for all families from the day children start primary school, no matter where they live in the country or what days or hours they work. Officials are working closely with local authorities, schools and providers to develop this.
This will build on existing programmes such as the National Wraparound Childcare programme, the Holiday Activities and Food programme and Free Universal Breakfast clubs to ensure families are supported.
The government is also delivering on its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children, starting with 750 early adopters. Additionally, the department recently confirmed investment of over £600 million to make Best Start Holiday Activities and Food Clubs available for the next three years.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will bring forward legislative proposals for statutory paid bereavement leave (a) for people grieving the loss of a loved one to suicide and (b) in general.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The loss of a loved one is one of the hardest things a person can experience. This is why we have introduced a new right to bereavement leave in the Employment Rights Bill which will be available to those grieving the loss of a loved one, including to suicide.
The Bill deals with the introduction of leave only, and we will be consulting further on the detail this Autumn. However, it will be at employers' discretion to offer pay, as many already do.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure mortgage availability for people wishing to purchase residential properties that were converted from office space.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The availability and pricing of mortgages is a commercial decision for firms in which the Government does not intervene.
However, the UK benefits from a competitive mortgage market; prospective buyers are encouraged to shop around and speak to a mortgage broker to find the best possible product for their circumstances.
We are also helping buyers who may struggle to save for a large deposit by delivering on our manifesto commitment to a permanent mortgage guarantee scheme. The scheme is permanently available and will help to ensure mortgages are available for first-time buyers and home movers with small deposits across the UK, supporting our mission to boost economic growth across the country and make sure people are better off.
More broadly, in response to the Prime Minister’s and Chancellor’s request for reforms to support growth, the Financial Conduct Authority have launched a major programme of work to refresh its mortgage lending rules, including to support first-time buyers’ access to mortgages. We welcome the actions that the Financial Conduct Authority have already taken as part of this work, including reminding firms of the flexibility available within the stress testing rules which allows lender to offer larger loans to customers, and its Discussion Paper, which is an important step towards putting home ownership within reach of many more.
The Government also welcomes the recent decision of the Financial Policy Committee of the Bank of England to reform the flow limit, enabling lenders to offer more mortgages at over 4.5 times buyers’ income - helping up to 36,000 more first-time buyers own their own home in the first year.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her department is taking to increase the use of phone blocking (a) techniques and (b) technologies in prisons.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) is committed to tackling the threat to prison security posed by illicit mobile telephones. We have a wide-ranging programme in place to prevent them from entering prisons; to detect and disrupt their use by prisoners if they are smuggled in; and to investigate cases where a prisoner may have committed an offence.
As part of their local security strategies, prisons are able to deploy a range of measures to detect items of contraband, including X-ray body scanners, and Enhanced Gate Security that utilises X-ray baggage scanners and metal detection. Owing to security and operational sensitivities, however, it would not be appropriate to comment in detail on the countermeasures HMPPS has in place.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a quoted portfolio in the British Business Bank.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The British Business Bank does have some quoted holdings, largely as a result of post-investment corporate activity. The focus of the Bank is on strengthening private markets. Any expansion of the Bank’s mandate into public markets would need a comprehensive analysis of options and is unlikely to be undertaken in isolation from other measures to incentivise increased investment into those markets by institutional investors.