Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, What recent assessment has he made of the potential merits of developing an (a) regulatory framework and (b) NHS style oversight for the aesthetic industry.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to taking action to address concerns about the safety of the cosmetics sector and is exploring options for further regulation in this area. We will set out the details of our approach in due course.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of strengthening the provisions of the Hunting 2004.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans in a generation to improve animal welfare and that is exactly what we will do. The Government has already committed to a ban on trail hunting which will provide significant protections to wild animals including foxes and hares. Work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing and further announcements will be made in due course.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of recent flooding response preparations.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Protecting communities from flooding is a key priority for this Government. Defra and the Environment Agency work together and with partners to continuously assess and improve flood response preparations.

In September 2024, the Government’s new Floods Resilience Taskforce assessed the preparedness and resilience to flooding in advance of the winter. The Taskforce met again on 5 February where members discussed the impacts and learning from flooding experienced since September.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment has she made with Cabinet colleagues of the adequacy of the support available to veterans affected by homelessness.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Homelessness levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected. We must address this and deliver long term solutions. The Government is looking at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness, including veteran homelessness.

As announced at the Budget, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233m compared to this year (2024/25). This brings total spend to nearly a billion pounds in 2025/26.

We have made changes to social housing allocations regulations to exempt all veterans from local connection and residency tests to facilitate their access to social housing. The regulations came into force on 18 December 2024.

The Government has also committed a further £3.5 million to the Reducing Veteran Homelessness Programme from March 2025, including Op FORTITUDE, the homelessness pathway for homeless veterans, including those rough sleeping.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Building Safety Remediation: monthly data release - December 2024, published on 23 January 2025, how many of the buildings where enforcement action has been taken but which are not in any remediation funding programme are leaseholder-owned.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

We do not hold information on whether buildings outside the scope of government funded remediation programmes are collectively owned.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the level of the backlog in Home Office asylum cases in (a) England, (b) North West region and (c) Runcorn and Helsby constituency.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum seekers awaiting an initial decision is published in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. This table is not broken down by constituency.

Data on asylum seekers on support by local authority is published in table Asy_D11 of the ‘Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. Please note that not all asylum seekers awaiting a decision will be on support.

Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Q52 of the evidence given by her Department's Director General for Buildings and Resilience to the Public Accounts Committee on 3 February 2025, HC 362, what discussions she has had with representatives from the insurance industry on (a) the standard of remediation that would prevent damage to the core fabric of a building and (b) whether the PAS 9980 standard has been extended beyond life safety risk to include protection of property.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Officials in my department engage regularly with the insurance industry.

The insurance industry has the opportunity to feed into the PAS 9980 review currently being conducted by the British Standards Institution (BSI).

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference Q49 of the evidence given by her Department's Director for Remediation Policy to the Public Accounts Committee on 3 February 2025, HC 362, what estimate she has made of the number of buildings for which her Department has forced a developer to comply with a scope of remedial works using mechanisms in the developer remediation contract.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The developer remediation contract and the associated Responsible Actors Scheme includes provisions to make sure that signatory developers comply with their obligation to carry out remedial works that comply with the standard set out in the contract.

The Ministry regularly commissions independent audits of assessments obtained by developers. Where a developer's assessment or remedial works do not meet the required standard, the developer is obligated to go back and address any issues at its own expense.

If a developer fails to comply with its obligations and fails to take sufficient action to come back into compliance, the developer may be found to be in breach of contract and where applicable may have planning and building control prohibitions imposed on it. While using those prohibitions has not proved necessary to date, the Ministry is ready to do so if needed.

Developers and freeholders often agree a works contract without intervention from the Ministry. In cases where developers and freeholders disagree over the scope of works, we expect the developer to pursue reasonable endeavours to resolve the dispute. In order to support such efforts, we intend shortly to publish guidance on one such dispute-resolution mechanism. Where appropriate, the Ministry may also broker discussions between disputing parties to resolve the impasse so that people's homes can be made safe as quickly as possible.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the differences between the definition of connected buildings which are regulated as (a) one higher-risk building during design and construction phases under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and (b) two or more separate buildings during the occupation phase under the Building Safety Act 2022 on costs for leaseholders.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2023 define higher-risk 'buildings' differently in the design and construction phase and once a building is occupied, with each phase being distinctly different and having its own requirements. When a new higher-risk building is being constructed, the entire overall structure is considered a single building. Once constructed, if a section of the overall structure is sufficiently independent from connected parts of the building, the relevant requirements will apply only to that part. This provides for a more flexible and proportionate approach and means that where a high-rise residential block is connected to a non-residential or low-rise block, the relevant duties need only be met for the high-rise block.

During the design and construction phase of the higher-risk regime, the building is neither occupied nor subject to the requirements under Part 4 of the Building Safety Act 2022, meaning there are no costs to leaseholders during this phase.

In occupied higher-risk buildings, accountable persons may pass on costs they incur in meeting their ongoing obligations under the Building Safety Act in managing, assessing and identifying building safety risks to leaseholders via the service charge. The Government considers the building safety requirements vital for properly managing fire and structural risks in higher-risk buildings, helping to prevent tragedies like the Grenfell Tower fire from happening again.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraphs 58 to 60 of the the Housing Communities and Local Government Committee's 2nd Report of the 2019-2021 session on Cladding: Progress of remediation, published on 12 June 2020, HC 172, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using Compulsory Purchase Order powers to take direct ownership of the freehold of any building where the owner is failing to undertake remedial works in a timely way.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

We are committed to ensuring that buildings with defective cladding are remediated as quickly as possible. As set out in our Remediation Acceleration Plan on 2 December 2024, the department is pursuing a wide range of measures to progress remediation, including funding the resourcing of building safety teams in local authorities and providing them with access to specialised teams such as the Joint Inspection Team.

We do not believe that a widespread use of Compulsory Purchase Orders would be an appropriate or proportionate response. Many building owners and developers are taking their responsibilities seriously to remediate historical fire safety defects at their property and remediation has completed in over a third (39%) of all 2,943 identified 18m+ buildings and started (or completed) in over a half (56%) of identified 18m+ buildings. Furthermore, by the end of October 2024 regulators have increased their inspections and use of enforcement notices by 95% and 88%, respectively, compared to prior to the department funding of £14 million in November 2022. The department’s support to local authorities has led to action involving 523 high rise or mid-rise buildings as of 27 January 2025.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of buildings under the (a) ACM programme, (b) Building Safety Fund, (c) Cladding Safety Scheme, (d) Developer remediation contract and (e) social housing remediation programme had a building assessment carried out by Tri Fire.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

We publish a monthly Building Safety Remediation data release, covering the ACM programme, Building Safety Fund, Cladding Safety Scheme, Developer Remediation Contract and the social housing remediation programme at Building Safety Remediation - GOV.UK. However, we do not publish data on individual assessors or assessments commissioned by applicants for funding, registered providers of social housing or developers as part of these programmes. Similarly, we do not publish other data that risks identifying individual buildings undergoing remediation.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of trends in the cost of pet insurance in the last (a) 12 and (b) 24 months.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Pet insurance providers are private businesses and are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are therefore not able to provide further information.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Q118 of the evidence given by her Department's Permanent Secretary to the Public Accounts Committee on 3 February 2025, HC 362, whether the cladding remediation funding announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 was (a) new or (b) rephased existing funding.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The cladding remediation funding announced in the Autumn Budget relates to the allocation required over the spending review period from the Government’s total agreed £5.1 billion contribution and new investment to speed up remediation of social housing.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has had assurances from social housing providers that they are complying with the guidance that requests from shared owners to sub-let should be accepted if their property is affected by building safety issues.

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

The relevant government guidance is clear: for properties affected by building safety issues, requests from shared owners to sub-let should always be accepted by registered providers of social housing in England (though where required, the shared owner may also need permission from the mortgage lender and/or the building’s freeholder). This is an important way in which to support shared owners to manage the effects of building safety issues.

For registered providers, compliance with this guidance is a condition of receiving grant funding through the Affordable Homes Programme. Moreover, the government has made clear its expectation that this guidance should apply to all shared owners, regardless of how their home has been delivered.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which freeholders have signed up to the Remediation Acceleration Plan.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

There is no requirement for freeholders to sign up to the Remediation Acceleration Plan (RAP). The plan, published on 2 December 2024, sets out the steps this government will take to increase the pace of building remediation, while better protecting residents and leaseholders.

As set out in the RAP, a new joint plan with developers sets out their commitment to achieve ambitious stretch targets to start or complete remedial works on all their unsafe buildings by July 2027. At least 38 developers have signed up to the joint plan, covering more than 95% of buildings that developers will directly remediate.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when she last met with families and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire; and whether she consulted those groups before making a decision on the future of the tower.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Learning the lessons from the Grenfell tragedy and ensuring lasting change are key priorities for the government. The Deputy Prime Minister and the Building Safety Minister have hugely valued hearing directly from bereaved families, survivors and residents in the immediate community and would like to thank them for this.

The Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for Grenfell Tower and for making a decision about its future.

This is a deeply personal matter for the people affected and she is committed to keeping their voice at the heart of this process.

In November last year, the Deputy Prime Minister explained she would listen to the views of the community, and consider expert information, before making a decision on the future of the Tower in February. She offered bereaved and survivors the opportunity to meet in-person, or online, at different times and individually when families felt more comfortable with this. She has also spent time with representative groups, residents’ associations, schools and faith leaders. She is grateful to everyone who shared their view and especially to the bereaved and survivors.

Last December, the department published an update of information that would inform her decision to make it available to the community: The future of Grenfell Tower: advice that will inform a decision. Information about how she has taken it into account in her decision is here: Update on the future of Grenfell Tower - GOV.UK

Over the last week, the Deputy Prime Minister has met bereaved families and survivors, and residents in the immediate community, to explain her decision that Grenfell Tower will be carefully taken down. Her priority has been to ensure the community hear this first.

This government remains committed to responding to the needs of the community and will ensure bereaved families, survivors and residents continue to have opportunities to speak with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Building Safety Minister on issues that matter to them most.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions she has had with survivors and families of victims of the Grenfell Tower fire on the future of the tower.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Learning the lessons from the Grenfell tragedy and ensuring lasting change are key priorities for the government. The Deputy Prime Minister and the Building Safety Minister have hugely valued hearing directly from bereaved families, survivors and residents in the immediate community and would like to thank them for this.

The Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for Grenfell Tower and for making a decision about its future.

This is a deeply personal matter for the people affected and she is committed to keeping their voice at the heart of this process.

In November last year, the Deputy Prime Minister explained she would listen to the views of the community, and consider expert information, before making a decision on the future of the Tower in February. She offered bereaved and survivors the opportunity to meet in-person, or online, at different times and individually when families felt more comfortable with this. She has also spent time with representative groups, residents’ associations, schools and faith leaders. She is grateful to everyone who shared their view and especially to the bereaved and survivors.

Last December, the department published an update of information that would inform her decision to make it available to the community: The future of Grenfell Tower: advice that will inform a decision. Information about how she has taken it into account in her decision is here: Update on the future of Grenfell Tower - GOV.UK

Over the last week, the Deputy Prime Minister has met bereaved families and survivors, and residents in the immediate community, to explain her decision that Grenfell Tower will be carefully taken down. Her priority has been to ensure the community hear this first.

This government remains committed to responding to the needs of the community and will ensure bereaved families, survivors and residents continue to have opportunities to speak with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Building Safety Minister on issues that matter to them most.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the provision of dentistry in (a) Halton, (b) Cheshire West and (c) Chester in the last (i) three months, (ii) six months, (ii) 12 months and (iv) two years.

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

Dental Statistics - England 2023/24, published by the NHS Business Services Authority on 22 August 2024, is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/dental-england/dental-statistics-england-202324

Data for adults is measured for 24 months, and data for children is measured for 12 months, as this is the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended timeframe in which adults and children should be seen by a dentist. This data is not held for three- and six-month intervals.

In the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB), which includes Halton, Cheshire West and Chester, 46% of adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in the 24 months to June 2024, compared to 40% in England.

Furthermore, 58% of children in the ICB were seen by an NHS dentist in the 12 months to June 2023, compared to 53% in England. 62% of children in the ICB were seen by an NHS dentist in the 12 months to June 2024, compared to 56% in England.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Building Safety Remediation: monthly data release - December 2024, published on 23 January 2025, in how many of the buildings where enforcement action has been taken but which are not in any remediation funding programme does the building owner meet the contribution condition.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Department does not hold this information.

The contribution condition is met when the landlord group’s net worth is at least £2,000,000 per relevant building owned by the landlord group. If the landlord group of a relevant building meets the contribution condition, all qualifying leaseholders in that building are exempt from all costs associated with non-cladding defects and interim measures (including waking watch costs).

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Building Safety Remediation: monthly data release - December 2024, published on 23 January 2025, how many buildings which were deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund have subsequently been determined to be ineligible after being transferred to the Cladding Safety Scheme.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

125 buildings have transferred from the Building Safety Fund (BSF) to the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS). We are exploring opportunities to transfer further buildings from the BSF to exploit the benefits of the CSS.

No buildings, to date, have been found to be ineligible after transferring to the CSS.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to transfer any buildings that have not yet started work under the Building Safety Fund to the Cladding Safety Scheme.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

125 buildings have transferred from the Building Safety Fund (BSF) to the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS). We are exploring opportunities to transfer further buildings from the BSF to exploit the benefits of the CSS.

No buildings, to date, have been found to be ineligible after transferring to the CSS.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for the fire and rescue service.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Overall, fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.87 billion in 2024/25. Decisions on how their resources are best deployed to meet their core functions are a matter for each fire and rescue authority based on its analysis of risk and local circumstances.

The Home Office will continue to work closely with stakeholders across the sector to ensure fire and rescue services have the resources they need to protect communities.

Found: Current membership Florence Eshalomi (Labour; Vauxhall and Camberwell Green) (Chair) Mike Amesbury (Independent

Found: Current membership Florence Eshalomi (Labour; Vauxhall and Camberwell Green) (Chair) Mike Amesbury (Independent

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Ribeiro-Addy Carla Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Neil Duncan-Jordan Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Ribeiro-Addy Carla Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Neil Duncan-Jordan Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Dr Allison Gardner Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Dr Allison Gardner Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Dr Allison Gardner Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Dr Allison Gardner Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Dr Allison Gardner Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Dr Allison Gardner Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Dr Allison Gardner Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Dr Allison Gardner Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Dr Allison Gardner Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Dr Allison Gardner Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury

Found: Stevenson Derek Twigg Ian Byrne Mary Glindon Antonia Bance Dame Harriett Baldwin Mike Wood Mike Amesbury

Found: Denyer Mr Jonathan Brash Dr Allison Gardner Freddie van Mierlo Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury