Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, What proportion of the (a) Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant and (b) Children and Families Grant will be allocated to Croydon East constituency.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government will bring forward its proposals for the Local Government Finance Settlement 2025-26 in the usual way towards the end of the calendar year. This will set out provisional allocations for local authorities and invite views via a formal consultation.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Windrush commissioner will consider the reimbursement of legal costs for the victims of the Windrush scandal.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We are establishing a Windrush Commissioner to act as an independent advocate for all those affected. This role will oversee the implementation of the Windrush Lessons Learned Review and act as a trusted voice for communities, driving improvements and promoting lasting change.
On appointment, the Commissioner will engage with Windrush stakeholders and communities to understand what they need and how the Commissioner can drive delivery of that change.
To ensure claimants are supported, we are also allocating £1.5million in government grant funding, which will be used to increase advocacy support for victims applying for the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how will funding for local youth transformation pilots be distributed to local authorities; and what funding can Croydon Council expect to receive.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
On 12 November, the DCMS Secretary of State announced the launch of the Local Youth Transformation pilot in 2025/26 to start building back local authorities’ lost capability in the youth space, sowing the seeds for a much-needed rejuvenation of local youth services. We will be designing the programme and confirming delivery approaches over the coming months and will share more information in due course.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional SEND funding will be allocated to Croydon.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision (AP) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
The department is providing an increase of almost £1 billion for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. Of that total, Croydon Council is being allocated a provisional high needs funding amount of over £97 million through the national funding formula (NFF), which is a 7% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 financial year NFF allocation. The allocations have been published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs-2025-to-2026.
Croydon Council will also be allocated extra funding for pay and pensions costs in special schools and AP. This funding is additional to the allocations through the high needs NFF, and the department will confirm shortly how the funding allocations will be calculated.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
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 youth services.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people. The Secretary of State recently announced our plans to create a new National Youth Strategy, designed to put the views of young people at the centre of decision-making on policies that affect them. As the new National Youth Strategy is developed, the Government will continue to support access for young people to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and volunteering opportunities.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the police have adequate resources to tackle knife crime in (a) Croydon East constituency and (b) other constituencies.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Prime Minister and the Home Secretary are personally committed to halving knife crime over the next decade. It is a key part of the Government’s mission to take back our streets.
This Government is committed to ensuring that the police have the resources they need to tackle all crime effectively. The 2024-25 police funding settlement provides the Metropolitan Police Service with funding of up to £3.5 billion in 2024-25. This includes £185.3 million in recognition of the demands the force faces in policing the capital city.
The Home Office will also provide £175m of additional funding in 2024-25 to police forces to help with the cost of the pay award, of which the Metropolitan Police will receive a further £37.4 million for support with those costs.
As announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, the settlement will increase the core government grant for police forces and help support frontline policing levels across the country. Further details and force level allocations will be set out at the forthcoming police funding settlement.
The Home Office is also providing £66.3m funding this financial year (2024/25) to police forces in England and Wales for hotspot policing to tackle anti-social behaviour and serious violence. This includes £8.1m allocated to the Metropolitan Police.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle antisocial behaviour in (a) Croydon East constituency and (b) other constituencies.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
We will put thousands of new neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities and we will crack down on those causing havoc on our high streets by introducing tougher powers, including new Respect Orders to tackle repeat offending.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
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 reduce the number of (a) children and (b) young people that are waiting for mental health support.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is unacceptable that too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are far too long. That is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across both adult, and children and young people’s mental health services.
The Department of Health and Social Care is working with Department for Education to consider how to deliver our commitment of access to a specialist mental health professional in every school. Alongside this we are working towards rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, offering open access mental health services for young people.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of the policies to be set out in the Get Britain Working white paper on the number of people who will be supported back into work in each region.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is publishing a Get Britain Working White Paper setting out reforms to employment support to help tackle the elevated level of economic inactivity, support people into good work, and create an inclusive labour market in which everybody can participate and progress in work. These reforms are driven by a long-term ambition to reach an 80% employment rate and to reduce the UK’s inactivity rate back to pre-pandemic levels.
The White Paper will build on manifesto commitments including fundamental reform for DWP through a new service to support more people into work and help them get on in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers; local Get Britain Working Plans for areas across Britain to set out how economic inactivity will be tackled at a local level, led by Mayors and local areas; and a Youth Guarantee for all people aged 18 to 21 in England, to ensure they have an offer of education, training or help to find work.
Through the Autumn Budget, £240 million funding has recently been announced for the White Paper measures and will help us deliver and build on these labour market reforms to Get Britain Working.