Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what comparative assessment her Department has made of (a) service-by-service age verification and (b) device, app store, or operating system level age assurance, in terms of consistency across services, enforceability and the risk of circumvention.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ofcom considers age assurance to be highly effective when it meets particular criteria for technical accuracy, robustness, reliability and fairness, and has set out guidance on which methods meet that criteria. Ofcom will publish reports on age assurance and the use of app stores by children by July 2026 and January 2027 respectively.
Age assurance under the OSA takes place at platform level. While age assurance at other levels may offer benefits, we must allow time to assess the Act’s effectiveness before introducing further measures. The public consultation on protecting children online will seek views on strengthening age assurance measures.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to incorporate Ofcom’s findings on the role of app stores in protecting children from harmful content into the Government’s consultation on children’s use of technology; and whether she expects that report to inform any proposed requirements intended to apply consistently across app-based services.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department engages regularly with Ofcom on implementation of the Online Safety Act, including Ofcom’s statutory report on the use of app stores by children due to be published in January 2027. The Government has ensured Ofcom is sufficiently resourced and has agreed a significant uplift to Ofcom’s online safety funding in 2025/26 in recognition of Ofcom’s increased duties as implementation of the Act progresses.
The Act allows the Secretary of State to bring app store providers into scope following Ofcom’s report. Our consultation on children’s technology use will also gather evidence on several measures, including strengthened age assurance.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has had recent discussions with Ofcom on the (a) timetable and (b) resourcing for its work on the role of app stores in children’s access to harmful content.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department engages regularly with Ofcom on implementation of the Online Safety Act, including Ofcom’s statutory report on the use of app stores by children due to be published in January 2027. The Government has ensured Ofcom is sufficiently resourced and has agreed a significant uplift to Ofcom’s online safety funding in 2025/26 in recognition of Ofcom’s increased duties as implementation of the Act progresses.
The Act allows the Secretary of State to bring app store providers into scope following Ofcom’s report. Our consultation on children’s technology use will also gather evidence on several measures, including strengthened age assurance.
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 data his Department holds on the average time taken to complete cladding remediation works on residential buildings of approximately 20 to 25 storeys; what evidence underpins an estimated 24-month completion timeframe for such projects; and whether he will publish a percentage breakdown of remediation projects completed within 18 months, within 24 months, and beyond 24 months.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department’s data collection is focussed on height thresholds as this is the current determinant of programme eligibility. We expect buildings of 20 to 25 storeys to make up a very small proportion of those requiring remediation.
Based on the reported remediation start and completion dates, and storey information provided for the 24 buildings known to be 20 to 25 storeys, which have completed remediation and for which start and end dates have been reported, the average time taken to complete remediation on site is 24 months.
The Department does not work to an assumption on the time take to complete remediation of buildings of this height group (20 to 25 storeys) - and does not currently publish information on the time taken to complete remediation.
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 progress she has made on the provision of Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government is dedicated to improving the lives of young people; that is why we launched the National Youth Strategy and the Young Futures Hubs programme - to ensure they have safe spaces to go and meaningful things to do. Our eight early adopter areas, which will be operational by March 2026, will allow us to capture best practice before we roll out 50 hubs across the country by 2029. I am working closely with colleagues across departments to ensure we build on collective expertise and deliver a joined-up service for young people.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
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 she has made of the effectiveness of local councils in exercising their statutory enforcement powers to protect local waterways from pollution; and whether her Department holds data on enforcement activity by local authorities.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities do hold limited enforcement responsibilities, primarily through Environmental Health functions, for example, under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 in relation to certain industrial processes, and powers relating to flooding from ordinary watercourses. However, these are distinct from the regulation of water company discharges.
Enforcement against pollution from water companies is the responsibility of the Environment Agency, which issues discharge permits, monitors compliance, and takes civil or criminal enforcement action where offences occur. Defra sets the overall legislative and policy framework for this system, including recent reforms under the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, which strengthens the ability of regulators to take faster and tougher action, including new criminal liability for company executives.
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on tackling knife crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have set an ambitious but essential target: to halve knife crime over this decade. We are already seeing results. Knife crime is falling.
Since the start of this Parliament, knife crime has fallen by 8% and knife homicides are down by 27%.
We have banned ninja swords and zombie style machetes, we have taken nearly 60,000 knives off our streets and we have established new Young Futures Panels.
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, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the amount of the Housing Benefit subsidy for temporary accommodation cases being less than Local Housing Allowance rates on the quality of temporary accommodation.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP pays local authorities a Housing Benefit subsidy for Temporary Accommodation cases. There are restrictions on the amount paid, including a subsidy cap which is the lowest of £500 per week in certain areas of London or £375 elsewhere, 90% of 2011 LHA rates, or the claimant’s Housing Benefit entitlement. These arrangements are designed to incentivise local authorities to ensure Temporary Accommodation is good quality and value for money.
We recognise the financial pressures that local authorities are experiencing. This Government has invested £1bn in homelessness and rough sleeping services this year (2025/26), a £316m increase on the previous year.
We want to encourage better investment into Temporary Accommodation stock up-front to minimise costs to local authorities and £950m was announced in the latest round of the Local Authority Housing Fund. This coupled with measures to strengthen local authorities’ financial position such as a new £39 billion Affordable Homes Programme and a 10-year rental settlement at Consumer Price Index + 1, will support local authorities in England to increase the supply of good quality Temporary Accommodation and drive down the use of costly bed and breakfasts and hotels.
We will continue to work with MHCLG as part of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Inter Ministerial Group.
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 steps her Department is taking to help support (a) homeless services and (b) supported housing providers with their finances.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has increased funding for homelessness services by £233 million in 2025/26 to a total of £1 billion to prevent rises in the number of households in temporary accommodation and to help prevent rough sleeping. This includes £185.6 million through the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant. The allocations for this grant can be found on gov.uk here.
The Spending Review provided over £5 billion of new grant funding for local services that communities rely on. This includes £3.4 billion of new grant funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement.
We also announced a 10-year rent settlement (that will permit increases by up to CPI+1% each year), which will give providers the financial certainty to invest in new and existing homes, and have committed to implement a convergence mechanism as part of the new rent settlement.
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 steps her Department is taking to ensure that the supply of supported housing meets future demand.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At the Spending Review, we announced £39 billion for a new Social and Affordable Homes Programme over 10 years from 2026-27 to 2035-36.
The programme will not set numerical targets for particular types of homes other than Social Rent. However, it is designed with the flexibility necessary to support a greater diversity of social and affordable housing supply including supported housing.