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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his Department will make an assessment of the affordability of ground rents in Stockport constituency.

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

I refer the hon. Member to answer given to Question UIN 102566 on 12 January 2026.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 22 April 2025 to question 44579 on Avanti West Coast: Ticket Offices, what information her Department has received from Avanti West Coast on non-adherence with regulated ticket office opening hours in each of the last 12 months.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department receives regular reporting from Avanti West Coast (AWC) on its compliance with regulated ticket office opening hours under Schedule 17 of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement. Excluding ticket office closures as a result of industrial action or planned engineering works, AWC’s average compliance with its managed ticket office opening hours over the last 12 months was 97 per cent.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local authorities follow best practice in commissioning domestic abuse services, including recognising the potential role of specialist community-based organisations.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government is committed to support victims of domestic abuse. This is part of the government’s wider mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade as set out in the Freedom from Violence and Abuse strategy published on 18 December.

Since 2021, local authorities in England have a statutory duty to assess local need and commission safe accommodation-based support for victims and their children. To support delivery of this duty, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government provided local authorities in England £160 million in 2025/26, a £30 million uplift from the previous year, and £499 million funding will be allocated to local authorities over the next three years.

Statutory guidance to local authorities is available on gov.uk here providing further details on how the duty should be delivered.

MHCLG continues to work closely with local authorities, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and sector partners to promote best practice, support delivery and drive continuous improvement in the commissioning of safe accommodation services.

Ensuring victims receive the right and timely support is also central to the Government’s mission. The Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years, and together with the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) has published guidance here to help local commissioners in their role of supporting victims of all crime, including domestic abuse, focusing on sharing best practice and effective collaboration.

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 waiting time for patients with significant levels of HLA antibodies to get a kidney transplant.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for organ donation services in the United Kingdom, including management of the NHS Organ Donor Register and the transplant waiting list.

Kidney allocation in the UK is based on a national, points-based matching system, via the UK Kidney Offering Scheme, which prioritises recipients according to factors including blood group compatibility, time on the waiting list, tissue match, age, and the presence of human leukocyte antigens (HLA) antibodies, known as sensitisation. This system was updated in 2019 with the aim of reducing long waiting times. Under this scheme, the most highly sensitised patients are placed in the highest priority category to receive donor organs, as it can be hard to find suitable organs for these patients.

Patients and clinicians can access the NHSBT’s Kidney Risk Communication Tool, which provides indicative outcomes for patients with similar characteristics after joining the transplant waiting list. The Kidney Risk Communication Tool is avaiable at the following link:

https://www.odt.nhs.uk/transplantation/tools-policies-and-guidance/risk-communication-tools/

In addition, in December 2024, the Department-led Implementation Steering Group for Organ Utilisation (ISOU) made recommendations regarding high-resolution HLA-typing for organ donors and recipients to enable better matching and improve transplantation outcomes. Information on the ISOU is avaiable at the following link:

https://www.odt.nhs.uk/odt-structures-and-standards/clinical-leadership/implementation-steering-group-for-organ-utilisation/

In addition, further details are avaiable in a report, at the following link:

https://nhsbtdbe.blob.core.windows.net/umbraco-assets-corp/36474/report-of-the-isou-histocompatibility-and-immunogenetics-hi-sub-group.pdf

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has met with representatives of the automotive industry, including manufacturers and dealership groups, to discuss the potential consequences of treating Employee Car Ownership Scheme vehicles as full company-car benefits for tax purposes.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

At Budget 2025, the government announced that, to allow more time for the sector to prepare for and adapt to the proposed changes in treatment to Employee Car Ownership Schemes (ECOS), its implementation will be delayed to 6 April 2030, with transitional arrangements until April 2032.

The government maintains regular engagement with vehicle manufacturers and the wider automotive industry. The changes announced at Budget 2025 have been welcomed by the sector.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her department plans to assess the (a) funding and (b) availability of the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund for families with children dealing with complex trauma in Stockport constituency.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government has confirmed the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) will continue in 2026/27 and that applications which start in 2025/26 and which run into 2026-27 can be made. Details of the ASGSF from April 2026, including for families in Stockport, will be made available once departmental business planning decisions are completed. We will share details of the public engagement process on longer-term decisions as soon as possible.