Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what actions is her Department taking to mitigate the rise in employer NI contributions on the homelessness charities.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

In order to repair the public finances and help raise the revenue required to increase funding for public services, the government has taken the difficult decision to increase employer National Insurance contributions (NICs).

HMRC published on 13 November a Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the impact on charities as employers of the changes.

The Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all next year, more than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package, and all eligible employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no NICs.

More broadly, within the tax system, we provide support to charities through a range of reliefs and exemptions, including reliefs for charitable giving, with more than £6 billion in charitable reliefs provided to charities, CASCs and their donors in 2023 -24.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of women murdered by domestic abusers in (a) England and Wales and (b) Merseyside in each of the last five years.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The latest published data on the number domestic homicides between 2018/19 and 2022/23 in (a) England and Wales and (b) Merseyside can be found in the table below.

Table: Number of domestic homicides of women aged 16 and over, Merseyside and England and Wales, 2018/19 to 2022/23

The scale of violence against women and girls is intolerable and this Government will treat it as the national emergency that it is. The Government has made it our mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and tackling domestic homicide is a key part of that mission.

Domestic homicide is a horrific crime that disproportionately impacts women. Every death linked to domestic abuse should be considered for a Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) to ensure that national and local agencies, local communities and society as a whole continues to learn lessons from domestic abuse related deaths and treats every death as preventable.

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 set up expert boards for homelessness policy.

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.

The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy.

We have also established an Expert Group to bring together representatives from across the homelessness and rough sleeping sector, local and combined authorities and wider experts. The role of this expert group is to provide knowledge, analysis and challenge to help Government understand what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed.

As well as work on the Inter-Ministerial Group and Expert Group we are also working closely with the sector to deliver a number of lived experience forums to ensure that the voices of those with lived experience are reflected in the homelessness strategy. We will continue to meet with a range of stakeholders, including mayors and MPs, to make sure the strategy is informed by a range of expertise.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Prison pathfinder meetings are provided with intelligence risk assessments on the release of prisoners that could pose a threat to national security.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The improvements being made to the Pathfinder process, to further enhance our ability to make informed decisions about offenders who pose national security risks, are set out in the Ministry of Justice’s response to the Prevention of Future Deaths Report by H M Coroner, following the inquest into deaths resulting from the terror attack in Forbury Gardens, Reading (https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-0276-Response-from-Ministry-of-Justice.pdf). In addition, new guidance and templates have been produced for prison security departments to improve the quality and detail of the intelligence assessments that inform pre-release planning under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the press notice entitled Pat McFadden vows to make the state more like a start up as he deploys reform teams across country, published on 9 December 2024, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on sharing the lessons learned from his Department’s temporary accommodation pilot with the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

In December the Government launched the £100 million Innovation Fund to pioneer Public Service Reform by deploying new test-and-learn teams around the country to find innovative ways to fix some of our biggest challenges, including temporary accommodation.

My officials are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on this programme, ensuring they build on and complement the extensive programme of work the Secretary of State is taking forward on temporary accommodation and homelessness, including the Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots announced on 18 December 2024. I am a member of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Inter Ministerial Group on homeless and temporary accommodation. I have also met with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping and we have jointly met with council leaders to discuss this issue.

Trialling new, innovative ways of doing government is right at the heart of the Public Service Reform agenda, and we will be sharing the lessons learned from our pilots across government, including with the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had discussions with local authorities on the provision of temporary accommodation for test-and-learn pilots.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Test & Learns are a new way of working. The Cabinet Office, in close partnership with MHCLG, will be working across government and with local partners to codesign the detailed approach to the allocation of the Public Services and Innovation Fund in early 2025. We will partner with the Local Government Association (LGA) on this process. The initial projects include work on temporary accommodation with Liverpool City Council and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Essex County Council.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Alberto Costa (Chair); Paula Barker; Mark Ferguson; Sir Francis Habgood

Found: Kate Osborne Abtisam Mohamed Ellie Chowns Mrs Sharon Hodgson Dr Beccy Cooper Sarah Hall Paula Barker

Found: Byrne Wera Hobhouse Kim Johnson Sarah Owen Ellie Chowns Mrs Elsie Blundell Fabian Hamilton Paula Barker

Found: Kate Osborne Abtisam Mohamed Ellie Chowns Mrs Sharon Hodgson Dr Beccy Cooper Sarah Hall Paula Barker

Found: Presented by Fabian Hamilton supported by Bambos Charalambous, Mark Sewards, Paula Barker, Layla Moran

Found: _NC5 Paula Barker Kim Johnson Jeremy Corbyn Nadia Whittome Grahame Morris Ms Marie Rimmer Siân

Found: Not called_NC4 Alex Sobel Charlotte Nichols Carla Denyer Dr Simon Opher Cat Eccles Paula Barker

Found: the year in which they are intended to commence. 11 REPORT STAGE Monday 13 January 2025 _NC5 Paula Barker

Found: the year in which they are intended to commence. 11 REPORT STAGE Friday 10 January 2025 _NC5 Paula Barker

Found: _NC5 Paula Barker Kim Johnson Jeremy Corbyn Nadia Whittome Grahame Morris Ms Marie Rimmer Siân