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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the number of housing associations in England that are charging tenants for a 53 week rent year.

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

The Government does not collect data on whether weekly rent charged by housing associations is collected 52 or 53 times in a year. Government policy on social housing rents stipulates how the maximum weekly rent is to be calculated for any given social housing property, not how many times that weekly rent may be charged in any given year. The arrangements for charging rent should be set out in a tenancy agreement.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the extra cost of car insurance premiums faced by drivers from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

We are committed to tackling the increased costs of motor insurance to deliver on our manifesto commitment, including how this impacts different demographics, geographies, and communities.

The cross-government Motor Insurance Taskforce, including the stakeholder panel, met for the first time on 16th October. The Taskforce is currently exploring short- and long-term actions for departments that may contribute to stabilising or reducing premiums, while maintaining appropriate levels of cover.

As it takes this work forwards, the Taskforce will continue to work closely with the independent Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Competition and Markets Authority. The FCA has launched a market study into the premium finance market and is undertaking work to analyse the cause of increased claims costs in the motor insurance market.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many deaths were caused by illegal street racing incidents in the West Midlands in the last ten years.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Statistics and data on road injury collisions and casualties reported to and recorded by police are collected via the data collection system known as STATS19. While STATS19 collects information on the collision circumstances, vehicles involved and contributory factors, it does not identify when collisions are the result of illegal street racing incidents.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle illegal street racing in West Bromwich constituency.

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

Any form of anti-social, dangerous or inconsiderate behaviour involving any vehicle is a serious issue. Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for the Government, and a key part of the Safer Streets Mission.

Excess speed is a major cause of death and serious injury on our roads so anyone who breaks the speed limit should expect to face proper sanction.

We recently announced plans to strengthen the law so that these vehicles can be seized by police when they are used to commit anti-social behaviour, including illegal street racing, without having to issue a warning which delays enforcement action. This will allow them to swiftly deal with vehicles being used anti-socially.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with the the Chancellor of the Exchequer on retrospective steel safeguarding charges imposed on businesses.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Both the UK and EU separately apply a safeguard measure on certain categories of steel products. A safeguard measure protects domestic producers from injury as a result of unforeseen surges of imports. Both the UK and EU apply a 25% duty where import thresholds have been exceeded. HMRC may have the necessary data pertaining to any assessment of the total costs by businesses on the UK safeguard measure. However, since the expiry of the transition period an assessment has not been conducted. I will write to you on your question once my officials have consulted with HMRC.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an estimate of the total costs incurred by businesses of steel safeguarding duties since the end of the UK-EU transition period.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Both the UK and EU separately apply a safeguard measure on certain categories of steel products. A safeguard measure protects domestic producers from injury as a result of unforeseen surges of imports. Both the UK and EU apply a 25% duty where import thresholds have been exceeded. HMRC may have the necessary data pertaining to any assessment of the total costs by businesses on the UK safeguard measure. However, since the expiry of the transition period an assessment has not been conducted. I will write to you on your question once my officials have consulted with HMRC.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of funding provided by her Department to Steps to Work in Walsall through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

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

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is committed to evaluating the impacts and effectiveness of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The UKSPF evaluation strategy sets out the approach to evaluation. The department has committed to publish evaluation findings on an ongoing basis as they are available.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to reduce persistent absences in primary and secondary schools in West Bromwich constituency.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government is determined to tackle the generational challenge of school absence which is a fundamental barrier to learning and life chances. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, which limits their opportunity to succeed. There is evidence that more students are attending school this year compared to last, thanks to the sector’s efforts although around 1.6 million children remain persistently absent and miss 10% or more of lessons.

The department has a national approach to supporting all schools to tackle absence, including those in the West Bromwich constituency. Central to this approach are stronger expectations of local authorities and schools, as set out in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which was made statutory on 19 August 2024. The guidance promotes a 'support first' approach, encouraging schools, trusts and local authorities to work with families in addressing attendance barriers.

Every state school in England should now be sharing their daily attendance register data with the department, local authorities and trusts. These bodies can access this data through a secure, interactive dashboard which is maintained by the department, allowing them to target attendance interventions more effectively.

The department recognises the importance of creating opportunities within the sector to share existing best practice on how to improve attendance. This is why the department has set up a network of 31 attendance hubs, who have offered support to 2000 schools and shared their strategies and resources for improving attendance.

In addition to this work, the department also aims to improve the existing evidence on which interventions work to improve attendance. Over £17 million is being invested across two mentoring projects that will support at least 12,000 pupils in 15 areas. These programmes will be evaluated and the effective practice shared with schools and local authorities nationally.

From early 2025, new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams will support all state schools by facilitating networking, sharing best practice across areas, including attendance, and empowering schools to feel they can better access support and learn from one another. For schools requiring more intensive support, RISE teams and supporting organisations will work collaboratively with their responsible body to agree bespoke packages of targeted support, based on a school’s particular circumstances.

School attendance is also supported by broader investments, such as funded breakfast clubs, across all primary schools to ensure children start their day ready to learn.

We are working across government on plans to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.

Schools can also allocate pupil premium funding, which has now increased to over £2.9 billion for the 2024/25 financial year, to support pupils with identified needs to attend school regularly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of same-sex female couples are receiving NHS-funded IVF after undertaking six self-funded rounds of Intrauterine insemination as recommended by NICE.

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

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that between 2020 and 2022, the years in which they have the most recently data available, 25% of patients in same-sex female couples in the United Kingdom received National Health Service-funded in vitro fertilization (IVF), after completing six self-funded rounds of intrauterine insemination.

Integrated care boards are expected to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. The NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guidelines and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to NHS-funded treatment are still appropriate. We expect this review to be published in 2025. The Government will also be receiving advice from NHS England on the eligibility criteria for IVF and on access to treatment, and this will inform the Government’s considerations of future policy options.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will make an assessment of the eligibility criteria for IVF on access to treatment for (a) single patients and (b) same-sex female couples.

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

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that between 2020 and 2022, the years in which they have the most recently data available, 25% of patients in same-sex female couples in the United Kingdom received National Health Service-funded in vitro fertilization (IVF), after completing six self-funded rounds of intrauterine insemination.

Integrated care boards are expected to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. The NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guidelines and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to NHS-funded treatment are still appropriate. We expect this review to be published in 2025. The Government will also be receiving advice from NHS England on the eligibility criteria for IVF and on access to treatment, and this will inform the Government’s considerations of future policy options.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of above average unauthorised absence rates on educational outcomes in Sandwell local authority area.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Improving school attendance is central to the government’s Opportunity Mission to drive high and rising standards for every child. The government has inherited an epidemic of school absence which is one of the biggest barriers to opportunity, damaging learning, health and wellbeing.

Each day of lost learning can do serious harm. Days missed add up quickly. We know there is a link between absence and attainment, and that can have a knock-on effect on lifetime outcomes.

Analysis produced by the department in 2016 found that overall absence due to family holiday has a statistically significant negative link to attainment at both key stage 2 and key stage 4. The analysis is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a808fdee5274a2e8ab50d9f/The-link-between-absence-and-attainment-at-KS2-and-KS4-2013-to-2014-academic-year.pdf. This is further supported by a 2023 study by the Office for the Children’s Commissioner using departmental data which shows of the pupils who were persistently absent in year 10 and 11, 36% passed at least 5 GCSEs, including English and mathematics, compared to 78% who were rarely absent. The full details of the analysis can be found in the ‘Missing Children, Missing Grades’ report, which is accessible here: https://assets.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wpuploads/2023/11/CC-REPORT-_-Attendance-and-Attainment-_-Oct-23.pdf.

Absence does not just harm the attainment of those not in school, it can impact children in the classroom too. Children thrive on stability, but a steady churn of absences disrupts the learning of every child. The work of staff to cultivate a sense of community and belonging is weakened, and it increases workload for teachers who have to replan lessons.

The department’s ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which became statutory in August 2024, emphasises the importance of a 'support first' approach, setting clear expectations that schools and local authorities should work with families to address barriers to attendance in a sensitive way.

The department is also supporting school attendance through broader investments, such as funded breakfast clubs across all primary schools to ensure children start their day ready to learn and providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school.