Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help support agricultural livelihoods in Gaza; and what steps the Government is taking to ensure that UK-funded support for agricultural equipment and recovery prioritises the needs and expertise of older farmers to help secure sustainable, local food production.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We recognise that people with existing vulnerabilities, including older people, can be disproportionately affected by humanitarian crises. All organisations which receive Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office funding are required to demonstrate commitment to equality and inclusion in their work, to ensure our assistance reaches those in greatest need. The UK is actively supporting humanitarian efforts in Gaza - we are providing £78 million for humanitarian and early recovery support for Palestine this financial year. This includes the UK's support to UK-Med, which has enabled 800,000 patient consultations to take place in Gaza, including supporting vulnerable groups and the elderly.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of the humanitarian aid budget for (a) the Gaza conflict and (b) all global humanitarian crises is specifically allocated for (i) social protection mechanisms and (ii) targeted cash grants for older people; and what specific steps the Department is taking to ensure that (A) age, (B) gender and (C) disability are considered by implementing partners to prioritise older people in the delivery of assistance.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We recognise that people with existing vulnerabilities, including older people, can be disproportionately affected by humanitarian crises. All organisations which receive Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office funding are required to demonstrate commitment to equality and inclusion in their work, to ensure our assistance reaches those in greatest need. The UK is actively supporting humanitarian efforts in Gaza - we are providing £78 million for humanitarian and early recovery support for Palestine this financial year. This includes the UK's support to UK-Med, which has enabled 800,000 patient consultations to take place in Gaza, including supporting vulnerable groups and the elderly.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the restriction zone requirement in the Sentencing Bill would apply to convicted murderers on a life sentence; and whether the conditions of convicted murderers would be independently managed by the parole board.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
It is crucial that we have a justice system that punishes offenders and supports victims. That is why increasing restriction on serious sexual and violent offenders is part of our Plan for Change to cut crime and make streets safer.
Through the Sentencing Bill, we are introducing a new power which will allow restriction zones to be imposed on offenders on licence, where appropriate. These will restrict certain offenders to specific areas – so their victims know they are safe wherever else they want to go. We are working to finalise the operation of, and eligibility for, the new restriction zones, subject to the passage of the Sentencing Bill
Where an offender is serving a life sentence, they may only be released once they have completed their minimum term (or tariff) set by the court and where the independent Parole Board is satisfied that they no longer need to be detained for the protection of the public. If the Board directs the release of a life-sentence prisoner, it will also decide what licence conditions will apply to safely manage the offender in the community. Any subsequent variation of the conditions on a life licence will also be a matter for the Parole Board to decide.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure humanitarian funding for (a) conflict-affected and (b) climate-vulnerable regions following the planned reduction of Official Development Assistance.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Detailed decisions on how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will be used are being worked through following the Spending Review and through resource allocation processes. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is focused on ensuring that every pound is spent in the most impactful way.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether bereaved families of victims of murder would be protected under the restriction zone requirement in the Sentencing Bill.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
It is crucial that we have a justice system that punishes offenders and supports victims. That is why increasing restriction on serious sexual and violent offenders is part of our Plan for Change to cut crime and make streets safer.
Through the Sentencing Bill, we are introducing a new power which will allow restriction zones on offenders to be imposed on offenders on licence, where appropriate. These will restrict certain offenders to specific areas – so their victims know they are safe wherever else they want to go. Licence conditions for offenders convicted of murder are determined by the independent Parole Board.
We are working to finalise the operation of, and eligibility for, these zones, subject to the passage of the Sentencing Bill.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the restriction zone requirement in the Sentencing Bill would apply to offenders of murder.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
It is crucial that we have a justice system that punishes offenders and supports victims. That is why increasing restriction on serious sexual and violent offenders is part of our Plan for Change to cut crime and make streets safer.
Through the Sentencing Bill, we are introducing a new power which will allow restriction zones on offenders to be imposed on offenders on licence, where appropriate. These will restrict certain offenders to specific areas – so their victims know they are safe wherever else they want to go. Licence conditions for offenders convicted of murder are determined by the independent Parole Board.
We are working to finalise the operation of, and eligibility for, these zones, subject to the passage of the Sentencing Bill.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will publish a timeline for the Law Commission of England and Wales’s review of the homicide law.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Law Commission is independent of Government and responsible for the review of homicide law and sentencing for murder, including publishing their proposed timeline. The Government understands, however, that the Law Commission intends to publish a timeline for their homicide review imminently.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 April 2025 to Question 44809 on Local Housing Allowance: Wales, what (a) metrics, (b) data points and (c) analysis were used to assess the impact of Local Housing Allowance rates referenced his answer; and whether this included the impact on the number of people becoming homeless.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The impacts referenced in the previous answer were determined using a wide variety of metrics, data and analysis. These included:
As covered in the previous answer, the causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and interact dynamically. This makes it very difficult to isolate the relative importance of individual factors such as individual benefit rates. But interactions with key measures such as Temporary Accommodation were considered with input from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
At Autumn Budget the Government prioritised a downpayment on poverty, by introducing a Fair Payment Rate for Universal Credit (UC) customers with deductions to retain more of their benefit award. We have invested £1bn in extending the Household Support Fund and maintaining Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) at current levels (including Barnett impacts) for 2025/26.
We continue to work across Government on the development of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping strategy in England. Housing and homelessness policy is devolved to Wales.
Any future decisions on LHA policy will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing and the fiscal context.
DHPs are available from local authorities and can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or UC who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he has taken under the Shared Rural Network programme to map investment in the hardest-to-reach areas.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ofcom reporting indicates areas of poor mobile coverage across the UK. The Government has worked closely with the mobile network operators to identify locations where upgrading or building new masts can improve connectivity in rural areas where there is no or limited coverage, including utilising the Emergency Service Network (ESN) where feasible. The location of masts is also determined according to how quickly they can be delivered and the public benefit they provide.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to publish an updated response to the Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
The Lord Chancellor set out the Government’s plans for reforms to sentencing of domestic homicides in a Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament on 6 December 2024 (HCWS286). The Law Commission has accepted our request to undertake a review of the law of homicide and the sentencing framework for murder. Drivers for this review include concerns related to gendered disparities for murders committed in a domestic context. The Terms of Reference and more information on the review can be found on the Law Commission’s website and they will publish a detailed timeline for the project shortly.
We are also taking more immediate action in the short-term by implementing two of the outstanding recommendations in the independent Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review which was undertaken by Clare Wade KC under the last Government. These measures are statutory aggravating factors for murders involving strangulation and those connected with the end of a relationship. We intend to lay a Statutory Instrument to implement these measures when parliamentary time allows and we have recently completed a statutory consultation with the Sentencing Council that must precede this process.