Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that local authorities have adequate resources to support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in their care.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The safety and welfare of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is our utmost priority. We recognise that providing care placements for them is a national issue that requires participation from local authorities across the UK. We continue to work alongside other government departments, devolved administrations, and local authority representatives, to ensure this vulnerable group of children have timely access to the statutory placements that local authorities must provide.
Local authorities receive funding to support Children’s Social Care through the Local Government Finance Settlement, and finance arrangements which apply to the devolved administrations. In addition, the Home Office also provides funding contributions to the costs incurred by local government in looking after unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and former UASC care leavers.
The Home Office has also introduced our new Incentivised Funding Programme for 2023-24 which provides £6,000 for every unaccompanied child moved within 5 working days either from a UASC hotel, or from Kent County Council.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what safeguarding information his Department collects on unaccompanied children who are seeking asylum.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office collects information from individuals seeking asylum for the purpose of progressing asylum claims. When that information affects the type of accommodation an individual may require, that information is also recorded for the purposes of meeting our statutory obligation.
In respect of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children, responsibility to accommodate them sits with the local authority and they are required to collate appropriate safeguarding information for each child in their care.
All unaccompanied asylum-seeking children receive a welfare interview on arrival in the UK.
Young people who were placed in emergency interim hotels which were operated by the Home Office had additional standard information collected from them to ensure that referrals or actions required due to any identified safeguarding concerns or issues could be made, including notifying the relevant local authority.
Young people in the hotels are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what processes his Department has in place to help protect unaccompanied children seeking asylum who have been victims of (a) rape, (b) sexual assault and (c) sexual exploitation.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
We maintain that the best place for these children to be accommodated is within local authority care where they can receive the most appropriate support based on their individual needs.
We had robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people who were temporarily accommodated in Home Office run hotels were safe and supported as we sought urgent placements with a local authority.
Young people were supported by team leaders and support workers who were on site 24 hours a day. Further care was provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses. All contingency sites had security staff on site 24/7 and providers liaised closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether measures introduced under the Leasehold and Freehold Bill will apply to leaseholders where the freeholder is a local authority.
Answered by Lee Rowley
An Impact Assessment for the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill has been published at: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament.
Most of the measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will apply to local authority freeholders and we are currently undertaking a New Burdens Assessment to consider the effect of the Bill on local authorities.
All freeholders, and the wider public, are encouraged to respond to the consultation on ground rents, which is available here Modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of provisions in the Leasehold and Freehold Bill on local authorities.
Answered by Lee Rowley
An Impact Assessment for the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill has been published at: Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament.
Most of the measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will apply to local authority freeholders and we are currently undertaking a New Burdens Assessment to consider the effect of the Bill on local authorities.
All freeholders, and the wider public, are encouraged to respond to the consultation on ground rents, which is available here Modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing the compulsory labelling of products to indicate whether they were British-made or imported.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Aside from certain specified products such as food there is no requirement for goods to be labelled with their country of origin. The Government does not have plans to introduce such a requirement on behalf of consumers.
Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, traders are banned from using misleading statements about the geographical or commercial origin of products including in response to requests for information by consumers.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to prevent companies being set up using other people's personal information without their consent.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 amends the Companies Act 2006 to introduce a range of measures aimed at preventing the abuse of personal information. Once commenced, these will mean that (amongst other things) those incorporating and running companies will be required to verify their identities, and that the registrar of companies will have enhanced powers to ensure that people’s personal addresses are not misused.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) likelihood and (b) impact on the banking sector of a payments system being hacked by a hostile actor; and what contingency plans his Department has put in place for this.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
In fulfilling its role as lead government department for the finance sector, HMT assesses a range of risks that might have an impact on the functioning of the sector. The department has published several risks in the 2023 National Risk Register.Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support PhD students with the increased cost of living.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Government introduced doctoral loans in the 2018/19 academic year. These loans, which offer up to £28,673 for courses starting in 2023/24, are a contribution to the costs of study, and are the first direct government funding for doctoral study available to students on an open to all basis. For example, available to all eligible students who have gained a place on an eligible programme of study.
The government is considering options for doctoral loans for the 2024/25 academic year and will be making an announcement in due course.
The government recognises the cost-of-living pressures that have impacted students. That is why the department asked the Office for Students to maintain Student Premium and Mental Health funding for the 2023/24 financial year at the same levels as the previous year.
The department has made available £276 million of Student Premium and Mental Health funding for the 2023/24 academic year to support students who need additional help. This funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of prioritising the covid-19 vaccine booster programme for people diagnosed with long-covid.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is an independent group of experts who advise the Government health departments in the four nations of the United Kingdom on immunisations and the prevention of infectious disease. On 8 August 2023, the Government accepted advice from the JCVI on who should be offered COVID-19 vaccination in autumn 2023.
The primary aim of the COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of severe illness, namely hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19. The JCVI advice is to focus the offer of vaccination on those at greatest risk of serious disease or at high risk of transmitting the disease to vulnerable individuals. For this autumn the eligible groups for vaccination are residents and staff in a care home for older adults, all adults aged 65 years old and over, persons aged 6 months to 64 years old in a clinical risk group, frontline health and social care workers, persons aged 12 to 64 years old who are household contacts and persons aged 16 to 64 years old who are carers.
The clinical risk groups for COVID-19 vaccination are defined in the UK Health Security Agency’s ‘Green Book’ on vaccines and immunisation Chapter 14a tables 3 and 4. Post-COVID Syndrome (long COVID) is not currently identified by the JCVI as one of these conditions. The JCVI considered post-COVID syndromes when developing advice for autumn 2023 and concluded that there is not currently sufficient evidence to support making individuals experiencing post-COVID syndrome an eligible group for vaccination.
To support individuals with long COVID, NHS England has set out a long COVID action plan, including establishing a nationwide network of specialist clinics. Anyone who is concerned about ongoing symptoms following COVID-19 can find information and advice on the ‘NHS Your COVID Recovery’ website. The JCVI will continue to review evidence and will provide further advice regarding future vaccination programmes in due course.