Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Department is taking to help ensure that housing in the private rented sector is maintained to the appropriate standards.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Every tenant deserves to live in a decent, warm, and comfortable home.
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 will extend Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector and introduce a Decent Homes Standard for privately rented homes for the first time.
A summary of the measures in the Act which can be found on gov.uk here and a roadmap for implementation can be found on gov.uk here.
Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) already apply in the private rented sector, requiring landlords to ensure their properties meet at least an EPC rating of E. Local authorities have powers to enforce these standards. Under the updated PRS MEES framework, this minimum standard will rise to EPC C by 2030. This change will help tenants benefit from lower energy bills and warmer, healthier homes that are less prone to damp and mould, contributing to reduced fuel poverty.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of expediting implementation of the Decent Homes Standard to improve maintenance practices in privately rented properties.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government consulted on both the content and implementation of a new, modernised Decent Homes Standard and has published a full impact assessment setting out the rationale for implementing the standard in 2035. The consultation outcome can be found on gov.uk here and the impact assessment on gov.uk here.
Private rented sector landlords should address non-decency wherever it exists. While we are giving landlords until 2035 to implement our new Decent Homes Standard, we have made clear they should not wait until 2035 to improve their properties.
We are also acting in other ways to ensure private tenants have safe, warm, and decent homes including introducing new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for the sector; strengthening local authority enforcement in respect of unremedied hazards; and applying Awaab’s Law Act to the PRS through the relevant provisions in the Renters’ Rights Act.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department is taking steps to extend Awaab's Law to private rented sector housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the roadmap for implementing the Renters' Rights Act 2025 published on 13 November 2025 which can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the careers advice in (a) schools, (b) further education settings and (c) higher education settings for young people wishing to pursue a career in the creative industries.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department grant funds the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) to support schools and colleges to deliver high quality careers programmes. CEC’s support includes training for school and college-based careers leaders, connecting employers to schools and colleges through 44 careers hubs and delivering this government’s commitment to offer two weeks of meaningful and varied workplace experiences throughout key stages 3 and 4. The careers hub network includes 96% of secondary schools and colleges, 400+ leading employers and over 3,500 business volunteers across all sectors including creative industries.
CEC continues to work with Discover Creative Careers and has produced a range of resources on careers in the creative sector including technical pathways into the sector. Higher education providers are autonomous institutions and are responsible for designing and delivering their own careers advice and employability support for students.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made any assessment of the potential merits of introducing a basic income for people working in the arts, similar to the Basic Income for the Arts recently introduced in Ireland.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government recognises the important role of supporting the arts. This support is primarily delivered through Arts Council England, which invests over £440 million annually, supporting the creation and promotion of new artistic work and talent.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to engage with a) disabled people and b) disabled people's organisations during next the phase of reform for the Disability Confident scheme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to ensuring that the next phase of Disability Confident reform is shaped by the lived experience of disabled people and disabled people’s organisations.
As set out in the Disability Confident Reform Delivery Plan the reformed scheme will embed disabled people’s voices throughout design, testing and evaluation. This includes planned engagement through qualitative interviews, surveys, and employee feedback mechanisms, ensuring that reforms reflect the real experiences of disabled employees and those with long-term health conditions.
We will also work directly with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations as part of our stakeholder engagement work. Their expertise will inform the development and testing of strengthened standards, verification processes and tools, with opportunities to contribute through engagement sessions, workshops and ongoing feedback loops.
Taken together, these measures will ensure that disabled people and the organisations representing them have clear and meaningful opportunities to shape the next phase of Disability Confident reform.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to the letter of 24 October 2025 from the hon. Member for Lewisham North.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We apologise for the delay in responding to this case. A reply was issued on 27 January 2026.
MP casework is handled by the Department’s complaints and correspondence teams as a priority, with a target response time of 15 working days. However, increased volumes of complaints and a rise in more complex cases have led to some delays. To address this, the Department has recruited additional staff to improve the timeliness and efficiency of responses.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent progress his Department has made towards the publication of the Local Power Plan; and when he plans to publish that plan.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On 10 February 2026, Great British Energy and the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero published the Local Power Plan which sets out the UK’s largest ever public investment in locally owned clean energy.
Backed by up to £1 billion, the Local Power Plan aims to support more than 1,000 local and community energy projects by 2030.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of providing longer term funding for violence reduction units, beyond the current one year settlement.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Crime prevention is key to the government’s Safer Streets mission and ambition to halve knife crime. Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) play an important role by uniting local partners to collectively identify and address the underlying drivers of serious violence within their communities.
This financial year (2025/26), we have allocated £47m to a network of 20 VRUs, in the areas experiencing the most severe challenges, to support their valuable work. In addition, we have provided further funding to enable the roll out of Young Futures Panels in the first year of their establishment.
The most recently published independent evaluation demonstrates that VRUs, in combination with additional hotspot police patrols, are reducing hospital admissions, with a clear impact on their target cohort of young people under 25. There were statistically significant reductions in hospital admissions for violence amongst this age group. In addition, VRUs continue to demonstrate progress and show signs of maturing and becoming embedded in local responses to prevent violence.
Allocations decisions on Violence Reduction Units and the wider policing system will be finalised early this year.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of central Government funding for Violence Reduction Units.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Crime prevention is key to the government’s Safer Streets mission and ambition to halve knife crime. Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) play an important role by uniting local partners to collectively identify and address the underlying drivers of serious violence within their communities.
This financial year (2025/26), we have allocated £47m to a network of 20 VRUs, in the areas experiencing the most severe challenges, to support their valuable work. In addition, we have provided further funding to enable the roll out of Young Futures Panels in the first year of their establishment.
The most recently published independent evaluation demonstrates that VRUs, in combination with additional hotspot police patrols, are reducing hospital admissions, with a clear impact on their target cohort of young people under 25. There were statistically significant reductions in hospital admissions for violence amongst this age group. In addition, VRUs continue to demonstrate progress and show signs of maturing and becoming embedded in local responses to prevent violence.
Allocations decisions on Violence Reduction Units and the wider policing system will be finalised early this year.