Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with the Treasury about the potential value for money benefits of a multi-year funding settlement for the London Violence Reduction Unit.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Independent evaluation has demonstrated that the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) programme has successfully reduced serious violence, preventing thousands of young people from being admitted to hospital for violent injuries across 20 police force areas in England and Wales, including London. The report flags statistically significant reductions in assaults by sharp object for under-25s, and assaults by any violence for under-25s and all ages. This equates to around 550 fewer sharp-object hospital admissions and 3,750 admissions for all types of violence among under-25-year-olds or 7,140 fewer admissions across all ages for all types of violence, since funding began in 2019
Recognising this impact, the 2026/27 Police Funding Settlement included an allocation of £66.6m for Serious Violence Reduction Programmes, including £10.5m for London VRU.
Officials are considering funding options for FY 27/28 and 28/29 for Serious Violence Reduction Programmes, including VRUs.
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 potential merits of providing the London Violence Reduction Unit with a multi-year funding settlement.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Independent evaluation has demonstrated that the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) programme has successfully reduced serious violence, preventing thousands of young people from being admitted to hospital for violent injuries across 20 police force areas in England and Wales, including London. The report flags statistically significant reductions in assaults by sharp object for under-25s, and assaults by any violence for under-25s and all ages. This equates to around 550 fewer sharp-object hospital admissions and 3,750 admissions for all types of violence among under-25-year-olds or 7,140 fewer admissions across all ages for all types of violence, since funding began in 2019
Recognising this impact, the 2026/27 Police Funding Settlement included an allocation of £66.6m for Serious Violence Reduction Programmes, including £10.5m for London VRU.
Officials are considering funding options for FY 27/28 and 28/29 for Serious Violence Reduction Programmes, including VRUs.
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 considered providing the London Violence Reduction Unit with a multi-year funding settlement.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Independent evaluation has demonstrated that the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) programme has successfully reduced serious violence, preventing thousands of young people from being admitted to hospital for violent injuries across 20 police force areas in England and Wales, including London. The report flags statistically significant reductions in assaults by sharp object for under-25s, and assaults by any violence for under-25s and all ages. This equates to around 550 fewer sharp-object hospital admissions and 3,750 admissions for all types of violence among under-25-year-olds or 7,140 fewer admissions across all ages for all types of violence, since funding began in 2019
Recognising this impact, the 2026/27 Police Funding Settlement included an allocation of £66.6m for Serious Violence Reduction Programmes, including £10.5m for London VRU.
Officials are considering funding options for FY 27/28 and 28/29 for Serious Violence Reduction Programmes, including VRUs.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that good practice guidelines produced by NICE on the diagnosis and care of osteoarthritis are implemented.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are supporting better care for patients with arthritis through the Getting It Right First Time Programme (GIRFT) for Rheumatology. The GIRFT rheumatology programme is supporting the National Health Service to deliver care more equitably across England and closer to patients’ homes and improve services nationally.
As part of the GIRFT Musculoskeletal (MSK) Delivery Programme, GIRFT teams are working with health system leaders to reduce MSK community waiting times, including for patients with arthritis, and improve referral pathways to wider support services.
As part of a major transformation of the NHS under the 10-Year Health Plan, patients with MSK conditions, such as arthritis, will also soon be able to directly access community services, including physiotherapy, pain management, and orthopaedics, in the NHS App. The landmark change will deliver faster treatment for the flare up of existing conditions, including arthritis, back pain, and joint pain, while enabling general practitioners to focus on more complex cases, reducing pressure on hospitals, and freeing up general practices.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines are informed by clinical expertise, are evidence-based, and represent best practice. While NICE guidance is not mandatory, the Government expects commissioners and service providers to take them fully into account in designing services that meet the needs of their local population and to work towards their implementation over time.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to address regional variation in remission rates for inflammatory arthritis.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are supporting better care for patients with arthritis through the Getting It Right First Time Programme (GIRFT) for Rheumatology. The GIRFT rheumatology programme is supporting the National Health Service to deliver care more equitably across England and closer to patients’ homes and improve services nationally.
As part of the GIRFT Musculoskeletal (MSK) Delivery Programme, GIRFT teams are working with health system leaders to reduce MSK community waiting times, including for patients with arthritis, and improve referral pathways to wider support services.
As part of a major transformation of the NHS under the 10-Year Health Plan, patients with MSK conditions, such as arthritis, will also soon be able to directly access community services, including physiotherapy, pain management, and orthopaedics, in the NHS App. The landmark change will deliver faster treatment for the flare up of existing conditions, including arthritis, back pain, and joint pain, while enabling general practitioners to focus on more complex cases, reducing pressure on hospitals, and freeing up general practices.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines are informed by clinical expertise, are evidence-based, and represent best practice. While NICE guidance is not mandatory, the Government expects commissioners and service providers to take them fully into account in designing services that meet the needs of their local population and to work towards their implementation over time.
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, under what circumstances a decision-maker is required to order new a) work capability and b) personal independence payment assessments under Right to Try regulations.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is committed to giving disabled people and people with health conditions the confidence that working will not trigger a reassessment and a potential loss of benefits.
Under the Right to Try regulations, staff cannot order a new Work Capability Assessment or Personal Independence Payment assessment solely because a claimant has started paid or voluntary work.
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, with reference to guidance issued to staff regarding the Right to Try regulations, what checks are in place to ensure that an order made by a decision-maker for a new a) work capability assessment or b) personal independence payment assessment is appropriate.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is committed to giving disabled people and people with health conditions the confidence that working will not trigger a reassessment and a potential loss of benefits.
Under the Right to Try regulations, staff cannot order a new Work Capability Assessment or Personal Independence Payment assessment solely because a claimant has started paid or voluntary work.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce delays in processing indefinite leave to remain applications for people currently on the 10-year route to settlement.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, including indefinite leave to remain applications for people currently on the 10-year route to settlement, where applicable. The Home Office regularly reviews its caseworking processes to streamline and increase their efficiency. We can deploy decision-maker capacity flexibly to support wider casework demands across the Home Office. We are exploring options to increase resources in Human Rights and implement technology changes to improve efficiency and speed up processing times.
For applications for indefinite leave to remain, the service standard for straightforward applications is 6 months. Applications for settlement, family and private life visas can be expedited using optional priority or super priority services, where available, for an additional fee to receive a faster decision. Further information can be found here: Get a faster decision on your visa or settlement application: Applying for a faster decision – GOV.UK.
All family and private life visa applications are carefully considered in line with the published processing times available here: Visa processing times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK. Where applicants require their application to be expedited owing to their individual compelling and compassionate circumstances, we will consider each case on its own merits.
The latest data on settlement applications was published on 21 May 2026 and is to the year ending 31 March 2026 - Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2026 - GOV.UK.
The Home Office publishes data on performance against service standards in its quarterly immigration system statistics, available at Migration transparency data - GOV.UK. Data on performance against the settlement service standard is currently unavailable due to ongoing data quality issues. Generally, the Home Office allocates resources to ensure there are sufficient resources in place to decide the forecast number of applications within the published service standard.
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, whether his Department amended the draft Right to Try regulations from The Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment and Employment and Support Allowance (Amendment) Regulations 2026 following the publication of the report by the Social Security Advisory Committee entitled The Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment and Employment and Support Allowance (Amendment) Regulations 2026, published on 13 April 2026.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We carefully considered the Social Security Advisory Committee’s report and have taken its recommendations on board. While the regulations were laid to provide immediate clarity that work, in and of itself, will not trigger a reassessment, the Department has committed to a programme of further work in response to the Committee’s feedback.
This includes strengthening the monitoring and evaluation of the Right to Try approach and ensuring that clear communications and appropriate safeguards are in place so claimants can engage with work confidently.
The Secretary of State has written to the Committee setting out these commitments, and officials are now taking this work forward to ensure the policy delivers as intended in practice.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact on its policies of the proposed earned settlement model on the level of renewal applications.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The consultation for the earned settlement model, as proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, was open to the public between 20 November 2025 and 12 February 2026.
As part of this consultation, we sought views on the potential impact on visa holders already in the UK.
We are now reviewing and analysing all responses received. This analysis will help inform the development and deliverability of the final earned settlement model, including consideration of any transitional measures for those already on a pathway to settlement.
Once the final model has been decided, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly. As with all significant policy changes, the proposals will be subject to both economic and equality impact assessments.