Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support vulnerable people into work in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Get Britain Working White Paper set out the biggest reforms to employment support for a generation to support our ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate.
The Department for Work and Pensions will shift from being a department for employment support and welfare to being a department for work. This means a new, locally led system of work and health support being available for those who are unemployed, bringing together existing locally delivered employment support as a single coherent offer that is part of areas’ local growth plans.
Our Jobcentre teams work closely with the Local Authority as well as employers, local colleges and providers in Harpenden and Berkhamsted to promote employment opportunities for our customers, including those who are vulnerable. Jobcentres also have a range of specialist roles to work with vulnerable customers. These roles include Disability Employment Advisers, Prison Work Coaches, Supporting Families Employment Advisers, Visiting Officers and more.
There is a range of employability support options such as face to face or group sessions, job fairs and career events to help engage with vulnerable customers in a setting to suit their needs. There is also Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP) and Mentoring Circles where our Jobcentre teams work closely with employers and providers to give customers the skills they need to enter employment. An example is that we are currently running a Care Sector SWAP for full and part time roles which can be completed at home to support lone parents and those with health conditions to participate.
The Jobcentre teams also have a range of contracted support which is available to our vulnerable customers to help them move closer and in to work. This includes Restart, Work and Health Programme, CV help from NCS, Disability Forums and Jobclubs.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to answer Question 46378 on Nigeria: Religious Freedom, tabled by the hon. Member for Harpenden and Berkhamsted on 17 April 2025.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member's question. I issued a response to the hon. Member on 8 May.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the level of uptake of Pension Credit in (a) Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency and (b) the rest of England.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government wants all pensioners to get the support to which they are rightly entitled. That is why we ran the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign across the whole of Great Britian. This included adverts on television; radio; social media; on YouTube; on advertising screens in Pharmacies, Post Offices and leisure centres (including in Harpenden and Berkhamsted). The campaign also featured on train advertising panels (including on Chiltern, Greater Anglia, and Thameslink services) as well as in the press.
As part of the campaign, the Department engaged with all councils in Great Britain, including Hertfordshire council, through the regular Local Authority Welfare Direct bulletins. We also directly targeted 120,000 pensioners in receipt of Housing Benefit inviting them to claim Pension Credit. More recently, around 11 million pensioners will have received a leaflet promoting Pension Credit along with their State Pension uprating letter.
Building on the success of our campaign, we are now writing to all pensioners who make a new claim for Housing Benefit, and who appear to be entitled to Pension Credit, encouraging them to make a claim.
The latest Pension Credit applications and awards statistics were published on 27 February and are available at: Pension Credit applications and awards: February 2025 - GOV.UK. The statistics show that the Department made almost 50,000 extra awards on the comparable period in 2023/24. The next set of statistics will be published on 29 May.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to the Winter Fuel Payment on living standards for pensioners in Harpenden and Berkhamsted.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is, protecting pensioners on the lowest incomes. Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households with someone receiving Pension Credit or other qualifying means-tested benefits or tax credits. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone aged 80 or over.
The last Labour Government lifted over one million pensioners out of poverty, and this Government – despite having to make the tough decisions to deal with our dire inheritance - remains absolutely committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement. Our commitment to the Triple Lock means that spending on State Pensions is forecast to rise by around £31 billion over this Parliament.
While the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people, other help is also available for low-income pensioners. This includes Cold Weather Payments in England & Wales and help with energy bills via the Warm Home Discount scheme, as well as the Household Support Fund in England, which we extended for a further year with funding of £742 million, with corresponding funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce regional differences in social care provision for disabled children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On Thursday 20 March I announced the launch of the national Families First Partnership programme, backed by over £500 million in grant funding to support rollout. This includes the publication of the Families First Programme guide, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/families-first-partnership-programme.
The department’s goal for this programme is to improve access to support for families, including families with disabled children, right across the country. The aim is to rebalance the system of support away from crisis intervention and towards earlier help, delivering on the government’s mission to provide children with the best start in life, keep children safe and break down barriers to opportunity.
The department recognises there is geographical variation for a range of reasons. Through the rollout of this programme, local areas will co-design services with partners and families to better understand local need and services, to inform future delivery. We will work to support local authorities throughout the transformation period.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to emergency dentistry in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency this is the Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB. ICBs have been asked to start making extra urgent dental appointments available from April 2025. The Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB are expected to deliver 5,712 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to increase taxes on global tech companies.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK remains committed to reaching a global solution on the taxation of the digital economy through Pillar 1 of the G20-OECD Inclusive Framework project. The UK has fully implemented Pillar 2 of the project which ensures all multinationals are subject to a minimum rate.
The Digital Services Tax (DST) is an interim tax measure to ensure that digital services providers pay UK tax on digital services that reflects the value they derive from UK users. It is UK’s intention to repeal our Digital Services Tax (DST) when Pillar 1 of the OECD project is in place.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a cap on the fees charged by veterinary practices for issuing Animal Health Certificates.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All fees set by veterinary surgeons or veterinary practices are a private matter between individual practices and their clients. Neither the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), the UK regulator of the veterinary profession, nor Defra intervene in the level of fees that are charged.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will take steps to adapt farming subsidy schemes to incentivise the (a) housing of all farmed animals in woodland and (b) planting of woodland in permanent pasture; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on (i) animal welfare, (ii) climate and (iii) biodiversity.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Businesses must notify the competent authorities in advance of a consignment arriving in GB when it contains High risk or Medium A risk plants and plant products as they are subject to phytosanitary controls. Upon completion of the notification an initial risk assessment is provided detailing whether an inspection is required. Drivers and notifiers are informed in one of two ways.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of providing additional funding for social rent homes in the forthcoming spending review.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.
At Spring statement, the government announced an immediate injection of £2 billion to support delivery of the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and contribute to our ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in this Parliament. Further detail can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement made on 25 March 2025 (HCWS549).
The investment made at Spring statement follows the £800 million in new in-year funding which has been made available for the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme and that will support the delivery of up to 7,800 new homes, with more than half of them being Social Rent homes.
We will set out set details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for social rent.