Written questions by Begum.

What estimate she has made as to the number of people in receipt of Personal Independence Payments who are in (a) full time and (b) part time work.

No estimate has been made. The information requested on (a) full time and (b) part time work is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The June 2024 Green Paper Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper - GOV.UK included an estimate that around 16% of PIP claimants are in work.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has had discussions with mortgage-lenders on ensuring that existing leaseholders with (a) unregulated and (b) uncapped ground rents are able to secure buyers for their properties.

The government remains firmly committed to its manifesto commitment to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and we will deliver this in legislation.

If she will take steps to help ensure that UK Border Force eGates are configured to permit entry to holders of Irish passport cards travelling from outside the Common Travel Area.

Irish nationals can travel to the UK on either an Irish passport or associated passport card. In line with other identity cards, Irish passport cards cannot be used at eGates and there are no plans to change this.If an Irish national wishes to use their passport card to enter the UK from outside the Common Travel Area, they are required to present it to a Border Force officer.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that existing leaseholders with (a) unregulated and (b) uncapped ground rents are able to secure buyers for their properties.

The government remains firmly committed to its manifesto commitment to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents, and we will deliver this in legislation.

What criteria will be used to determine suspicious bank account activity that would result in the Department requiring access to the individuals bank account under the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill.

DWP’s information gathering powers may be used where there is a reasonable suspicion of fraud. In such cases the Department can issue an information notice, where necessary and proportionate, to any information holders who DWP believe hold relevant information, including banks. When gathered, this information can be used to either prove or disprove the allegation of fraud.This is distinct from the new Eligibility Verification measure contained within the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, where banks and financial institutions will be required to share limited data with DWP on benefit-receiving account holders and accounts relating to specified benefits, where it suggests someone may be receiving an incorrect payment. For example, where a person is in receipt of Universal Credit and has savings over £16,000. This is done without any presumption of fraud.

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Code of Practice in the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill in protecting the (a) rights and (b) privacy of (i) vulnerable people and (ii) people living in poverty.

As outlined in the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, DWP will publish three Codes of Practice to sit alongside its Information Gathering, Debt Recovery and Eligibility Verification measures. These are in development and we are already engaging with key stakeholders on the principles of the Codes. There will be public consultations to provide an opportunity for all interested parties to review and respond. It is important to note these Codes of Practice are not legislation and so will not contain statutory provision themselves. They offer guidance and guidelines on how the Bill’s measures will be operationalised and detail the Bill’s practical application including the application of safeguards included in the Bill itself. The Department is confident the Bill’s powers are compliant with the government’s duties under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), including the right to private life under Article 8. The measures are justified, lawful and proportionate and the Departments’ detailed analysis on ECHR is set out in the published ECHR Memorandum, available here. The Impact Assessment which accompanies this Bill can be found here. The Bill includes safeguards to provide assurance the new powers are used proportionately and effectively, and in a way that protects vulnerable people and people living in poverty. More information can be found here: Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill 2025: factsheets - GOV.UK

Pursuant to the Answers of 20 December 2024 to Questions 19855 and 19857 on Climate Change: Demonstrations and to Questions 19852 and 19853 on Arms Trade: Israel, Question, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the implementation of the (a) Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2023 and (b) Public Order Act 2023.

The right to peacefully protest is a fundamental part of our democratic society.We have committed to holding expedited post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023 beginning in May 2025. This process will review how the legislation has operated since it came into force. We will carefully consider the outputs of this review.The full Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 will also be subject to post-legislative scrutiny between April 2025 and April 2027. This will include a review of sections 73, 74 and 79, as well as the other public order measures in the Act.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2024 to Question 19048 on Gaza: Israel Defense Forces, whether any products made by Elbit Systems exported before 2 September 2024 were used by Israel Defence Forces in operations in Gaza.

Following the suspension of export licences announced on 2 September, there are currently no extant export licences for items that we assess might be for use by the Israel Defense Forces in military operations in the Gaza conflict (except for F-35 components, which have been excluded from the ambit of the suspension). We continue to keep export licences for Israel under continual and careful review.Licences where there is no clear risk the items could be used in military operations in the conflict remain extant. These cover items such as body armour for NGOs, journalists, components for trainer aircraft, items for re-export to third countries, or non-military controlled items such as technology for commercial aircraft, chemical manufacturing equipment, commercial satellite, and spacecraft components.

Pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2024 to Question 20272 on Social Security Benefits, whether she plans to conduct a statutory public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 into (a) deaths and (b) serious harm linked to the social security system.

The department is fully supportive of the Work and Pensions Select Committee’s ‘safeguarding vulnerable claimants’ inquiry, which is examining how the department supports vulnerable benefit claimants and whether its approach to safeguarding needs to change. I look forward to reading the Committee’s report and recommendations when this inquiry concludes.We are reviewing the approach we take as a department to safeguard our most vulnerable customers – we are working to introduce and publish a DWP ‘safeguarding approach’. This will tell customers what support is available, how they access it and the level of service they can expect.

Pursuant to the Answers of 20 December 2024 to Questions 19855 and 19857 on Climate Change: Demonstrations and to Questions 19852 and 19853 on Arms Trade: Israel, Question, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of (a) the policing of protests and (b) trends in the number of (a) arrests and (b) convictions for protest related activities.

The right to peacefully protest is a fundamental part of our democratic society.We have committed to holding expedited post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023 beginning in May 2025. This process will review how the legislation has operated since it came into force. We will carefully consider the outputs of this review.The full Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 will also be subject to post-legislative scrutiny between April 2025 and April 2027. This will include a review of sections 73, 74 and 79, as well as the other public order measures in the Act.

Pursuant to the Answers of 20 December 2024 to Questions 19855 and 19857 on Climate Change: Demonstrations and to Questions 19852 and 19853 on Arms Trade: Israel, Question, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2023 and (b) Public Order Act 2023 on (i) the policing of protests and (ii) (A) arrests and (B) convictions for protest related activities.

The right to peacefully protest is a fundamental part of our democratic society.We have committed to holding expedited post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023 beginning in May 2025. This process will review how the legislation has operated since it came into force. We will carefully consider the outputs of this review.The full Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 will also be subject to post-legislative scrutiny between April 2025 and April 2027. This will include a review of sections 73, 74 and 79, as well as the other public order measures in the Act.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether she has any plans to abolish the Shared Accommodation Rate as part of the Government’s Universal Credit review.

Individual policies cannot be considered in isolation and there are currently no plans to abolish the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR), which is the rate of housing support for individuals under 35 living in the private sector. Government will prioritise the best way to achieve its mission goals within the current challenging fiscal situation at the appropriate fiscal event.The Government’s housing strategy will set out a long-term vision for a housing market that works for communities and builds 1.5m high-quality homes, including the biggest increase in affordable housing for a generation. We continue to work across-Government to support the development of the strategy and through the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping.Meanwhile the Department is committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to, to make work pay and tackle poverty. Parliament will be updated on progress and future changes accordingly.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to implement recommendation 58 of the report by the Law Commission entitled Home ownership: exercising the right to manage, published on 21 July 2020.

The government is committed to enacting remaining Law Commission recommendations relating to the Right to Manage.On 10 February, we laid regulations in Parliament to implement the reforms contained in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 concerning the Right to Manage and these will come into force on Monday 3 March.The changes will increase the non-residential limit on Right to Manage claims and remove the requirement for leaseholders to pay the freeholders’ process costs.Amending the threshold for premises excluded from the Right to Manage will allow more leaseholders in mixed-used buildings to take control of their buildings and bear down on poor service and spiralling costs. Ensuring that going forward both parties to a claim bear their own costs will save leaseholders money and reduce the incentive for freeholders to inflate costs and stifle the process.

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to increase the security of tenure of houseboat dwellers.

The government recognises that while the occupants of residential boats have the benefit of protection under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 and wider consumer protection legislation, they do not enjoy the same level of tenure security as those in the private rented sector.We will consider what action might be necessary to provide houseboat residents across with greater security in their homes.

Communities and Local Government, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse dated 29 August 2024, reference number MC2024/19996, on support for a public inquiry into th

The Department provided a response on 6 January 2025.

Whether the UK has any agreements with countries under which asylum seekers could be sent to them as a safe third country.

The Government has been clear that it will be ending the Migration and Economic Partnership with Rwanda. The UK has no other such agreements.

Whether the deals announced on 16 December 2024 between the Israel Ministry of Defence and Elbit Systems for the supply of advanced communication systems to the Israel Defence Force will include produc

We cannot comment on individual companies’ commercial plans. Elbit Systems UK Ltd, like all UK companies, would be required to apply for an export licence to export military or dual-use items from the UK. All such applications are assessed against the Str...

What steps she is taking to help tackle poverty in older people in Poplar and Limehouse constituency in the context of changes to the eligibility criteria for the winter fuel payment.

The Government is honouring our commitment to the Triple Lock with a 4.1% increase to the basic State Pension and the new State Pension; and we are also increasing the standard minimum guarantee in Pension Credit by 4.1%. As such, according to the latest ...

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment on trends in the level of pensioners living in (a) relative and (b) absolute pover

It is not possible to provide poverty breakdowns at a constituency level. As such, no estimate has been made. On 19 November, Secretary of State wrote to the Work and Pensions Select Committee to share internal government modelling produced by the Departm...

Whether she plans to conduct a public inquiry into (a) deaths and (b) serious harm linked to the social security system.

The department is fully supportive of the Work and Pensions Select Committee’s ‘safeguarding vulnerable claimants’ inquiry, which is examining how the department supports vulnerable benefit claimants and whether its approach to safeguarding needs to chang...