Speeches by Blackman.

“7. What steps she is taking to help ensure that prisoners are prepared for life outside of prison before they are released.”

“The Minister will know that prison governors have a statutory duty to ensure that prisoners are prepared for life outside prison before their release. One of the main issues for released prisoners is finding a secure home, so that they can have somewhere secure to live rather than going back to the place where they wer…”

“In addition to the business announced by the Leader of the House, next Thursday in Westminster Hall there will be debates on Disability History Month and the opportunities for floating offshore wind power in the Celtic sea. On Tuesday 17 December, with your permission, Mr Speaker, there will be a debate on the impact o…”

“4. If she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the APPG for investment fraud and fairer financial services’ publication entitled “Report on the Call for Evidence about The Financial Conduct Authority”, published on 26 November 2024.”

“The FCA has been completely defensive in response to the report. Since the historical elements quoted by the FCA, 13 major scandals have erupted. I will not intrude on your time, Mr Speaker, because I am sure that you would not want me to list them all, but Woodford Equity, car finance and others have come to light sin…”

“You mentioned the 55 children who very sadly lost their lives because of the accommodation that they were in. In the Act, there was a requirement—there still is; it is still law—for local authorities to inspect homes where vulnerable families were being placed, particularly those fleeing domestic violence and other suc…”

“I congratulate my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Brent West (Barry Gardiner), and thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting the urgent question. It is sad that the Minister has to come here to answer an urgent question, having been asked last Thursday for a statement on the Floor of the House. Hindus a…”

“Thank you for the figures that you just provided. Obviously, the aim of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 was to reduce the number of people ending up homeless at all. The stats from the Department show that roughly between 200,000 and 324,000 households a year are owed a relief or prevention duty. Cumulatively, that…”

“That covers the condition of housing that people are put in, but does not actually deal with the overall numbers—huge numbers of people. Presumably, there are an awful lot of people who have slipped through the net here, who have not even been provided with temporary accommodation.”

“Our original estimate was 300,000 people sofa surfing every single day, irrespective of those who were actually homeless. I will follow up that with a different issue. We know the numbers. During covid, we actually got everyone in, under the Everyone In programme. What changed from Everyone In to now, where we are seei…”

“But it was to make sure that there were no people forced to sleep rough. Sarah Healey—covid period, plus there was a whole set of interventions to prevent homelessness, particularly the ban on evictions under section 21. Penny worked on Everyone In, so she might want to reflect a bit on what worked about the programme …”

“I want to touch on the supported housing element, given that the Act dealing with that was, once again, my work.”

“So far it is an Act of Parliament but has not actually been implemented. Could you give us an update on the progress of implementing what we set out to do in the last Parliament?”

“The consequence of the delay is that local authorities have a duty under the Act to review the need in their area. I have evidence that many local authorities are carrying out that review and then deciding that they are not going to fund really good charities that are doing a really brilliant job in supplying housing f…”

“The problem is that the licensing schemes that local authorities are looking at are going to be very different, unless we have got a clear standard that is to be followed. They are introducing their own and that is therefore leading to a postcode lottery, which was not the intention.”

“When do you intend to start the consultation?”

“The current war in Ukraine and the battles between Israel and the terrorists from Lebanon and Gaza are regularly reported to this House, yet more civilians are being killed in Sudan than in all these other conflicts. This conflict has been largely ignored across this House and in our media, so I warmly welcome the Mini…”

“I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Leader of the House’s native city on Saturday night, and I thank her club for the hospitality of allowing us to score four goals with none in return. By the way, that makes a net aggregate of seven to nil across our visits to Manchester. On behalf of the Backbench Business Committee…”

“It is clearly a sad day for Luton and workers there, but the Secretary of State must remember that this is not just about Luton but about the whole car manufacturing industry, and workers up and down the country in that industry will be saying, “Am I going to be next?” Will the Secretary of State set out his position o…”

“Will the Minister consider ensuring that the fines are raised by at least inflation each year? Fines could be increased on a scale, to make sure that they keep progress with changes.”