On 14 September, I raised the UK's concerns regarding these events with my Turkish counterpart, and have since followed up with further representations. The UK is a staunch supporter of fundamental rights and supports the rights of all minority groups in Turkey, including the LGBT+ community. We expect Turkey to uphold the rule of law and to live up to its international obligations as a member of the Council of Europe.

All LGBT veterans who were dismissed or discharged due to the Ban can apply to the Financial Recognition Scheme (FRS) for the Dismissed or Discharged Payment. LGBT veterans who were impacted in other ways under the Ban, including veterans who felt pressured to resign, can apply for an Impact Payment, which is determined by an Independent Panel. The Panel considers the applicant’s testimony, any supporting information, and any Service records.

For all applications made to the FRS, the burden of determining whether a fact or matter occurred lies with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) rather than the applicant. Unless the MOD finds evidence to contradict their testimony, the facts or experiences reported by an applicant will be accepted as taking place, if, on a balance of probabilities, they are more likely to have occurred than not. This approach recognises the historical issues relating to the retention and destruction of documentation and prevents applicants being disadvantaged due to records being incomplete through no fault of their own.

Housing associations that are registered providers of social housing are required to deliver the outcomes of the standards set by the independent Regulator of Social Housing (RSH). RSH monitors compliance through data returns, proactive inspections and responsive engagement with providers, and publishes regulatory judgements.

RSH inspects all large landlords (those with 1,000 or more social homes) and publishes regulatory judgements that include a summary of the findings and relevant gradings. RSH grades large housing associations on the extent to which they are delivering the outcomes of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard (G and V grades) and the consumer standards (C grades). Where providers are not delivering the outcomes required by the standards, RSH works with them so that they improve and address relevant failures. RSH has a range of powers it can use if a provider is unable or unwilling to improve.

The table below shows the number of new affordable housing completions (including acquisitions) and starts on site in Tower Hamlets in 2023-24 and 2024-25 by provider.

The data is published in the affordable housing supply statistics open data, published on gov.uk here (attached).

My Lords, I will start answering this Question by paying tribute to Lord Etherton—we would not be having Questions such as this were it not for him—and the noble Lords, Lord Cashman and Lord Lexden. We should remind ourselves of the work people do in this House and the progress they make.

The Government have implemented 48 of the 49 recommendations, including 14 restorative measures and the LGBT financial recognition scheme. I encourage affected veterans to visit GOV.UK for information on these schemes. The outstanding recommendation focused on the ban’s long-term consequences for female veterans and will be achieved through work starting this year, following the commitment in this Government’s veterans strategy to better understand and support women veterans.

Everyone has the right to safe, high-quality care, which protects people's health, wellbeing, and human rights, and which enables them to live free from harm, abuse, and neglect. Any form of abuse or neglect is unacceptable, and we are committed to ensuring that we have an effective safeguarding system where risk of harm is identified, acted upon effectively, and ultimately prevented.

Providers are required by law to protect people from abuse and discrimination, including homophobic and transphobic abuse, and the Care Quality Commission will take appropriate enforcement action where they have failed in their duties.

The new HIV Action Plan, published on World AIDS Day, 1 December 2025, sets out how the Government will enable every level of the healthcare system to work together to engage everyone in prevention, testing and treatment, tackling stigma, and reaching our ambition to end new HIV transmissions by 2030. This includes a dedicated action to ensure all health and social care staff have the right knowledge on HIV and can tackle stigma and discrimination. This will be achieved at a local, sub-regional, and regional level by embedding HIV education into workforce development programmes, safeguarding training, and induction processes.

The government keeps the student finance system under continuous review to ensure that it delivers good value for both students and taxpayers. We set out our plan for higher education (HE) reform through the Post-16 education and skills white paper, published on 29 September.

We are determined that the HE funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students and the government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to go to university.

My Lords, digital inclusion is a priority for this Government, which is why we launched the Digital Inclusion Action Plan. It sets out immediate steps to boost inclusion for everyone, including people with disabilities. In the NHS, we recognise that some patients

may struggle or prefer not to use digital routes. That is why GP practices are required to maintain traditional methods of access, while digital health services are being designed to be inclusive, accessible and easy to navigate.

NHS England has published a national service specification, covering both bone and soft tissue sarcomas. The specification requires close working between sarcoma services and other National Health Service partners, co-ordinated by Sarcoma Advisory Groups, to improve care pathways.

Work is underway across both bone and soft tissue sarcoma provision to ensure that cancer care providers meet national service standards and improve care to patients across the country, including Cornwall.

Although patients will sometimes need to travel to specialist centres to access treatment, the National Cancer Plan will seek to make cancer care easier, more local, and more responsive. Rather than requiring endless trips to hospitals, cancer care will happen as locally as it can. This means digitally by default, in a patient’s home if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, in a hospital if necessary. Bringing cancer care into the Neighbourhood Health Service is an important part of the National Cancer Plan for England, enabling cancer patients to be treated and cared for closer to home.

The National Cancer Plan will aim to improve how the physical and psychosocial needs of people with cancer can be met, with a focus on personalised care to improve quality of life. It will address how the experience of care can be improved for those diagnosed, treated, and living with and beyond cancer.

The Government welcomes the recent publication of Sarcoma UK’s Sarcoma State of the Nation report as it highlights the importance of early diagnosis, care co-ordination across complex pathways, research into new treatments, and survivorship. Our forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out how we will improve the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including sarcoma.

Responsibility for operational matters on inland waterways rests with the relevant navigation authority, including arrangements for moorings where they are owned by the navigation authority or with the relevant independent mooring owner as appropriate.

The length and security of tenure of houseboat owners will depend on the terms they agree with the mooring owner. The terms of the agreement issued by the mooring owner must comply with the unfair terms in consumer contracts requirements in the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Boat owners with residential moorings will also benefit from the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.

The Home Office works closely with policing colleagues on a range of issues to ensure the protection of public order and safety.

Student loans are subject to interest so as to ensure that those who can afford to do so contribute to the full cost of their degree.

Interest rates on student loans do not affect monthly repayments made by borrowers. Regular repayments are based on a fixed percentage of earnings above the applicable student loan repayment threshold, not on amount borrowed or the rate of interest. If income is below the relevant student loan repayment threshold, or a borrower is not earning, then they do not have to make repayments at all. Any outstanding debt, including interest built up, is written off after the loan term ends or in case of death or disability, at no detriment to the borrower.

Interest rates are set annually in relation to the Retail Price Index. The government caps maximum student loan rates when needed to ensure that student loan interest rates do not exceed market rates for comparable unsecured personal loans.

A full equality impact assessment of how the student loan reforms may affect graduates, including detail on changes to average lifetime repayments under Plan 5, was produced and published in February 2022 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reform-equality-impact-assessment.

The UK is a highly attractive study destination for international students with 4 universities in the top 10 and 15 in the top 100, alongside a wide array of high quality institutions which can offer a fulfilling and enjoyable experience to international students from around the world.

As my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has made clear in her video message last year, this government welcomes international students who enrich our university campuses, forge lifelong friendships with our domestic students and become global ambassadors for the UK.

As set out in the Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May, the department will retain our competitive post-study work offer for international students, principally through the graduate visa that will remain available for a reduced duration so that graduates move more quickly into skilled work. This will maintain our attractiveness as a study destination while ensuring individuals granted a graduate visa obtain employment in graduate level roles and contribute to the country’s skills needs. We will issue further details on implementation of the White Paper measures in due course.

DWP pays local authorities a Housing Benefit subsidy for temporary accommodation cases. There are restrictions on the amount paid, including a subsidy cap which is £500 per week in certain areas of London or £375 elsewhere.

We recognise the financial pressures which local authorities are experiencing. MHCLG are increasing funding for homelessness services this year by an extra £233 million compared to last year (2024/25).

We continue to keep the rates used for Housing Benefit subsidy under review and are working closely with MHCLG and the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to explore the impacts of subsidy rates on local authorities.

Any future decisions on subsidy rates will be taken at the appropriate fiscal event in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing and the current challenging financial environment.

This Government has inherited record levels of homelessness, and we recognise the cost pressures this has put on councils. That is why we have increased funding for homelessness services in 2025/26 by £233 million to nearly £1 billion, alongside a local government finance settlement for 2025/26 which makes available over £69bn for local government, a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024/25.

The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness.

Allocations for London boroughs for the Homelessness Prevention Grant can be found here Homelessness Prevention Grant allocations: 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK

My Lords, the Government currently have no plans to ratify Protocol 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Protocol 12 is a very broadly drafted, free-standing right that creates unpredictability in how it will be given effect by the court, and it is not clear that ratifying it would increase protection from discrimination in the UK. The Equality Act 2010 provides a robust and clear framework within domestic law for combating discrimination.

On 1 January 2025, indefinite restrictions preventing new patients aged under 18 years old from being supplied with puberty blockers for the purposes of gender incongruence and/or gender dysphoria, under the care of private or non-United Kingdom prescribers, took effect.

The Government is committed to transparency and accountability in its decision-making and understands people will wish to understand how this decision was reached. Further to my response on 7 January 2025 to the Noble Lord’s question, HL3426 tabled on 12 December 2024, I can confirm that the Government will publish shortly the full independent report by the Commission on Human Medicines on the indefinite banning order of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria and/or incongruence. I will gladly write to the Noble Lord when this it is published.

On 11 December 2024, the Government published its response to the consultation on whether to introduce indefinite restrictions to prevent new patients aged under 18 years old from being supplied with puberty blockers for the purposes of gender incongruence and/or gender dysphoria, under the care of private or non-United Kingdom prescribers. This response included recommendations from a report by an expert clinical committee, the Commission on Human Medicines. This decision has been further informed by the evidence gathered by Baroness Cass as part of her independent review of gender identity services for children and young people, The Cass Review, which is publicly available.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has held constructive, open, and honest roundtable discussions, including with children and young people, and their parents, with lived experience of gender dysphoria and incongruence. The Government remains committed to listening to the LGBT+ community.

My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has held constructive roundtable discussions with a group of children and young people, and their parents, with lived experience of gender dysphoria and incongruence.

The Government remains committed to listening to the LGBT+ community. Department officials will write to you on how best to take forward your request.

The guidance states that members of the House of Lords should expect answers to correspondence from Government Ministers and the Prime Minister within 20 working days. Where correspondence has to be transferred to another department for answer or advice it may take longer.