Written answers

Friday, 31 March 2023

  • Department for Education

    • Students: Loans

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will increase the student loan repayment thresholds in line with inflation.

    • Higher Education: Standards

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing a statutory duty of care on higher education providers.

      Students: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reform student finance.

      Schools: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the SEND and alternative provision improvement plan, published on 2 March 2023, when she plans to respond to the consultation on the...

      Special Educational Needs: Worcestershire

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of SEND support for childcare and the early years on provision in Worcestershire.

      Transport: Schools

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to maintain the provision of school transport services in rural areas.

      Students: Housing

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure student accommodation meets the necessary standard.

      Classroom Assistants: Recruitment

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring schools to employ teaching assistants on full time contacts.

      Students: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to provide alternative student finance options to people whose faith prohibits them from using interest-based loans.

      Special Educational Needs: Reform

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that the reforms to the SEND system make it easier for parents to get an assessment for their children.

      Apprentices

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made for the number of people who start an apprenticeship but fail to complete it due to the requirements to provide...

      Teachers: Training

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of when the independent evaluation of the national roll out of the early career framework will be published.

  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    • Metals: Waste Disposal

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of (a) illegal scrap metal...

    • Octopuses: Animal Welfare

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had discussions with animal welfare experts on the welfare implications of farmed octopus; if she will make...

      EU Law

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the Departmental delivery plan that outlines its intention for each piece of retained EU law as...

      Cats and Dogs: Tagging

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made in analysing the responses to the Consultation on cat and dog microchipping legislation in England.

  • Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

    • Israel: Palestinians

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what his policy is on the making of a request to the International Court of Justice to provide an opinion on the...

    • Israel: Palestinians

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral statement on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories on 23 March 2023, Official...

      Israel: Palestinians

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support progress towards a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine.

      Iran

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to take steps to refer Iran to the UN Security Council.

      Iran: Lions' Den

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the implications for its policy funding of the Lion’s Den...

      British International Investment

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the value was of British International Investment’s (BII) revaluations for its (a) total investment...

      Development Aid: Water

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the press release entitled UK announces new support for improving access to safe water,...

      Senegal: Elections

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent diplomatic steps his Department has taken to engage with the government of Senegal on (a) freedoms for...

  • Treasury

    • Aviation: Fuels

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has had discussions with the Department for Transport on the need for a price stability mechanism to ensure that sustainable...

    • Charities: VAT

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment for the implication for his policies of the changing charities' status on the list of goods and services set out in the EU...

      Aviation: Fuels

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport on the potential merits of introducing a price stability mechanism for the...

      Tax Yields: Scotland

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2023 to Question 170744, what data his Department holds on revenue accrued to the Exchequer in (a) inheritance tax, (b)...

      Treasury: Public Consultation

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which consultations published by their Department are awaiting a response; and when each of those responses (a) were initially planned to and (b) will be...

      Bank Services: Rural Areas

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve access to banking services in rural areas.

      Mortgages: Travellers

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of discrimination against the proximity of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller sites by mortgage providers.

      Banks

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Governor of the Bank of England on (a) the provision of liquidity to the UK banking sector and (b) swap lines...

      Financial Services and Markets Bill

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will pause the passage of the Financial Services and Markets Bill in response to the instability in the global financial system.

      European Investment Bank

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much and what proportion of the UK's subscribed capital to the European Investment Bank has been returned; how much subscribed capital remains to be...

      Vat

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with his Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the provisions of the Windsor Agreement on his ability to vary the...

  • Department for Business and Trade

    • Minerals: Supply Chains

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the increase in demand for critical minerals used in net zero technologies on the...

    • Environment Protection

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to paragraph 29 of the G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers’ Communiqué, published on 27 May 2022, what...

      Deep Sea Mining

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department plans to take to consult relevant stakeholders on deep-sea mining polices.

      Mining: Seas and Oceans

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make it her policy to introduce a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-sea mining until a specific set of environmental,...

      Gold: Imports

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of gold mined for import into the UK on the UK's environmental footprint.

      Foreign Investment in UK

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department issues guidance on steps that members can take to support (a) foreign direct investment, (b) local businesses that...

  • Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    • BBC Radio: Local Broadcasting

      To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions her Department has had with the BBC Board on the provision of BBC local radio services.

    • Anti-social Behaviour: Crime Prevention

      To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of youth workers for meeting the objectives of the Anti-Social...

      BBC: Political Impartiality

      To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the impact of the BBC's use of externally contracted presenters on the impartiality of...

  • Home Office

    • UK Border Force: Airports

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to help ensure airports have sufficient Border Force resources ahead of the Easter and Summer holiday...

    • Undocumented Migrants: English Channel

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many migrants in small boats have been prevented from sailing across the Channel in the last 12 months.

      Refugees: Afghanistan

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has identified alternative accommodation for Afghan refugees who are due to leave hotel accommodation by the end of...

      Refugees: Afghanistan

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate her Department has made of the cost of accommodating Afghan refugees in non-hotel accommodation.

      Visas: Seasonal Workers

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2023 to Question 171512 on Visas: Seasonal Workers, how many compliance investigations have been (a)...

      Undocumented Migrants: Legal Aid Scheme and Legal Opinion

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that people entering the UK by irregular means in the future will be able to access both legal advice and...

      Visas: Skilled Workers

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of skilled worker visa applications submitted by people who reside in Northern Ireland at the time of...

      Seasonal Workers: Recruitment

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures her Department has in place to help ensure that foreign workers hired for the seasonal workers scheme by licensed scheme...

      Deportation: Legal Opinion

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to ensure that people who have been removed from the UK under the Illegal Migration Bill are able to receive...

      Visas: Overseas Visitors

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) applications and (b) decisions for standard visitors visas were made in each of the last twelve months.

  • Ministry of Defence

    • RAF Alconbury

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Service Family Accommodation and (b) Single Living Accommodation units there are at RAF Alconbury; and how many personnel are based at that...

    • Nuclear Weapons: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Government's proposal to invest £3 billion in the UK’s defence nuclear enterprise, how much of that funding will be...

      Hunting: Licensing

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many trail hunting licenses were approved for use on his Department's land in 2022.

      Ministry of Defence: Conditions of Employment

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to improve the its workplace culture.

      RAF Henlow

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the (a) size in hectares and (b) housing unit potential of RAF Henlow.

      RAF Topcliffe

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the (a) size in hectares and (b) housing unit potential of RAF Topcliffe.

      Housing: Construction

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Figure 8 of the NAO report Optimising the Defence Estate, HC293, published on 11 June 2021, what targets his Department has for...

      RAF Alconbury

      To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the (a) size in hectares and (b) Housing Unit Potential of RAF Alconbury.

  • Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

    • Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Telephone Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with Target on the payment of bonuses to its staff in relation to the operation of contracts...

    • Housing Associations: Rents

      To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing guidance to housing associations to cap rent increases...

      Social Rented Housing: Tenancy Transfers

      To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing social tenants to swap homes with other social tenants...

      Homes England: Redundancy

      To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has received a request from Homes England to run a redundancy scheme.

      Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Written Questions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many and what proportion of his Department's answers to written questions have been identical in this Session.

      Elections: Proof of Identity

      To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March to Question 165270 on Local Government: Elections, and with reference to Tables 1 and 7...

      Thames Freeport: DP World

      To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reasons the Government has entered into partnership with DP World to run Thames Freeport given its criticism of...

      CP Plus

      To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the parking charge notice practices of CP Plus Limited.

      UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Enfield

      To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund has been allocated to the London Borough of Enfield.

      Investment Zones: Ellesmere Port

      To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2023 to Question 17064 on Investment Zones: Ellesmere Port, if he will set out the...

  • Ministry of Justice

  • Department for Transport

    • Cars: Sales

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his department is on track to legislate for ending sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 within the proposed January 2024 timeframe.

    • Government Departments: Electric Vehicles

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to promote the uptake of electric cars by Government departments..

  • Department of Health and Social Care

    • Cancer: Health Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the time from (a) patients presenting with cancer symptoms to diagnosis and (b) from diagnosis of...

    • Dental Services: Children

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children were admitted to hospital for tooth decay extractions in (a) Halton, (b) the North West, (c) England and (d) the UK in...

      Cancer: Health Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the service specifications for teenage and young adult cancer services in England.

      Cancer: Halton

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of cancer patients in Halton constituency who received an urgent referral received their first treatment...

      Breast Cancer: Screening

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will outline the (a) decision-making process and (b) eligibility criteria used to determine which NHS Trusts received funding for...

      Hospitals: Discharges

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many delayed discharges there were from NHS (a) elective, (b) non-elective, (c) high dependency, (d) standard ward and (e) other beds...

      Social Services: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people receive a personal budget for their social care.

  • Women and Equalities

    • Government Departments: Travellers

      To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she is taking steps to implement the 18+1 ethnicity monitoring system for data collection across Government for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller...

    • Equality Hub: Finance

      To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2023 to Question 147169, on Equality Hub: Finance, when she plans to publish the Outcome Delivery Plan for the...

  • Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

  • Department for Education

    • Childcare: Staff

      To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of expansion of the childcare sector workforce necessary to implement the expansion of childcare provision as announced...

    • Childcare: Finance

      To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the capacity challenges the childcare sector will face in implementing the increase in childcare provision as announced...

      Further Education: T-levels

      To ask His Majesty's Government how many of entrants for T Level examinations in 2022 were studying in FE colleges.

  • Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

    • International Relations: Women

      To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their policy paper Integrated Review Refresh 2023: Responding to a more contested and volatile world, published on 13 March, what steps they will...

  • Department for Business and Trade

    • Parental Leave and Parental Pay

      To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 8 March (HL Deb col 793), when they expect to publish (1) the report of the evaluation of the Shared...

    • Parental Pay

      To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Scott of Bybrook on 8 March (HL Deb col 793), where she stated that "the number of couples taking up shared parental leave...

      Public Sector: Strikes

      To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide guidance to public bodies regarding the use of court action in response to strikes.

  • Home Office

    • Refugees: Ukraine

      To ask His Majesty's Government what facility they provide for sibling family reunion in the UK for long-term residents of Ukraine who do not have Ukrainian citizenship, and who are therefore not...

    • Human Trafficking

      To ask His Majesty's Government how many people entered the National Referral Mechanism in January and February of (1) 2022, and (2) 2023; and of those, how many received reasonable grounds decisions.

  • Department for Transport

    • Transport: Databases

      To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish their transport data strategy; and, given the Department for Transport has been working on it since 2020–21, why it has not...

    • A14: Tree Planting

      To ask His Majesty's Government what was the cost to public funds of the failure of 630,000 tree saplings planted along the A14 by National Highways; and whether any lessons have been learned for...

      Restoring Your Railway Fund

      To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to announce another competition for the Restoring Railway Fund; and if so, when.

      Railways: Tickets

      To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they are making on the tendering process for the Consolidated Online Retail Solution to deliver advanced rail retailing in the 15 months since the...

      Railways: Tickets

      To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have received from (1) organisations, or (2) persons, opposed to them proceeding with the Consolidated Online Retail Solution (CORS) for...

      Motor Vehicles: Lighting

      To ask His Majesty's Government what regulations cover the retrofitting of headlights to vehicles; and when those regulations were last updated.

  • Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

    • Leasehold

      To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in England over the age of 18 live in leasehold properties.

    • National Holocaust Memorial Centre and Learning Service

      To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Scott of Bybrook on 24 March (HL6409), whether they will publish a comprehensive list of the bodies and...

      Private Rented Housing: Repairs and Maintenance

      To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that landlords undertake the necessary repairs to their properties when problems are identified by their tenants.

      Infrastructure: Planning

      To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to pursue further planning reforms to speed up approvals for infrastructure projects that are critical to the UK’s economic...

      High Rise Flats: Fire Prevention

      To ask His Majesty's Government what is the impact of defining 'defect' in the Developer Remediation Contract, published on 17 February, differently from 'relevant defect', in the Building Safety...

      Local Government: Elections

      To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the diversity of councillors by encouraging and supporting more people to stand for election.

      Leasehold: Reform

      To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to introduce a bill to address the issue of leasehold reform.

  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    • Fruit and Vegetables: Imports

      To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the resilience of the supply chain for imports of fruit and vegetables.

    • Electronic Cigarettes: Waste

      To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 27 February 2022...

      Electronic Cigarettes: Waste

      To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the environmental hazard posed by discarded disposable vapes; and what consideration they have given to banning...

      Electronic Cigarettes: Waste

      To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the damage to the marine environment caused by the disposal of single use vapes.

      Horticulture: Vacancies

      To ask His Majesty's Government what skills gaps they have identified in the UK horticulture sector.

What is this?

The parliamentary question is a great way for MPs and Peers to discover information which the government may not wish to reveal. Ministers reply via written answers, a list of which gets published daily.

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