theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how AI has improved public services, following their press release Shake-up of Tech and AI Usage Across NHS and Other Public Services to Deliver Plan for Change, published on 21 January. \p Lord Vallance of Balham: The AI Opportunities Action Plan, published in January 2025, reinforces the power of AI in improving citizens’ experiences of public services and driving up public sector productivity. The Action Plan proposed that we “scan, pilot, and scale” opportunities to embed AI in public services.

To bring immediate focus and pace to this objective, the Cabinet Secretary commissioned the Government Digital Service and the Public Sector Reform Unit in the Cabinet Office to identify a portfolio of AI ‘use cases’ that could benefit from potential Prime Ministerial sponsorship and support from the centre in 2025. These exemplars bring together the Prime Minister’s national AI ambitions, the AI Opportunities Action Plan, and work underway in the Cabinet Office to drive towards a productive and agile state. The Exemplars will be rolled out this year.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Freeman of Steventon:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to use heat recovery systems in artificial intelligence growth zones, such as Culham, to combine the cooling of data infrastructure with the heating of local homes and amenities. \p Lord Vallance of Balham: Data centres produce significant heat, most of which is currently wasted into the environment. The technology exists to capture this heat and reuse it in district heating networks, or for heat intensive industries. We welcome the inclusion of heat recovery systems within applications for AI Growth Zones alongside other sustainable solutions.

We are engaging with developers and operators to determine whether further interventions are necessary and appropriate to encourage adoption of heat recovery. The Greater London Authority is currently developing a pilot to test heating up to 10,000 homes and at least one hospital from London-based data centres.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 10 March (HL5234), whether they have considered whether the Financial Reporting Council guidance would have caused the threshold for applying the going concern basis of accounting in the cases of Carillion and its subsidiary companies to be regarded as high even where these were insolvent. \p Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: Guidance issued by the Financial Reporting Council does not change any legal requirement. The issuance and/or application of this guidance would not therefore have caused a change in the going concern basis of accounting assessment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Jones of Whitchurchon 10 March (HL5234 and HL5235), whether they have taken account of the fact that the House of Commons Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Committee's report The Future of Audit, published on 26 March 2019, concluded that international accounting standards were defective compared to the requirements of company law. \p Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: The Government announced in the King's Speech its intention to publish a draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill that will transition the FRC to a new Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority and provide it with relevant powers. The Government will consider the recommendations of the report, including relating to the Government and FRC producing definitions and guidance on what constitutes distributable profits, as work progresses.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 10 March (HL5234), whether complying with accounting standards rather than the law was invoked by KPMG when the Insolvency Service sought £1.3 billion from KPMG in connection with its audits of Carillion plc and its subsidiary companies. \p Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: The Official Receiver on behalf of Carillion Plc and another issued a negligence claim against KPMG, the company's auditors, in November 2021. The area of law on which the claim was based was negligence. The negligence action and compliance with accounting standards are closely connected and the defence to the action relates to both. The defence itself is held on the court file which can be inspected with the consent of the court.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Sharpe of Epsom:To ask His Majesty's Government how many policy reviews and consultations the Department for Business and Trade has launched since the General Election on 4 July 2024; what the subject of each review is; and what the anticipated timescales are for their completion. \p Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: Following the election, this Government has outlined its ambitions through the Plan for Change, which sets out an ambitious set of milestones - across the missions - for this Parliament.

As the House would expect, Government continually reviews its work to ensure that it is delivering the best outcomes for the people of the United Kingdom, and that its policies continue to represent the best value for the taxpayer.

Public reviews will be available on gov.uk as they are published.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick:To ask His Majesty's Government whether the information provided by the UK Export Support Service is sufficient to prepare UK businesses who may be impacted by the European Union carbon border adjustment mechanism. \p Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: The Export Support Service continues to inform UK businesses of upcoming EU regulations and their impact to their trading activities through a range of channels. This includes the "Unlock Europe" webinar series hosted by the Export Academy, which will have a session on CBAM on 23 April. We are tracking forthcoming EU regulations which will impact UK exporters and are in dialogue with business representative organisations to understand how we can best support businesses to understand and prepare for changes which may impact them.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Roberts of Llandudno:To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the implications for the UK of any changes to trade agreements between the United States of America and Commonwealth countries within the last 12 months. \p Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: It is not for the UK to comment on another country's trade relationships. Clearly there are ongoing discussions between the US and Commonwealth countries on their relationship and interests. The UK deeply values its strong trading ties with both the US and the Commonwealth countries, and we will continue to build on these relationships in the future.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Curran:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have met recently with representatives of Caribbean governments; and whether the legacy of slavery and its impact on the Caribbean was discussed. \p Baroness Chapman of Darlington: We fully recognise the horrific impacts and the understandable strength of feeling on the transatlantic slave trade across communities in the UK and the Commonwealth family. Ministers have had no discussions with Caribbean counterparts focused on the legacy of slavery since July 2024, and none are planned. If interlocutors raise reparatory justice, we make clear our position that we do not pay reparations. We are focused on working with Caribbean partners to tackle the most pressing challenges of today including security, growth, climate change and building partnerships for the future.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Roberts of Llandudno:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Chapman of Darlington on 5 March (HL5369), what assessment they have made of the potential impact on the UK’s soft power of cutting the aid budget to 0.3 per cent by 2027. \p Baroness Chapman of Darlington: The Prime Minister has set out a new strategic vision for government spending on defence and security and Official Development Assistance (ODA). Detailed decisions on the future allocation of resources will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review based on various factors including impact assessments.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Foulkes of Cumnock:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have conducted any review into the Duke of York’s activities as Special Representative in Kazakhstan; and whether they had any impact on UK diplomatic or trade interests in the region. \p Baroness Chapman of Darlington: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has not conducted a review into the activities of the Duke of York when Special Representative for Trade and Investment in Kazakhstan from 2001 to 2011.

The UK engages with Kazakhstan regularly, with The Minister of State, Stephen Doughty recently hosting the 8th UK-Kazakhstan Strategic Dialogue in London. Kazakhstan is the UK's largest trading partner in Central Asia; the total bilateral trade in goods and service was £2.8 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Weir of Ballyholme:To ask His Majesty's Government what aid is currently being provided to the government of Syria and its arm's-length bodies. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: We have not given any humanitarian funds to the interim Syrian authorities. We provide funding to non-governmental organisations and United Nations organisations operating in Syria to deliver assistance and meet the needs of the most vulnerable across the country. As with all our work, we have controls in place to ensure our aid reaches those who need it. In this financial year (2024/25), the UK provided £148 million to support people across Syria with food, healthcare, protection, agricultural support, education, and other lifesaving services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Scriven:To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Bahrain about the detention of Ali al-Hajee. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: We are aware of the arrest of Ali Al-Hajee on 28 February 2025 and subsequent release. When appropriate, including in instances where there are allegations of Human Rights infringements, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office follows and discusses individual cases with the Bahraini Government and with the independent oversight bodies, which have been established to deal with such matters.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Young of Acton:To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent to date on defending the imposition of VAT on private school fees against legal challenge. \p Lord Livermore: It would not be appropriate for me to comment on any aspect of ongoing litigation, in part to avoid any risk of prejudicing those proceedings.

Ending the VAT exemption for private schools will raise £1.7bn per annum by 2029/30.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to modifying their plans set out in the 2024 Autumn Budget to encourage greater investment and growth. \p Lord Livermore: The Government is committed to delivering a decade of national renewal by fixing the foundations of the economy and rebuilding Britain, making every part of the country better off. The growth mission is the central mission of the Government. Through the growth mission, the Government is restoring economic stability, increasing investment, and reforming the economy to drive up prosperity and living standards across the UK.

The Government has made significant progress on its plan for growth. The Autumn Budget 2024 fixed the foundations of our economy by putting in place measures to support economic and fiscal stability. It also set out that the government will invest over £35 billion in economic infrastructure in 2025-26 to get Britain moving and spur regional growth. The OBR judged that policies announced at the Autumn Budget 2024 will, if sustained, permanently increase the size of the economy in the long term. The Government is committed to working further and faster to secure growth, which is why the Chancellor recently announced her support for a third runway at Heathrow and plans to deliver the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Neville-Rolfe:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answers by Lord Livermore on 13 March (HL Deb cols 812–13), who leads the Infrastructure and Projects Authority; and what is its remit. \p Lord Livermore: The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is currently led by Nick Smallwood. Nick Smallwood will be stepping down at the end of March 2025.

The IPA works across Government to support the successful delivery of all types of major projects, ranging from railways, roads, schools, hospitals and housing, to energy, telecommunications, defence, IT and major transformation programmes. The IPA’s Mandate can be found on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infrastructure-and-projects-authority-mandate.

On the 1 April 2025, the functions of the IPA will be taken over by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), which will combine the functions of the IPA and the National Infrastructure Commission. NISTA will be led by Jean-Christophe Gray until a permanent CEO is appointed.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Weir of Ballyholme:To ask His Majesty's Government how much duty has been returned to firms based in Northern Ireland as a result of the Duty Reimbursement Scheme. \p Lord Livermore: Information on duty reimbursed to firms specifically based in Northern Ireland under the scheme is not held by HMRC.

The Duty Reimbursement Scheme has been operational since 2023, allowing businesses who move goods into Northern Ireland to reclaim or remit duty provided that the goods can be shown not to have subsequently entered the EU. HMRC has published extensive guidance and will continue to support businesses to use the scheme effectively, as well as other schemes like the Customs Duty Waiver Scheme.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Weir of Ballyholme:To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total cost to firms in Northern Ireland of applying for reimbursement from the Duty Reimbursement Scheme. \p Lord Livermore: No assessment has been made of the total cost to businesses in Northern Ireland of applying for reimbursement from the Duty Reimbursement Scheme.

The Duty Reimbursement Scheme allows traders to reclaim or remit full EU applicable duties on goods entering Northern Ireland. There is no limit on the number of claims that can be made. HMRC has published extensive guidance on the scheme and will continue to support businesses to use it effectively.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Weir of Ballyholme:To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the value of imports from the United States of America to Northern Ireland in each of the last three years. \p Lord Livermore: The value of goods imported from the United States of America to Northern Ireland was £639m in 2022, £835m in 2023 and £753m in 2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Penn:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to change the remit of the National Wealth Fund to include defence investment. \p Lord Livermore: The Government published the National Wealth Fund’s new Statement of Strategic Priorities on 19 March. It directs the National Wealth Fund to consider the role it can play in delivery of the wider Industrial Strategy, including in the defence sector.

The National Wealth Fund will also consider investments in dual-use technologies across its priority sectors of clean energy, digital and technologies, advanced manufacturing and transport, to better support the UK’s defence and security.

The National Wealth Fund retains the flexibility to invest where financing gaps emerge to ensure it can respond swiftly to emerging Government priorities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Penn:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce legislation to change the remit of the National Wealth Fund. \p Lord Livermore: The Government will introduce legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows to broaden the National Wealth Fund’s legislative remit beyond infrastructure.

The Government published the National Wealth Fund’s new Statement of Strategic Priorities on 19 March. It directs the National Wealth Fund to prioritise investment into the clean energy, advanced manufacturing, digital and technologies, and transport sectors. It can already invest in infrastructure projects in these areas.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Bradley:To ask His Majesty's Government what statutory requirements govern the preparation of pre-sentence reports in England and Wales by the Probation Service for all convicted offenders in (1) the Crown Court, and (2) the Magistrates Court. \p Lord Timpson: Section 30 of the Sentencing Code provides for the provision of pre-sentencing reports for offenders where there is a requirement to obtain a PSR under the Code. This includes where the court is considering whether the offender should receive a sentence of immediate custody. It sets out that if an offender is aged 18 or over, a sentencing court must obtain and consider a pre-sentence report before forming an opinion unless, in the circumstances of the case, it considers that it is unnecessary to obtain a pre-sentence report.

PSRs include an assessment of the offender's behaviour, the risk they pose, and recommendations for sentencing options, helping to ensure that the sentence is tailored to the individual offender and their circumstances. The PSR can recommend various sentencing options, including community sentences and specific requirements like treatment programs. Based on the assessment, a PSR suggests the most appropriate sentence for the offence and makes recommendations to the Court; however, the final decision is at the judge’s discretion.

The Sentencing Council’s Imposition guideline provides sentencing courts with the general principles around imposing community orders and custodial sentences, and in what circumstances a custodial sentence can be suspended.  The Lord Chancellor has been clear that the guidelines regarding pre-sentencing reports do not represent the views of this Government. The Lord Chancellor and the Chairman of the Sentencing Council have had a constructive discussion. It was agreed that the Lord Chancellor will set out her position more fully in writing, which the Sentencing Council will then consider before the guideline is due to come into effect.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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The Lord Bishop of St Albans:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that relevant information is shared with coroners investigating gambling-related deaths regarding concerns identified and action taken by the Gambling Commission during the period being investigated at inquest. \p Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede: Coroners are independent judges, and the way in which they manage their investigations and inquests is a matter for them. Accordingly, it is for the coroner to determine the scope of an investigation into a death, and to identify the relevant Interested Persons and witnesses.

The statutory framework set out in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 provides the coroner with powers to require the production of evidence for the purposes of their investigation, with sanctions for non-compliance.

Where, as the result of an investigation, a coroner considers that action should be taken to mitigate or prevent the risk of future deaths, they must provide a report to the person(s) or organisation(s) which they believe may have power to take such action. Recipients must respond within 56 days, setting out details of what action has been or will be taken, or explaining why no action is proposed. Both the coroner’s report and the responses to it must be copied to the Chief Coroner and are published on the Judiciary website.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Dodds of Duncairn:To ask His Majesty's Government how many people will be employed at ports in Great Britain to work on monitoring, supervising or implementing the Northern Ireland pet travel scheme for pet animals moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: Officials will be available at the GB ports to support and assist those travelling under the Northern Ireland Pet Travel Scheme. To simplify non-commercial pet movements (cats, dogs, including assistance dogs, and ferrets) from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the scheme will enable travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland with a simple lifelong pet travel document.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Dodds of Duncairn:To ask His Majesty's Government how many live animals have been exported for slaughter in each year from 2022 to date from Northern Ireland to (1) countries within the EU other than the Irish Republic, and (2) countries outside the EU. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: This is a devolved matter and the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness McIntosh of Pickering:To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made to reduce barriers to and facilitate cross-border travel without physical checks for thoroughbred horses since 6 February. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: There have been no changes to the rules for importing thoroughbred horses into Great Britain since 6 February 2025. Imports of thoroughbred horses from the European Union (EU) do not currently need to enter Great Britain via a Border Control Post and are not subject to physical checks at the border. Guidance on importing horses into Great Britain is available on GOV.UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the operation of Thames Water; and whether they intend to intervene to ensure fair prices for customers. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: The Government is carefully monitoring the situation with Thames Water and the company remains stable. It is Ofwat's responsibility to independently scrutinise water company business plans, ensure that the prices water companies charge their customers are fair and proportionate and monitor and hold water companies accountable for delivery.

Thames Water has sought a referral to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for redetermination. Just as Ofwat conducts the price review process at a distance from the Government, the CMA also conduct their redetermination process independently and it would therefore be inappropriate for the Government to comment on the precise details of each company’s case.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Coffey:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Sustainable Farming Incentive on environmental targets, particularly species abundance and reducing river nutrient pollution. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: We have paused the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) ahead of reforming it. This is the third time SFI has been paused. We will confirm plans for the reformed SFI in the summer and we expect that scheme to contribute to these outcomes. There are also tens of thousands of farmers in SFI for three years, supporting those outcomes.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Roborough:To ask His Majesty's Government, following cuts to delinked payments and the cessation of new applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive, whether they still expect to distribute the full Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs budget of £2.4 billion in 2025–26. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: We remain committed to investing £5 billion of funding in the farming budget this year and next (£2.6 billion for 24/25 and the £2.4 billion for 25/26, as previously announced). We are on track to spend all the funding that is available.
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Lord Roborough:To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to publish the final Land Use Framework. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: The Government has launched a 12-week consultation on land use in England, the outcomes of which will inform the publication of the Land Use Framework this year. A timeline for publishing Land Use Framework will be set out in due course, after the consultation has closed and the feedback has been considered.
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Lord Roborough:To ask His Majesty's Government how many payments from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to farming claimants will decrease in 2025–26 compared to 2024–25 as a result of accelerated reduction to delinked payments and the cessation of new applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: All recipients are due to receive less in delinked payments for 2025 versus 2024 as more money is moved to our other schemes for farmers and land managers.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) have been open for a number of years so that farmers can plan ahead and receive payments for improving our countryside and farming food sustainably. We will open up initial applications for CS Higher tier and a revised Environmental Land Management capital grants offer later in the summer.

We will release details of the new SFI scheme later in the year.
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Lord Roborough:To ask His Majesty's Government how many farming claimants will experience a reduction in payments in 2025–26 compared to 2024–25 as a result of the expiration of Sustainable Farming Incentive contracts without replacements being granted. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: All recipients are due to receive less in delinked payments for 2025 versus 2024 as more money is moved to our other schemes for farmers and land managers.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) have been open for a number of years so that farmers can plan ahead and receive payments for improving our countryside and farming food sustainably. We will open up initial applications for CS Higher tier and a revised Environmental Land Management capital grants offer later in the Summer.

We will release details of the new SFI scheme later in the year.
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Baroness McIntosh of Pickering:To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to ensure there is no repeat of the 2013 horsemeat scandal; and what measures they are taking to improve the traceability of horses in the UK. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the national authority responsible for food safety and food hygiene across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The FSA ensures that official controls and legislation for meat safety and traceability are met by deploying staff in every slaughterhouse. The FSA also conducts risk-based, intelligence driven surveillance to monitor food safety and authenticity. It also has a National Food Crime Unit to prevent, detect and investigate food crime. This was established following the 2013 horsemeat incident.

The Government recognises the importance of improving equine traceability. Defra is engaging with industry to consider improvements to this.
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Lord Roborough:To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of fish caught in UK territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone was landed at UK ports and harbours in the most recent year for which records exist. \p Baroness Hayman of Ullock: Latest statistics can be found here: MMO Sea Fisheries Statistics 2023. In 2023, 66% of the volume and 78% of the value of landings by UK vessels from the UK territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone were landed at UK ports and harbours. This was 393 thousand tonnes, worth £749 million.

In addition to UK vessels, foreign vessels landed 19 thousand tonnes, worth £27 million into UK ports and harbours in the same year. Most of this fish was caught in UK exclusive economic zone by EU, Norwegian and Faroese flagged vessels who are licensed to fish in UK waters through our international agreements.
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Baroness Hooper:To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to confirm to providers operating within the Dance and Drama Awards scheme what their specific budgets for the academic year 2025–26 will be. \p Baroness Smith of Malvern: The department will shortly confirm final budgets for the 2025/26 academic year and is in touch with providers concerning this.
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Baroness Thomas of Winchester:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to keep the Muslim community informed on the progress of talks towards a Sharia-compliant agreement on alternative student finance, other than through the Gov.uk website. \p Baroness Smith of Malvern: The department has convened an expert working group, made up of representatives from the Muslim community and Islamic finance sector, to keep the Muslim community informed on progress towards introducing an alternative student finance product, compatible with Islamic finance principles.

As part of the department’s engagement with the working group, we are seeking their expert advice and drawing on their feedback to develop our community and stakeholder engagement plans.

It is important that the Muslim community is kept informed on the certification of the alternative student finance product as compatible with Islamic finance principles. We have appointed Islamic finance advisers, the Islamic Finance Council UK, to oversee this work and will provide further updates as the work progresses.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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The Lord Bishop of Gloucester:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential benefits of making the adoption and special guardianship support fund permanent. \p Baroness Smith of Malvern: To support families seeking support beyond the current financial year, adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) applications are currently permitted to extend up to 12 months, allowing children and families to receive continuing therapy across financial years. Where applications are approved, therapy which starts during March 2025 may therefore continue into the next financial year, under previously agreed transitional funding arrangements.

Announcements on funding for the ASGSF from April 2025 will be made shortly. All future funding decisions will be considered as part of the next spending review.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Lister of Burtersett:To ask His Majesty's Government why they are stopping funding for Tell MAMA; and what assessment they have made of the impact of this decision on the level of Islamophobia in the UK. \p Lord Khan of Burnley: Funding for Tell MAMA has not stopped.

In 2024/25, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government made up to £1m of funding available to Tell MAMA via Faith Matters to continue this work. And, following negotiations, Tell MAMA and MHCLG have now signed a Grant Funding Agreement for this financial year and we have instructed payment the first half of 24/25. We are awaiting further claims from Tell Mama for further payment into the second half of the year.

As with all government funding, funding to Tell MAMA is subject to grant funding agreements which are rightly kept under constant review and are subject to continued monitoring and evaluation.

The Government will soon be opening a call for grant applications to ensure we can meet the challenges communities face today. We welcome an application from Tell MAMA and look forward to seeing their new ideas and proposals for confronting hate targeting Muslims and providing support to victims, which is a priority for this government. Further detail will be provided in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Eaton:To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication on 7 March of the Plan for Neighbourhoods, what definition they use for workplace representative, and whether neighbourhood boards will be required to give seats to workplace representatives. \p Baroness Taylor of Stevenage: The Plan for Neighbourhoods’ prospectus was published on 4 March. As outlined in the Plan for Neighbourhoods’ governance and boundary guidance, published on 12 March, Neighbourhood Boards should comprise representatives from a cross-section of the local community to promote community leadership.

Boards may want to consider but are not obligated to include workplace representatives, such as a trades union representative.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Jackson of Peterborough:To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals who are foreign nationals have been removed from the UK upon revocation of their student visas as a result of serious public order or other criminal offences since 7 October 2023. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: Foreign nationals who commit a crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.

The information requested is not available from published statistics.

The Government strongly values the vital economic and academic contributions that international students make in the UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Weir of Ballyholme:To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total annual funding provided to the Community Security Trust. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The Jewish Community Protective Security (JCPS) Grant provides protective security measures (such as security personnel services, CCTV and alarm systems) at synagogues, Jewish educational establishments and community sites. It is managed on behalf of the Home Office by the Community Security Trust. The Community Security Trust will receive funding of £18 million per year through the JCPS from 2024/25 to 2027/28.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Browning:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the average time taken to process applications to Access to Work from applicants in employment. \p Baroness Sherlock: We are committed to reducing waiting times for new applications for Access to Work and are considering the best way to deliver that for customers. We have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims, applications from customers who are about to start a job or who are renewing claims are prioritised.

The Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to get Britain Working’ Green Paper was published on 18 March. Alongside the Access to Work reform proposals introduced in the Green Paper, we are considering further options to reduce the waiting time for customers.

From April 2024 to February 2025, the average waiting time from initial date of contact to a decision being made stands at 56.9 days.

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the future impact of long Covid on economic productivity and workforce participation. \p Baroness Sherlock: Across the NHS in England there are services supporting people with post-COVID syndrome (long COVID). These services offer physical, cognitive and psychological assessment, and, where appropriate, refer patients onto existing services for treatment and rehabilitation.

To support clinical leadership in this area, NHSE has worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to develop a new Clinical Post-COVID Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice to support people affected by long COVID. More information about the Society can be found at the following link: https://www.clinicalpcs.org.uk.

The UK Government has also invested over £57 million into long COVID research. The projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, and to evaluate clinical care.

Recent government-funded research from the National Institute for Health and Care Research estimated the economic impact on the UK at the time of the study (March 2023) as £5.7 billion from those with long COVID unable to work as before. More than half of respondents worked fewer hours or stopped working and on average had a 25% drop in earnings or nearly £11,000 each. The Department has made no assessment of the future impact of long Covid on economic productivity and workforce participation.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to the economy per year of people unable to work due to long Covid. \p Baroness Sherlock: The Department does not have an estimate of the cost to the economy per year of people unable to work due to long Covid. Recent government-funded research from the National Institute for Health and Care Research estimated the economic impact on the UK at the time of the study (March 2023) as £5.7 billion from those with long COVID unable to work as before, based on the total duration of long COVID symptoms.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Browning:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of Access to Work in supporting people with disabilities and long-term health conditions to enter and stay in work. \p Baroness Sherlock: To assess the role of Access to Work in supporting people with disabilities and long-term health conditions to enter and stay in work, the Department commissioned qualitative evaluations of Access to Work in 2018 and 2009.

The 2018 evaluation ‘Access to Work: Qualitative research with applicants, employers and delivery staff’ gathered evidence on the value of Access to Work to employers and employees.

The 2009 evaluation: ‘Evaluation of Access to Work: Core Evaluation’ explored customer, employer, assessor and other views relating to: marketing and awareness, application process, assessments, outcomes, impact and areas for improvement.

Also in 2018, the Department commissioned NatCen to explore the feasibility of evaluating the impacts of AtW: ‘Feasibility of evaluating the impact of the Access to Work programme'  . The report uncovered several challenges, mainly around identifying an appropriate counterfactual and the difficulties in constructing a comparison group. We therefore face challenges with conducting an impact evaluation of AtW.

We are consulting on the future of the AtW scheme in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK,
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Stedman-Scott:To ask His Majesty's Government how many policy reviews and consultations the Department for Work and Pensions has launched since the General Election on 4 July 2024; what the subject of each review is; and what the anticipated timescales are for their completion. \p Baroness Sherlock: This Government has outlined its ambitions through the Plan for Change, which sets out an ambitious set of milestones - across the missions - for this Parliament.

As the House would expect, Government continually reviews its work to ensure that it is delivering the best outcomes for the people of the United Kingdom, and that its policies continue to represent the best value for the taxpayer.

Public reviews will be available on Gov.uk as they are published.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Lord Kamall:To ask His Majesty's Government how many policy reviews and consultations Department of Health and Social Care has launched since the General Election on 4 July 2024; what the subject of each review is; and what the anticipated timescales are for their completion. \p Baroness Merron: Following the election, the Government has outlined its ambitions through the Plan for Change, which sets out an ambitious set of milestones, across the missions, for this Parliament.

As the House would expect, the Government continually reviews its work to ensure that it is delivering the best outcomes for the people of the United Kingdom, and that its policies continue to represent the best value for the taxpayer.

Public reviews will be available on GOV.UK as they are published.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Baroness Wolf of Dulwich:To ask His Majesty's Government how much the Department of Health and Social Care spent on research contracts and grants in (1) 2022–23, and (2) 2023–24; and what proportion of that spending went to UK universities. \p Baroness Merron: The Department spent £1,446 million on research contracts and grants in 2022/23. In 2023/24, the Department spent £1,524 million on research contracts and grants, 32.8% of which went to universities in the United Kingdom.