Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to his Answer of 13 November 2023 to Question 410 on Flood Control: Finance, how much of the £800 million projected investment for the financial year to March 2024 has been spent.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Indications are that all of the £800 million has been spent in 2023/24. The final accounts are subject to audit, and we will be able to confirm actual spend once the audited accounts have been laid before Parliament. The current timeline is early October, but this is subject to change, depending on recess and party conference dates.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the graduate visa scheme on the achievement of the Government's objectives in the International Education Strategy.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Strengthening the UK's visa offer for international higher education students was an important element of the International Education Strategy (IES) and its objectives, particularly the ambitious target of attracting 600,000 international students. The IES update in 2021 incorporated the graduate route to reflect its importance in achieving the outlined ambitions.
With 679,970 international students in the 2021/22 academic year, the UK has met the IES international student ambition of attracting 600,000 international students per year by 2030 for two years running in both 2020/21 and 2021/22. The department is on track and will continue working towards the IES education export ambition of £35 billion per year by 2030 with £27.9 billion revenue in 2021. Data used to track progress against these two ambitions is published annually.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the review by the Migration Advisory Committee on the Graduate visa route, published on 14 May 2024.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The government is grateful to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) for their work on this report.
The review’s findings are being considered very closely and government will respond in due course.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the average contribution of international students to the economy in each of the last five years.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The government recognises the significant economic and cultural contribution that international students make to the UK’s higher education sector.
Estimated total UK revenue from international students, through their tuition fees and living expenditure, in each of the last five years for which data is available is listed in the table below:
Calendar year | Total international student exports (£billion) |
2017 | 13.63 |
2018 | 15.61 |
2019 | 17.48 |
2020 | 19.36 |
2021 | 20.65 |
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he has taken to assess the potential (a) social and (b) economic impact of possible policy changes to the graduate route visa for international students; and whether his Department assesses the potential impact of such proposals at the constituency level.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are committed to attracting the best and brightest to study at our world-class universities, whilst maintaining the integrity of our immigration system, which is why the Home Secretary commissioned an independent review of the Graduate Route.
The MAC reported back on 14 May and the review’s findings are currently being considered very closely.
The Home Office produces impact assessments as a matter of course when policy proposals are developed.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent assessment has made of the adequacy of designated safe zones in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Ordinary civilians must be safe and able to access food, water and medical care. We have been clear that we would not support a major operation in Rafah unless there is a very clear plan for how to protect people and save lives. We have not seen that plan so, in these circumstances, we would not support a major operation in Rafah.
We continue to press these points with our Israeli counterparts.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has considered the potential merits of allowing claimants' limited capability for work status to be reinstated without further assessment when (a) they have had their Universal Credit claim closed through no fault of their own, (b) they are in receipt of Personal Independence Payment and (c) their condition has not changed.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Depending on the circumstances, if the department accepts that a Universal Credit claim should not have been closed, the claim would be reopened. If there has been no change in the claimant’s circumstances, and no changes to any health conditions they have declared, the claim would be reinstated at the same rate of payment as before it was closed, including any additional allowances due to the claimants’ limited capability for work. There would be no need for a further Work Capability Assessment in this scenario. Being in receipt of Personal Independence Payment would have no bearing on this decision.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will take diplomatic steps to ensure the reopening of the (a) Rafah and (b) Kerem Shalom crossings.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We have been clear that entry points for humanitarian aid, including Rafah and Kerem Shalom, must be reopened quickly to allow aid in. Israel must facilitate immediate uninterrupted humanitarian access in the south, including the entry of fuel, and ensure protection of civilians and safe passage for those who wish to leave Rafah. The Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has pressed these points with the Israeli Government.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2023 to Question 3315 on River Parrett: Flood Control, whether it remains his timetable for the Bridgwater Tibal Barrier to be operational by early 2027.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Bridgwater Tidal Barrier project is on programme to deliver an operational barrier by early 2027.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the average length of time the Student Loans Company takes to refund people who have made an overpayment on their student loan.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Student Loans Company (SLC) has a Service Level Agreement of 28 days to make a refund to people who have made an over repayment on their student loan. Based on telephone requests from January to March 2024, the SLC averaged 8 days from the point the request was received to the point the refund was paid to the borrower’s bank account.
Student loans repayments for borrowers resident in the UK are made via HMRC through the UK tax system. Employers deduct repayments each pay period for employees with a student loan when their earnings are above the relevant repayment threshold for that pay period.
Over repayments can occur for a number of reasons, for example the time lag between an employer making a PAYE deduction and HMRC receiving and sending that payment to SLC, which can then confirm that a borrower has paid off their student loan balance. HMRC provides the SLC with student loan repayment information as reported by employers on a weekly basis. For this type of over-repayment, the SLC can automatically make a refund of £5,000 where they are able to verify a borrower’s bank account details.
SLC provide borrowers with the option to switch to repayments via direct debit when they are nearing the end of their loan repayments. This prevents overpayments entirely.